Drivers Stop Your Engines!

Posted by Ashveen Sharma  

                                                     

The specific behavior that is being influenced in DontBeIdle is to turn cars off and not be idling when in park or not driving. This behavior change is critical for a sustainable economy and excessive idling presents many negatives which is mainly on the pollutants being expelled on the environment. As well as the harm it presents on car engines that lead to overall inefficiency and excessive carbon buildups in the intake system. Which over time will eventually contribute to poor gas mileage for the engine to compensate and put more fuel in the clogged cylinders (Engine idling - #DontBeIdle, 2019).

There are also behaviors that are explained that are targeting driving electric or hybrid vehicles that can develop a change in a lifestyle for the overall benefit of human health, the atmosphere, and society (Engine idling - #DontBeIdle, 2019).

Attached below is the campaign from the Westminster government site.
https://www.westminster.gov.uk/dont-be-idle

(#DontBeIdle: Find Out How Many Balloons Your Car Exhaust Emits. 2017)

The target audience that is intended looks at the city of Westminster and is directed at anyone who drives a motor vehicle. However, there are more outlooks as children can absorb this information and even inform their parents to let them know about the harmful implications that the younger generation can sometimes take in on an environmentally conscious level (Engine idling - #DontBeIdle, 2019). The campaign also looks at spreading awareness and having a postcard and a leaflet to be distributed which the younger generation as someone without a license who is passionate about these targets (Engine idling - #DontBeIdle, 2019). The campaign organizers have made it very clear that there goal is to target change and prevent idling via videos to target humans on concerns and statistic such as "9.9 million drivers in the capital and 370,000,000 miles driven in Westminster annually, road transport contributes to more than half of the most deadly emissions" (Engine idling - #DontBeIdle, 2019, p. 1).

In Social Marketing: A Pathway to Consumption Reduction by Ken Peattie and Sue Peattie the critical analysis of consumption reduction is analyzed from a social marketing perspective. In the Brundtland Report "Our Common Future" the idea of sustainable development was first publicized, and environmental economists believed this would be the contributing factor for a sustainable and circular economy (Peattie Ken & Peattie Sue, 2009). Which was brought in due to examples of unsustainable business practices such as no environmental scrubbers implemented into companies that manufacture and have a high carbon footprint. Thus, the re tooling criticism became relevant and supports this campaign well as originally it was targeted uniquely to a small town but moved to a city to gain awareness to eventually reduce consumption (Peattie Ken & Peattie Sue, 2009). This led to more consumer interactions and consumption started dwindling regarding idling. Thus, the proactiveness of council leaders in Westminster created a positive solution. Which since the launch of the campaign has led to citizens reporting idling cars to issue them a citation to prevent them from doing so in the future. DontBeIdle has also kicked off an air quality champion movement that has led to passionate individuals informing others about detrimental effects of idling and educating. Since the launch in June of 2017 there have been 10 lobbying and information sessions that have each accounted for a 20% growth in attendees. Thus, the word is remarkably spreading well (Engine idling - #DontBeIdle, 2019). 

The campaign organizers have addressed the marketing mix well and it begins with the actual product that is offered, in this case it is the service to prevent car idling and create awareness. The service itself and the campaign is well addressed with a catchy slogan DontBeIdle, the consumer need is satisfied to learn about what idling presents. The consumer will then take this information and use it daily in their lifestyle if the attention is caught well (Engine idling - #DontBeIdle, 2019)The campaign is differentiated as a spreading the word tactic which is like buzz marketing is used to create customer champions. As well police officers have been informed and appointed on this new campaign to issue by law tickets and noise tickets if a car is seen idling in excess. This is especially important near signs that are listed where the fine increases. Lastly, the coalition with businesses to reduce pollution and get partnerships really differentiates the service to have more buzz marketing be implemented (Engine idling - #DontBeIdle, 2019).

The place aspect is well shown as the target audience has an appealing website to look upon with links to external facts and videos for a visual appeal. The use of the website creates customers whom then are downloading the pledge and petition form to pass the word. As well, this can be shared on social media to promote the campaign such as Facebook and Email.

The price is $0 on the consumer and would work alongside the consumer to save money overall, all the campaign marketers persuade it to make the change and turn your key off. 

Lastly, promotion could use more work as the campaign does not gain access to larger distribution channels such as YouTube to attract to a more global audience, as well marketing billboards would be more effective rather than a video on a smaller crowdfunded site. 

As for the comparison this campaign is a little vague than the Take the No Idling Challenge, as the focus on that campaign is for polar bears and the ever-lasting impacts on climate change and melting polar ice caps. There are more stakeholders involved as environmentalists are at the scope and the social media aspect has more of a deeper market audience especially with marketing placements of advertisements based on search behaviors. 

Overall, this campaign has an excellent scope and has good aspects that target consumer habits from start to finish to develop a useful life cycle assessment.

References

#DontBeIdle: Find Out How Many Balloons Your Car Exhaust Emits. (2017, June 28). Retrieved February 2, 2019, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iAQGOYJFBIc

Engine idling - #DontBeIdle. (2019, January 23). Retrieved February 2, 2019, from https://www.westminster.gov.uk/dont-be-idle

Peattie, Ken & Peattie, Sue. (2009). Social Marketing: A Pathway to Consumption Reduction?. Journal of Business Research. 62. 260-268. Retrieved February 2, 2019, from 10.1016/j.jbusres.2008.01.033.