'Big Issue'
The Carbon Trust exists to raise awareness of climate change among the business community 
and to help and advise organisations on how to reduce their carbon emissions. The campaign sought to overcome inertia about tackling climate change among business decision makers, to drive awareness of energy efficiency among FTSE 350 board members and to position the Carbon Trust as the independent advisor. The target audience was senior decision makers in large companies, plus institutional investors and city financial analysts.
To create the visual of something huge that is being ignored, McCann Erickson took the well known business metaphor ‘the elephant in the boardroom’ and interpreted it literally. Carbon was represented by an elephant standing on the boardroom table, which was being totally ignored by board members who were meeting around the animal’s feet. Outdoor advertising was essential to escalate the importance of the campaign.
Six, 48 and 96 sheets dominated the City of London, while backlit posters at major stations targeted business commuters. Advertising through the trade press and pages in the national press spoke directly to the target audience. Additionally, a partnership with The Independent produced a series of full-page advertorials featuring cases studies of companies with which the Carbon Trust had worked. Direct marketing targeted senior decision makers in retail, manufacturing, leisure and investment, with tailored copy highlighting the risk from carbon in each of the sectors. Reflecting the need to increase awareness and understanding, all communication was designed to drive the audience to the microsite and registration pages with its link to the Carbon Trust website. Online media allowed interaction with the brand through a number of mechanics to take the message to the desktop and convey the immediacy of the issue.
The campaign’s success was measured through a combination of campaign tracking conducted by research agency BPRI, response to the Carbon Trust customer centre and hits to the website. Sixty per cent of FTSE board members now claim to view climate change as a key issue and are actively addressing it, as opposed to 37 per cent before the campaign began. Towards the end of the campaign, calls to the customer centre had risen by 24 per cent. Visits to the dedicated website reached 16,931 against a target of 15,000.