• British Gas wanted to raise awareness of its Generation Green initiative to promote 'green' issues amongst children and their families
• An ad funded series of TV programmes called 'Green up Your Life' was developed to be shown on CITV alongside an online game.
• 100% of kids who watched the programme and played the game said they'd learnt something new about the environment.

The challenge

British Gas had some of the strongest green credentials in its market as measured by carbon per household. However, in a time when company after company is shouting about their apparent green credentials, it is increasingly hard to achieve recognition and credibility. British Gas were particularly lagging behind in the green perception stakes.

After research indicated that actions speak louder than words when trying to communicate effectively with the public, British Gas decided to create change through a schools and communities programme called Generation Green. The programme aimed to promote environmental awareness and encourage green behaviour. The activity's core objectives were to:

• Raise awareness of Generation Green and 'green' issues amongst children
• Encourage environmentally conscious behaviours in children and their families through engaging content.

The TV solution

The aim was to bring Generation Green to life by providing engaging content via channels that children would already be choosing to use. Therefore, they wanted to be involved with media brands that children trust and enjoy.

Research from Childwise showed that, on average, children spend 6 hours a day watching TV, playing games and surfing the internet. Therefore, TV was chosen to form the backbone of the campaign due to its ability to engage children powerfully with relevant content over an extended period of time. The campaign was shaped to include three media touch-points: TV, online and gaming.

An ad funded series of TV programmes called 'Green up Your Life' was developed to be shown on CITV. The 10 x 5 minute programmes featured three teams of kids (the Eco-Rangers) who were competing against each other to complete environmental challenges. The shows were aired daily on CITV from Sept 15th 2008 in the prime 3.50pm slot and then repeated on 3 occasions as they were received so well by viewers and had outperformed the slot average.

To drive awareness of Generation Green and British Gas, the initiative featured in the programme's sponsorship bumpers. There was a 10 second opening credit and a 5 second closing credit around each programme. Additionally, there was voice over promotion over the end title sequence that directed viewers to ITV.com/CITV to find out more information about Generation Green.

As well as the ad funded programme, British Gas took the Generation Green message to families through spot advertising. The campaign ran over a four week period from 15th September to 12th October. Key times when parents and children would be watching together were targeted, so programmes such as X-Factor, Harry Potter and the Pride of Britain Awards.

To compliment the TV campaign, British Gas showed the same TV ad copy at cinemas, conducted an adult-targeted online ad campaign around key ITV show sites such as This Morning and Loose Women and finally extended the TV programme content into an online game. The game was hosted on CITV.co.uk and Popcorn.co.uk (children's cinema site). Furthermore, the game was promoted by the end credits voiceover at the end of 'Green up Your Life' episodes. This created an even stronger link between the TV show and the game.

Results

The Generation Green project was always designed to be a long term commitment, yet initial results show the campaign has been extremely successful.

BARB figures showed a total of 843,000 individuals and 525,000 kids saw the show. However, as the show was deemed such a success by ITV, it was repeated in 2009 with an increase to 933,000 individuals and 563,000 kids.
In addition to this, 100% of kids who watched the programme and played the game said they'd learnt something new about the environment.

Viewers of the TV show were 108% more likely to see Generation Green as a positive 'green' example than non-viewers.

Children who had seen the show were 78% more likely to talk about 'green' issues frequently

As well as figures produced by official research, there were also a number of other results that indicated to the effectiveness of the campaign. By the end of 2008, 33,000 families had learnt about how they could reduce their energy consumption by completing an Energy Savers Report through Generation Green.

Also, 9,400 real life Eco-Rangers signed up in the shape of classroom light monitors by the end of 2008.

"When we go out, they tell the adults 'You haven't turned off the lights'"

Teacher - Birmingham

"The campaign was a fantastic success…We not only reached the target audience, the results showed that they really engaged with the activity…it gave them (children) something new about green."

Baljit Sanghera,
Marketing Manager, British Gas