5. Take a stand for climate: tell your story
Season for Change aims to reach 10 million + people and creatively inspire them to be part of a movement for change. Igniting inspiration comes from a mixture of demonstrating integrity by taking action, understanding your audience or community, and good communication. So, whether you’re planning a campaign or public speaking opportunity, here are some principles, guides and case studies to help your process.
Key principles
1) Know your audience
What could this look like?
- Host as many focus groups as possible when developing your work/campaign. Make connections, speak to people, and ask for open, honest feedback and criticism.
- Do an empathy mapping exercise to better understand your audience.
- Understand the values that are influencing your audience’s behaviours; don’t make assumptions about what they want to hear or what interests them.
2) Be authentic and have integrity
What could this look like?
- Share your action plan and environmental policy on your website and transparently report on your carbon footprint,
- Making it clear how your audience can contribute to your action plan through visual communications at your events, in your venue, in online events and other interaction points.
- Telling the whole story: be authentic with where you are in your own climate journey, honest about your limitations, and accountable for areas in which you are actively working to grow.
4) Choose the right messenger
What could this look like?
- Before delivering a message, first asking: what is my mandate to deliver this message, and am I the right person to influence or speak on behalf of my target audience or community? If not, who is and how can I collaborate with them to reach and engage people?
- Nurturing relationships with trusted community members who are representative of the audience’s lived experience and cultural values to communicate on their community’s own terms.
- Partnering with organisations who already work with and for the audiences you want to reach.
- Collaborating with influential figures who are connected with your target audience.
5) Choose the right channels and the right timings
Think about how your audiences get their information, and what opportunities you have to communicate with them when they engage with you.
What could this look like?
- Mapping the platforms and physical touch-points available to you, from social media to physical signage.
- Working in partnership with media platforms that are followed by your audiences.
- Planning communications around key moments like World Environment Day.
- Working with festival and media platforms to reach audiences already gathering for events or around key campaign moments.
Case studies
Drill Minister
Born and raised in South East London, Drill Minister AKA Young Drilly is a musician, activist and wordsmith, currently running for Mayor of London. Giving a voice to his childhood, exposure to the struggles of the working class, minorities and youth culture, Drill Minister is referred to as “The Streets Elected Voice” across music, politics and youth culture.
Drill Minister spoke at the We Make Tomorrow Summit, a day long celebration and investigation into how the cultural sector in its widest sense can respond to the climate crisis. The London mayoral candidate spoke for his community with a strong call for activism and community solidarity resisting the degradation of local environments and those who would put profit ahead of health and wellbeing. He is particularly concerned with air pollution and addresses this through his music. He dedicated his track ‘Choke’ to Ella Roberta, a local girl who died due to air pollution exacerbating her asthma.
Find out more about Drill Minister.
#ItsOurTime campaign
#ItsOurTime was a politically neutral campaign to engage large numbers of people under 30 who cared about climate change to register to vote in the 2019 snap UK General Election. The campaign was led by The Comms Lab, in partnership with Julie’s Bicycle, POCC, Mindshare, UKSCN, If Not Now Digital, and others from across the creative and cultural sector. The campaign targeted young people in 11 key UK cities with historically low voter registration rates, and used a multifaceted approach. This included high profile influencer content, paid for advertising, an artistic commission including young people, digital projections on landmark buildings in key cities, a music industry ‘thunderclap’, video content from young people and voter registration drives hosted by organisations with strong local links.
You can read the full campaign report here.
Resources and further reading
- Webinar: How to Share Your Environmental Story (Julie’s Bicycle, 2019)
- Guide: Communicating Sustainability Guide (Julie’s Bicycle, 2015)
- Guide: Team Engagement Guide (Julie’s Bicycle, 2016)
- Handbook: The Uncertainty Handbook (Climate Outreach)
- Guide: Communicating climate change during the Covid-19 crisis: what the evidence says (Climate Outreach, 2020)
- Guide: No Going Back A COVID-19 Cultural Strategy Activation Guide for Artists and Activists (The Centre for Cultural Power, 2020)