In our daily work, we meet with a number of clients who have complex and highly technical issues to communicate. They all aim to engage various stakeholders on important issues with a clear and simple message. PolyCE, a consortium of 20 expert organisations including Philips and Whirlpool, approached us with a challenging task – raise awareness about recycled plastics in electronics and promote the circular economy.
Engaging consumers, designers of electronic products, and policymakers on the same issue requires a strong creative approach. How did we manage to turn a complex issue into an effective message?
Well, by standing in the centre of Brussels with two vacuum cleaners.
With two target groups in mind for the task – consumers and policymakers, we also had to craft a persuasive message to prove to the consumer electronics industry there is demand for recycled plastics.
We came up with a campaign to increase the demand for recycled plastics in electronics, which are found in only 1% of all electronic products. How do we raise awareness for a problem, which is so hard to notice? We decided to turn the shockingly low percentage into our greatest strength.
Exposing consumers to a conventional message with data and statistics was simply not enough to draw attention to the problem. We had to prompt consumers to become advocates and demand change. We came up with an idea for a social experiment video shot in the centre of Brussels that featured consumers and a set of experts who explained why choosing recycled plastics is important.
We put two identical vacuum cleaners on the street, one with recycled plastics and one with regular plastics. We asked people to choose one and then made them guess what percentage of electronic products on the market have recycled plastics. Unaware of the problem, people overestimated the number greatly and were shocked to learn the truth. They called for action and more attention to what we buy as consumers.
The campaign was distributed globally and reached over 10 million media impressions, being featured in over 100 media outlets including BBC, El Mundo, and a number of scientific media.
Now that we had consumers’ attention, engaging industry professionals became much easier. The campaign not only proved the demand for recycled plastics in electronics to the industry, but also reached policymakers.
To further encourage industry professionals to make recycled plastics a top priority when designing consumer electronics, we managed the launch and dissemination of PolyCE’s guidelines on design FOR and FROM recycling.
We created distinct social media content and managed the event run-up, highlighting speakers and partners to attract participation of industry professionals in the launch event. Our efforts paid off and the event had over 1000 registrations with more than half of them being designers of electronic products, our exact target group.
Our partners’ hard work along with the strong communication drew the attention of Frans Timmermans, Vice President of the European Commission leading the work on the EU Green Deal, who introduced the guidelines and spoke about key topics.
At the end of the day, we succeeded in raising awareness for more recycled plastics in electronics and attracted the attention of policymakers along the way. If you too have a complex issue to communicate or want to get policymakers on your side, let us know in the comments, or send us an email at bisera@savionray.com.