Our Healthy Environment and Economy Advertising Campaign
(Advertising Campaign Evaluation Tool)
Executive
Summary
Prepared
for Environment and Climate Change Canada
Supplier: Narrative Research
Contract number: K0A37-220205/001/CY
Contract value: CAD $34,979.15 (including HST)
Award date: March 21, 2021
Delivery date: July 8, 2022
Registration number: POR 020-21
For more information on this report,
please contact Environment and Climate Change Canada at: POR-ROP@ec.gc.ca
Ce rapport est aussi disponible en français
Cat. No. : En4-443/2-2022E-PFD
ISBN : 978-0-660-45148-0
EC22057
Unless otherwise specified, you may not
reproduce materials in this publication, in whole or in part, for the purposes
of commercial redistribution without prior written permission from Environment
and Climate Change Canada’s copyright administrator. To obtain permission to
reproduce Government of Canada materials for commercial purposes, apply for
Crown Copyright Clearance by contacting:
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Public Inquiries Centre
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Boulevard
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Telephone: 819-938-3860
Toll Free: 1-800-668-6767 (in Canada
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Email: enviroinfo@ec.gc.ca
© His Majesty the
King in Right of Canada, as represented by the Minister of Environment and
Climate Change Canada, 2022
Contract Number:
K0A37-220205/001/CY
POR Registration Number: POR
020-21
Contract Award Date:
2021-06-24
Contracted Cost: $34,979.15
(tax included)
It is the mission of Environment
and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) to ensure a clean and healthy environment and
economy for present and future generations. To uphold this mission, ECCC launched
its new Our Healthy Environment and Economy advertising campaign.
ECCC has developed this
communications campaign to both inform Canadians of existing efforts underway
concerning climate change, as well as of Government of Canada (GC) programs, incentives and efforts vis-à-vis climate change. The first phase of the
campaign, which ran in July 2021, consisted of informational
text-based ads through search engine marketing (for example, Google Adwords and Bing Search). In the second phase, advertising consisted
of a mix of placements designed to increase the reach and breadth of messaging
to the campaign’s target audience across multiple touchpoints, including but
not limited to: television, video, web, mobile apps, music and podcast
streaming services, trade publications and social media. This phase ran from
mid-February until mid-June 2022.
ECCC’s advertising campaign focused on
three areas: nature conservation, zero emissions vehicles and transportation
future, and energy efficiency. This campaign clusters
environmental themes stemming from a number of GC institutions under a single
banner, thereby representing a “whole of government” approach to communicating
information to Canadians. ECCC’s communication efforts seek to demonstrate the
action that governments, Canadians and businesses are already taking in terms
of climate change, and encourage Canadians and businesses to, among other
things, further accelerate momentum and encourage progress in this domain.
Emphasis is placed on demonstrating a shared effort between and among
governments, people, and businesses, in an attempt to empower and engage the
country. Thus, ECCC’s Our Healthy Environment and Economy advertising campaign
supports the following key campaign objectives:
·
Raise
awareness and uptake of Canada's environmental programs and incentives
·
Increase
use of the new Website portal
The purpose of this research
evaluation is to measure the success of the advertisement campaign through
a before/after measure of the campaign’s objectives and awareness/recall of the
advertisements amongst Canadians, particularly the campaign’s target audience.
The research was conducted using
the Government of Canada’s Advertising Campaign Evaluation Tool (ACET). ACET
evaluations are required to help improve the Government of Canada’s ability to
consistently evaluate major advertising campaigns, and to assist departments in
complying with a key requirement in the Communications Directive.
The following criteria will
be used to qualify the effectiveness of the Our Healthy Economy and Environment
advertising campaign:
1. Pre-Campaign Evaluation using the standardized ACET Baseline online survey, with the
objectives being to assess pre-campaign awareness of the subject matter,
including:
·
Recall of Government of
Canada advertising on environmental initiatives
·
Awareness of the Government
of Canada’s environment and climate change programs/initiatives
·
Interest in participating
(uptake) in Government of Canada environmental programs/initiatives
·
Motivation amongst Canadians
related to conserving and protecting nature/fighting climate change
·
Behaviour amongst Canadians
related to conserving and protecting nature/fighting climate change
2. Post-Campaign Evaluation using the standardized ACET Post-Campaign online survey,
which will determine if:
·
A 10% increase in recall of Government
of Canada advertising on environmental initiatives relative to pre-campaign has
been achieved
·
There is strong aided recall
of the campaign’s creatives (main measure of reach). This includes where
Canadians saw the advertisements and whether they can identify them as from the
Government of Canada (GC)
·
There is an increased
percentage of respondents among those who recall the ad who report knowledge of
GC programs and incentives, over and above the baseline ACET measurement
·
There is an increased
percentage of respondents among those who recall the ad who report having looked
for information about environmental programs and initiatives
·
There is increased
motivation amongst Canadians related to conserving and protecting
nature/fighting climate change
·
There is an increased
percentage of respondents among those who recall the ad who report having taken
action
The Statement of Work
identifies that the target population of the research includes Canadians 18
years and older including Indigenous Canadians, Canadian families (parents and
youth), Canadian business leaders/owners and industry professionals, and
Canadian homeowners and buyers.
A pre-campaign online survey of the Canadian general
public was undertaken in July 2021 while a post-campaign online survey was
undertaken in June/July 2022. The pre-wave survey required an average of
approximately eight minutes to administer (combined English and French), while the
post-wave survey required a mean average of approximately 13 minutes to
administer (combined English and French). This 13-minute figure, however, likely
was influenced greatly by a small number of respondents who perhaps left their
browser open to the study for an extended period of time while undertaking
non-survey-related activities, as it is found that the median post-wave average
was 9.9 minutes, likely a more telling indicator of the true ‘average’ length
of time required to complete the post-wave survey. The participation rate was 27.6
percent for the pre-campaign wave and 30.5 percent for the post-campaign wave.
The email contact records for the research were drawn from panelists
administered by The Logit Group of Toronto, Ontario. There was a total of 2,010
useable surveys completed in the pre-wave, and 2,004 useable surveys completed
in the post-wave.
As
articulated in the Statement of Work, the proposed research activity entailed
pre- and post-ad campaign evaluations, exploring the impact of advertising on
public attitudes, beliefs and behaviours. This
evaluation will take the form of measuring (and comparing) awareness of the
subject matter with the audiences in question. ECCC’s principal goal
is to increase recall of
Government of Canada advertising on environmental initiatives.
Advertising
campaign evaluation is mandatory under the guidelines of the Government of
Canada, in situations such as is currently the case, in which a media buy
exceeds $1 million. The sought-after
pre-and post-campaign ACET-related data collections are used for all major
Government of Canada advertising campaigns in order to consistently evaluate
these campaigns, as a means of complying with key requirements in the
Government of Canada Communications Policy.
The survey entailed an expenditure
of $34,979.15, including HST.
Narrative Research offers
this written consent allowing the Librarian and Archivist of Canada to post, in
both official languages, this Methodological Report.
I
hereby certify as a Senior Officer of Narrative Research that the deliverables
fully comply with the Government of Canada political neutrality requirements
outlined in the Communications Policy of the Government of Canada and
Procedures for Planning and Contracting Public Opinion Research. Specifically,
the deliverables do not contain any reference to electoral voting intentions,
political party preferences, standings with the electorate, or ratings of the
performance of a political party or its leader.
Peter
MacIntosh
Chief
Research Officer & Partner
Narrative
Research
pmacintosh@narrativeresearch.ca