Scottish Government at COP26: What was achieved?

Case Study: Communications strategy supporting COP26

Context

COP26 in Glasgow presented a unique opportunity to increase awareness of climate change and the need for urgent, collective action to tackle it. As one of the largest and highest profile global events ever held in Scotland, it also provided a platform to showcase Scotland’s climate leadership credentials to audiences overseas, inspiring collaboration, action and investment. More broadly than that, COP26 was a catalyst to promote Scotland’s reputation internationally. Coinciding with the unveiling of a new brand marque for Scotland, COP26 offered a global launch platform and an opportunity to showcase the country as a desirable place to live, work, study, visit and do business.

An insight led, cross-cutting communications strategy was developed and harnessed by the Scottish Government Communications Division to deliver a programme of sustained, multi-channel communications activity in the build up to, during and after COP26. Communications specialists from across the division worked collaboratively, designing tactical plans which aligned with the Scottish Government’s Climate Change Communications Framework, and supported delivery against overarching SMART objectives both domestically and internationally. Marketing, news, social content hub, internal communications, DEXA, BrandScotland and colleagues within partner agencies such as Transport Scotland, Scottish Enterprise and Scottish Development International worked collectively as one team, united by a single communication proposition - Let’s Do Net Zero.

What happened?

To stimulate greater understanding of climate change and consequently invite action from the people of Scotland and international audiences, the Scottish Government ran paid media activity in two phases in June and October / November 2021. In addition, Ministerial events, a programme of media relations, digital content and internal communications were activated throughout the year, and in the run up to the event itself, with particular intensity during the COP26 fortnight.

The creation of a consistent narrative, based on insight into awareness, knowledge and attitudes among the general public about climate change, helped ensure coherence in messaging by all parts of Government and partner agencies.

Paid media activity launched in Scotland on 4 October reaching 25 to 54 year old ABC1C2 audiences to capitalise on increased interest in climate action during the build up to COP26.

Three tasks were identified as priorities:

• Elevate the issue by educating people that we are living in a climate emergency
• Build momentum and tackle feelings of impotence creating a barrier to change by demonstrating that society-wide action is already underway
• Build capability and agency by increasing awareness of the individual actions needed to help Scotland reach net zero.

Activity ran domestically across TV, out of home media (posters), in digital and social channels, via PR and partnerships and supported by a new website, Net Zero Nation.

Campaign creative can be reviewed in Annex A. This was bolstered by a cross-communications effort across the Scottish Government and the wider public sector, via internal and external communications partner groups where campaign messaging and brand toolkits were shared, amplifying the reach of activity in domestic and international markets.

Additional activity ran in Glasgow during COP26 targeting international audiences, to promote Scotland’s reputation overseas and raise awareness of Scotland’s climate leadership credentials. Out of home media consisting of posters in high visibility sites including at the entrance to the SEC, at Glasgow Queen Street station and at the airports, mirroring the branding displayed in Scottish Government venues.

This was supported by paid-for digital advertising which targeted expert and influencer audiences in France, Germany and the US, alongside a partnership with SDI and BBC Worldwide that shared long-form content about Scotland’s actions with international audiences through BBC platforms. This launched on 17 October and ran until 17 November. All international creative featured the new Scotland brand marque, supported further by a BrandScotland campaign launched and running concurrent to COP26 activity.

Paid advertising and partnership activity was supported throughout by a steady drum beat of news announcements, media interviews and features, many of which highlighted Ministerial contributions, targeting domestic and international publications and broadcasters. Through news coverage only, Kantar’s media monitoring service recorded 1.041 mentions of the Scottish Government in COP26-related content across online and offline channels. They estimate that these mentions, across channels, would have delivered a total reach of 167,000,721.

The social content hub and BrandScotland digital teams respectively, developed an engaging schedule of organic content, utilising owned channels to keep audiences engaged in the conversation and to drive conversions and action. Digital content was also disseminated to Scottish offices globally, ensuring widespread reach of the core narrative. Digital channels also provided an outlet to promote a schedule of digital events and webinars, hosted by the Scottish Government and partner agencies, with the aim of educating, uniting and supporting audiences to take action.

Finally, public sector partner agencies adopted the Let’s Do Net Zero brand and messaging in order to run campaign activity synergistically and capitalise on the brand real estate. A travel demand management campaign, led by Transport Scotland, ran prior to COP26 to prepare the public for the disruption expected as a result of the summit. Likewise, the Business Support Partnership made up of Scotland’s enterprise and skills agencies and supported by Scottish Government ran a campaign specifically targeted at businesses in Scotland, signposting them to resources and support to help them take action through their own business operations.

What was the impact?

Communications activity in Scotland

The domestic marketing activity met the SMART objectives set across channels.

The October activity reached 3,475,000 (75%) of adults in Scotland who saw the activity on average 9.7 times. When it came to the campaign target audience, activity reached 73% of ABC1C2 25 to 54 year olds (1,240,000 people) in Scotland on average 6.4 times. Nearly four fifths (78%) of the people who saw the campaign, took some sort of action in response.

The additional activity in Glasgow during COP26 reached 769,000 (45%) of the campaign target audience, on average 4.8 times.

Over 500 partners shared campaign assets across the two campaign phases, helping to disseminate a consistent and coherent campaign narrative. There were 2293 mentions of the campaign activity from partners via their own social channels for the autumn activity, reaching a total audience via their social channels of 8.67 million people.

Photography taken in October of the glowing zero was shared 69 times across traditional and social media platforms. This supporting PR activity created a further 8 million opportunities to see and hear the content.

The increase in followers of Scottish Government climate-related social channels exceeded the target following COP26. Visits to the website far exceeded the target (38,607 visits in November versus 2,000 visits as target). The events directory on the Net Zero Nation website had 2,905 page views throughout the two weeks before and the two weeks of COP26.

Campaign SMART objectives are set based on the budget, campaign reach and duration and anticipated response and informed by learnings from other campaign activity. The advertising activity met the SMART objectives as follows:

Among our 18 to 54 year old audience in Scotland, one third of them remembered seeing the climate-related out of home activity that ran in October and November. This figure increased to 4 in 10 of those living in Glasgow.

International Marketing Activity

Our digital marketing activity with international audiences delivered our objectives as follows:

The BBC Worldwide partnership delivered an estimated 18 million TV impacts in the target countries (France, Germany and the US) and an editorial sponsorship Click Through Rate of 2.84% (BBC benchmark is 1.12%). The average time spent engaging with the content was 20.17 minutes, outstripping the BBC benchmark of 8 minutes.

The paid activity was supported with a programme of international media engagement, which included a roundtable with the First Minister and London-based European correspondents and a series of targeted Ministerial opinion editorials, media releases and interviews with target broadcasters including CNN and Bloomberg. An international media toolkit was also developed and made available to international media via the international network, resulting in press visits during COP26. This resulted in 180 pieces of international press coverage in the period prior to and during COP26.

On the ground in Scotland, the brand partnerships activity designed to target international delegates reached in excess of 4 million people with some of the creative remaining in place long after COP26. The branding in Scottish Government venue spaces, particularly the Blue Zone where Ministers engaged with high profile delegates and media, was visible to 20,000 delegates daily over the fortnight and 2,258 virtual attendees from 107 countries attended Government hosted events virtually during the summit. Examples of creative can be viewed in Annex B.

What are the next steps?

Building from the momentum of COP26, and ahead of COP27, the Scottish Government is committed to driving further action arising from the Glasgow Climate Pact – continued momentum is required and with the necessary sense of urgency.

Communications activity will be shaped by the four key impact areas agreed by the First Minister following COP26:

• Influencing positive international climate action;
• Securing positive diplomatic & economic outcomes;
• Delivering on Net-Zero Ambition to build a fairer more just society in Scotland;
• Attracting investment and jobs for the transition ahead.

The established Climate Change Communications Framework and Let’s Do Net Zero brand platform will form a solid foundation to develop and deliver an updated communications strategy and measurable objectives, which supports delivery against the nation’s ambition.