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Awareness summary review: A review of existing materials focused at residents of social housing was undertaken for all the partners countries. This was the first step in the process of developing new awareness strategies for the SHARE project. The main findings are below. If you would like to request a full copy of the report please e-mail dinyar@swea.co.uk. The main findings from the review of existing materials were: Lack of existing materials currently available In many of the countries there was a lack of material that was specifically targeted towards residents of social housing. In many cases, material was either directed to technical staff of the social housing providers or was simply information that was used for the general public. While much of the information conveyed in the reviewed material is very useful for tenants and households, producing awareness material especially for social housing residents is going to be a very useful task. It seems that the housing providers are in need of both advice and awareness materials and new paths to communicate the existing information in a way that is particularly tailored to the social housing target group. Range of quality and styles of information Some countries material was very stylised and professionally produced (especially Sweden’s). Other material was a lot simpler as though it was produced on local printers. This is not to say that one method is better than the other, as locally produced materials benefit from being more flexible (it was commented on that the expensive material had a very short ‘best before date’. Some locally produced material also had information about who to contact in specific departments in social housing organisations, which frequently changes and gets updated. Different media were used Although the vast majority of material was paper based material, there were some more inventive methods of getting messages across to people. These included creating TV or conducting street theatre, although it was said that the TV commercials were expensive to produce and run. Another approach was an interactive web-based energy house which could be presented at awareness events. Postcards were popular means to convey the energy message. These have the potential of a longer life at residents’ homes. (i.e they are less likely to be thrown away). This is particularly true of the cards, that had little thermometer stickers on them which indicated the temperature of the room. Similar to the thermometer cards were the energy efficiency wheels, handy in format and re and reusable. Attractive stickers with a short but firm message were also an effective medium, since once they stick, they stick. Making material more interesting Almost all productions directed towards the residents involved the use of images. These help in a number of ways – to illustrate the points made in the text, to break up the text into smaller manageable bits and to increase the appeal of the documents. Sometimes these images were cartoons, which give a document a more casual feel. Many counties’ materials involved the use of humour to make the documents more appealing. Awareness Materials v Advice Materials There is an important distinction. Awareness material is aimed to encourage or remind the tenant to behave in a certain way – i.e. to find out more information about energy efficiency or to encourage energy efficient behaviour by following previously learnt or common sense messages.
Some of the material, such as the postcards, is for awareness only while materials that include large amounts of information are treated as advice material and can e.g. be reference guides. This is an important distinction, which needs to be taken into account at later planning stages. The material that is for awareness only needs to be more creative in getting peoples attention. The material can be more abstract and creative. Especially for the target group of social housing residents, the advice material should be easy to understand, informative but not too lengthy. Language used Some of the brochures produced were done in not the native language of the partnership countries. In Germany, they produced materials in Turkish, because of the high immigrant population there. Some other countries produced information in both their native language and in English. It will be important when planning the campaigns to take into account the languages that are spoken by the residents. It will also be important to determine the education and reading abilities of the residents. Age range within target group Apart from the target group’s background, it is important to adjust the materials to the predominant age group that one wants to reach. For senior citizens a rather conservative layout or as seen in the reviews the use of rhyme can have recognition value and therefore be appealing to an elderly audience. It also seems sensible to produce materials that are especially attractive for children or teenagers such as the light stickers or the Greenpeace poster. Children like to teach or reprove their parents and they will be the ones who put the energy efficiency magnet on the fridge or hang up the poster. That way the younger can act as great multipliers for transporting information to the adults. Content of Message Whilst most leaflets covered energy efficiency topics in general, there was some disparity in the amount that certain topics were covered. Some countries seemed to concentrate a lot on lighting (CFLs etc) and appliances while in some other countries, this was only mentioned as part of much broader spectrum of advice. So different campaigns can be either very focused or very broad. Petra Hackmann/Dinyar Baria April 2006 |
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The sole responsibility for the content of this document lies with the authors. It does not represent the opinion of the European Communities. The European Commission is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information contained therein.
Social Housing Energy Efficiency in the UK Social Housing Energy Efficiency in Ireland Social Housing Energy Efficiency in Sweden Social Housing Energy Efficiency in Bulgaria Social Housing Energy Efficiency in Germany Social Housing Energy Efficiency in Slovenia Social Housing Energy Efficiency in France Social Housing Energy Efficiency in Estonia
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