Census public engagement campaign 2022 – extension activity (April to May 2022): evaluation report

7. Supporting activity

(i) 35 Field marketing events took place across Scotland between 14 and 29 May at locations which were chosen to reach the 'less likely to complete' audiences. A further 16 events were held during the extension period supported by National Registers of Scotland field staff.

(ii) Extensive public relations activity took place across all media outlets, including national, regional and local online, print and broadcast channels such as STV and BBC. This wide range of activity generated 438 pieces of print, online and broadcast coverage from 21 March to 12 June.

Some examples of print advertorials and digital print takeovers are below.

Images appearing in print advertorials and digital print takeovers are shown below.

(iii) A wide range of census printed materials were distributed to households across Scotland who had not yet completed their census return between 25 April and 26 May. This followed on from the initial contact letters, reminder letters and postcards issued. The materials in the extension period included:

• Online reminder letters sent to all households who had started their census online but not finished
• Paper questionnaires with reminder letters sent to 115,000 households
• Follow up reminder letters sent to non-responding households
• Additional postcard issued to 250,000 addresses.

(iv) Across the collect period, 1.6 million field force address visits took place, including some multiple address visits, with field staff providing advice and support, leaving calling cards, providing paper forms to householders, and supporting doorstep data capture.

(v) Scottish Government marketing partnership activity reached 576 partners, all focused on the young independent audience. NRS also conducted engagement activity with a wide range of public sector bodies across Scotland. In addition, five local authority areas ran paid census engagement support – Dundee, Glasgow, Inverclyde, North Lanarkshire and West Dunbartonshire. In total, 39 organisations delivered 161 events over a two week period.

(vi) The website (census.gov.scot) provided information on how to complete the census, including explainer videos on a number of topics and details of how to obtain help and support.