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TP 15092 E
Changing
Transportation
Behaviours
A Social Marketing Planning Guide
November 2010
AUTHORS
» Jay Kassirer
MBA CMRP Social marketing consultant, trainer and web-publisher
» François Lagarde
MA Social marketing consultant, trainer and adjunct professor (University of Montreal)
Recommended citation: Kassirer, J. & Lagarde, F. (2010). Changing transportation behaviours - A social
marketing planning guide. Ottawa (Canada): Transport Canada.
© Cullbridge Marketing and Communications, 2010
The permission from the Canadian Blood Services to reproduce or adapt parts of a guide written by François Lagarde for
the Council for Donation and Transplantation (CCDT) is much appreciated.
PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE
Cullbridge and Transport Canada grant permission to copy and/or reproduce the contents of this publication for personal
and public non-commercial use. Users must reproduce the materials accurately, identify both Transport Canada and
Cullbridge as the source and not present theirs as an official version, or as having been produced with the help or the
endorsement of either Transport Canada or Cullbridge.
To request permission to reproduce materials from this publication for commercial purposes, contact:
Jay Kassirer
kassirer@cullbridge.com
(613) 224-3800
REVIEWERS
The authors wish to thank the following individuals who generously provided their input on the guide:
» Claude d’Anjou, Executive Director, Mobiligo
» Sameer Deshpande, Associate Professor of
Marketing, Faculty of Management and Center
for Socially Responsible Marketing,
University of Lethbridge
» Beth McKechnie, Workplace TDM Program
Coordinator, Resource Conservation Manitoba
» Jim Mintz, Director, Centre of Excellence for
Public Sector Marketing
» Philippe Morin, communication agent,
Voyagez Futé
» Jenyfer Neumann, TDM Coordinator, City of
New Westminster
» Judy Yack, TDM Coordinator, Public Works
Planning, Transportation, Region of Peel
3
Is this guide for you?
If you want to influence transportation choices, this guide
is written for you.
Perhaps you are a TRANSPORTATION PLANNER or
TDM SPECIALIST, a PROGRAM MANAGER tasked
with changing travel behaviours, or an INTERESTED
CITIZEN. You may be working on a very small or large
program. This guide has been designed to help you focus
on practical first steps and explore additional social
marketing considerations.
What’s inside?
The guide breaks planning into eight steps, one chapter
per step. The Dashboard Overview provides a one-page
summary of all eight planning steps.
1. Form a Planning Team looks at rallying colleagues
(staff, volunteers, consultants) to benefit from their
expertise, experience, networks and future support.
2. Determine the Focus, Behaviours and Audiences
helps you concentrate your efforts where they will
produce the greatest impact.
3. Gather Information discusses the types of
information you’ll want to find, in order to identify and
prioritize the audience segments, benefits and barriers
on which to focus.
4. Set Objectives provides a framework for developing
realistic and measurable targets.
5. Develop the Strategy looks at how to methodically
overcome key barriers and make particular travel
behaviours more fun, easy and popular.
6. Establish Partnerships discusses partnering with
organizations that share the same interests and goals, to
reduce barriers, increase benefits, improve the
credibility of your messages, and facilitate access to
your audiences.
7. Pre-Test and Pilot Test describes ways to keep
checking with reality as you develop your program, to
ensure it will work and improve its cost-effectiveness.
8. Implement and Improve Continuously looks at how
to ensure your program stays on track, evaluate impact
and lessons learned, and increase cost-effectiveness
over time.
Piece Together Your Social Marketing Plan contains
blank planning worksheets for your convenience.
The Resources chapter at the back of the guide
recommends both online and print sources for further
information on each step.
Worksheets
Filling in the blank worksheet(s) associated with a planning
step is one of the easiest and fastest ways to work through
that step, record your insights and conclusions, and share
them with others.
How to use this Guide
4
The guide’s worksheets walk you through each step,
provide quick access to the key questions to ask, and link
to associated recommendations for further details.
Five Canadian transportation case studies are used
throughout this guide to illustrate the social marketing
planning process. At each step, you’ll find sample
worksheets, filled out with information from one or more
of the case studies. You’ll also find quotes from their
managers, describing their experiences with each step and
the outcomes achieved.
Using this guide
You don’t have to follow every word or chapter in this
guide to start benefiting from it. For example:
• Use the “In Short” sections as checklists for
following the community-based social marketing
approach.
• Draw on the worksheet questions and
accompanying recommendations, when
facilitating meetings or prompting your
colleagues on key planning issues.
• Use sections of the guide to assess or improve
elements of your current initiatives.
• Integrate some of the chapters or worksheets into
your organization’s planning processes.
5
Table of Contents
Glossary............................................................................................................................... 6
Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 8
Case Study Examples........................................................................................................ 10
Dashboard Overview.......................................................................................................... 12
1. Form a Planning Team................................................................................................... 13
2. Determine Focus, Behaviours and Audiences .............................................................. 17
3. Gather Information (Formative Research)..................................................................... 21
4. Set Objectives................................................................................................................ 32
5. Develop the Strategy...................................................................................................... 35
6. Establish Partnerships.................................................................................................... 45
7. Pre-test and Pilot Test.................................................................................................... 48
8. Implement and Improve Continuously............................................................................ 53
Piece Together Your Social Marketing Plan...................................................................... 61
Resources.......................................................................................................................... 75
Appendix............................................................................................................................ 79
6
Glossary
Community-based social marketing (CBSM) is a form
of social marketing that emphasizes direct contact among
community members and the systematic removal of
structural and other barriers to action (like unsafe
pathways or a lack of shower facilities). CBSM also uses
a set of "tools" (like prompts or obtaining a commitment)
which have been identified as particularly effective in
bringing about change; while each of these tools can
promote changes in travel behaviours on its own under
the right conditions, they are most effective when used
together.1
Communication channels are the various media through
which messages are transmitted to their intended
audiences (see a list of these in the Appendix).
Marketing mix consists of the four Ps of Marketing:
“getting the right product, at the right time, at the right
place, with the right price and presented in the right way
(promotion) that succeeds in satisfying buyer needs.” 2
A. Product means:
• the travel behaviour you are promoting to your
audience – for example, cycling to work or
school (what you want them to do) – this is what
you’re selling3
• tangible products or services offered to support
1 McKenzie-Mohr, D.
http://www.toolsofchange.com/en/programs/community-
based-social-marketing/
2 Cannon, T. (1992). Basic marketing: Principles and
practice (3rd ed.). London: Cassell.
3 In many cases you won’t be selling anything for money
and your participants won’t be buying with money.
However, the concepts of buying and selling can still be
helpful in distinguishing what your participants are
attracted to (why they will participate) vs what you are
promoting (why you are running your program).
this behaviour change – for example tire pressure
gauges, showers at work, traffic safety courses or
bike repair clinics (how you’ll help them do it);
and
• the benefits the audience will experience as a
result – for example, time and cost savings,
pleasure and fitness (what they want from doing
it) – this is what they’re buying.
B. Price refers to monetary and non-monetary costs that
the target adopters have to bear and the barriers they
have to overcome – for example, increased trip time,
inconvenience, and safety concerns.
C. Place refers to the locations and environments where
your audiences will learn more about, try out and/or
continue doing the travel behaviour. Are these places
convenient, safe and pleasant?
D. Promotion ensures that your audiences know what
you are offering them, believe they will experience
the stated benefits and are inspired to act.
Segmentation is the process of dividing a mixed
(heterogeneous) audience into smaller groups consisting
of more similar (homogeneous) individuals, based on how
they would likely respond to a particular marketing mix.4
You might, for example, choose to focus a walking
program on those living within a kilometre of their
schools, workplaces or nearest transit station. You might
then further segment these people by age, or into those
who are interested in walking more and those who are
not.
Social marketing is "a process that applies marketing
principles and techniques to create, communicate, and
deliver value in order to influence target audience
behaviours that benefit society (public health, safety, the
4 Adapted from Maibach (2002), Kotler & Lee (2008) and
Myers (1996). See the Resources chapter, in the section for
chapter three.
7
environment, and communities) as well as the target
audience."5 It involves designing the walking / cycling /
carpooling (etc.) experience so that it is truly attractive to
your audiences and meets their needs. This requires the
whole process of analyzing your audiences and context,
and addressing all components of the marketing mix, not
just the promotion component or simply an advertising
campaign.
Social media is a group of Internet-based applications
(like Facebook and Twitter) that allow the creation and
exchange of user-generated content.6 This is different
from social marketing, although you will find some
people confusing the two. The term social marketing was
in use long before the emergence of social media. Social
marketing involves designing a broad strategic
framework, in which social media are a group of
communication channels among many alternatives.
Transportation Demand Management (TDM) is a
wide range of policies, programs, services and products
that influence how (mode), why (purpose), when (time),
whether (substitutes), and where (destination) people
travel to make travel behaviours more sustainable. The
main types of TDM measures are education, promotion
and outreach, and travel incentives and disincentives.
These are complemented by sustainable travel options and
supportive land use practices.7
5 Kotler, P., Lee, N. & Rothschild, M. in Kotler, P. & Lee,
N.R. (2008). Social marketing: Influencing behaviors for
good (p.7). Sage.
6 Kaplan, A.M. & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of the
world, unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social
Media. Business Horizons, 53, 59-68.
7 Transport Canada. TDM definition, overview and
rationale. Retrieved January 6, 2010 from
http://www.tc.gc.ca/programs/environment/utsp/tdmintr
o.htm#what_is_tdm.
8
Introduction
How effective is social marketing at
influencing travel choices?
This guide is written to help you influence transportation
choices, like cycling, walking or rollerblading to work or
school, teleworking, switching trips to off-peak hours, and
using public transit and car-pooling. We use a
community-based social marketing approach, because it is
proven, methodical, evidence-based and pragmatic.
Social marketing has developed a strong track record
worldwide for its effectiveness at influencing a wide
range of behaviours for both personal and public good. In
Canada, the USA, Europe and Australia, for example,
dozens of communities have decreased the modal share of
participant8 car trips by 8% to 15% and overall vehicle
kilometres travelled (VKT) by up to 5%, and have
significantly increased walking, cycling and transit use,
by following most or all of the social marketing planning
steps and principles outlined in this guide.9
Community-based social marketing
The term community-based social marketing (CBSM) was
8 This is the change in the percentage of all trips made by each
mode of transport, by participants in the programs only (i.e. not
for entire communities).
9 Based on data from:
• Möser, G. & Bamberg, S. (2008). The effectiveness of
soft transport policy measures: A critical assessment
and meta-analysis of empirical evidence. Journal of
Environmental Psychology, 28, 10-26
• Tools of Change case studies and case study webinars
(www.toolsofchange.com,
www.webinars.cullbridge.com)
• UKERC’s Technology and Policy Assessment team
(2009).
www.ukerc.ac.uk/Downloads/PDF/09/0904TransAwa
renessMktg.pdf
coined by Dr. Doug McKenzie-Mohr10. CBSM is a form
of social marketing that emphasizes direct contact among
community members and the systematic removal of
structural and other barriers to action, since research
suggests that these approaches are often most likely to
bring about behavioural change.
CBSM also uses a set of "tools" which have been
identified as particularly effective in bringing about
change. While each of these tools can promote healthy
and/or sustainable behaviour on its own under the right
conditions, the tools are most effective when used
together. These tools include, for example, norm appeals,
obtaining a commitment, prompts, and feedback and
recognition.
The five critical elements of CBSM are:
Selecting the travel options and behaviours on which you
will focus (chapter two in this guide)
Identifying the related barriers and benefits (chapter
three)
Developing and piloting a program to overcome these
barriers and to promote these benefits (chapters four to
seven)
Implementing the program across a community (chapter
eight)
Monitoring, evaluating and improving the effectiveness of
the program on an ongoing basis (chapter eight)
Beyond information, communication and
promotion
For decades, practitioners in the health, environment and
community-based fields have explored ways to persuade
10 Mckenzie-Mohr, Doug (1997). Promoting a Sustainable
Future: An Introduction to Community-Based Social Marketing.
National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy.
9
individuals to adopt a range of behaviours.11 In the
process, we have learned that information alone is usually
unlikely to change behaviours. As shown in the diagram
below, you can get some people to change their behaviour
just by providing information (“tell me / show me”), but
only if barriers to doing the action are relatively low,
there’s some personal motivation to do the action, and the
audience is simply unaware of the action and its benefits.
For example, when a new cycling trail is built, it may
only take getting the word out for people to start using it.
Much more often, however, people face real barriers to
changing their travel behaviours. For example, a lack of
shower and change facilities or a fear of bicycle theft at
work may make it impractical for some to cycle there,
even with a new path. For others, the main concern may
be personal safety or inclement weather. While such
barriers may be shared by certain groups of people, other
barriers are as individual as fingerprints. Further, many
people enjoy the flexibility and comfort of their cars. And
everyone is influenced by family members, neighbours
and colleagues. More often than not, these barriers and
influences outweigh the good intentions of those who
might otherwise change their travel habits. That’s when
the “help me” approach becomes necessary.
The only way to find out about and overcome these
influences and successfully engage these additional
people is to learn more about them and what’s competing
with our calls to action. We need to ensure that attractive
alternative and competitive sustainable transportation
11 Kotler, P. & Lee, N.R. (2008). Social marketing: Influencing
behaviours for good. Sage.
12Adapted from: Rothschild, M. L. (1999). Carrots, sticks and
promises: A conceptual framework for the management of
public health and social issue behaviors. Journal of Marketing,
63, 24-37.
choices exist, that individuals are aware of and want to
use them, and that key barriers to doing so have been
reduced.
Social marketing is a systematic approach for doing this.
In other words, it helps us research, design and then
promote travel choices so that they are attractive,
competitive, easy and popular.13 It uses a wide range of
strategies, including policy measures, to affect the relative
attractiveness and cost of each option. Community-based
social marketing in particular stresses overcoming
structural and other barriers. In practice, this means
creating better walking and cycling networks, and
improving transit services, as well as engaging people to
optimize their personal travel decisions.
All this may seem daunting at first. However, it is more a
matter of being systematic than allocating vast quantities
of resources or time. In fact, whether an organization has
extensive resources or operates on a shoestring, it is
always wise to ask hard questions and gather solid
information on which to base strategic decisions before
spending (limited) resources. Taking more upfront
planning time usually pays off in the end by reducing
implementation time and costs and producing better
results. This is why social marketing is gaining
momentum with a growing constituency of professionals
at all levels, many of whom are operating with small
budgets.14
13 Adapted from William A. Smith: Make it fun, easy and
popular – Source: Smith, W.A. (1999). Marketing with no
budget. Social Marketing Quarterly, 5(2), 6-11.
14 Deshpande, S., & Lagarde, F. (2008). International survey on
advanced-level social marketing training events. Social
Marketing Quarterly, 14(2), 50-66.
THE PLACE OF SOCIAL MARKETING IN THE CONTINUUM OF BEHAVIOUR CHANGE INTERVENTIONS12
Intervention
approach Information:
“Tell me / show me”
Social marketing:
“Help me”
Law:
“Make me”
Context for
intervention Barriers are low
Personal motivation exists
Audience is unaware
Some barriers exist
Personal motivation exists
Barriers are high
Behaviours are entrenched
10
This chapter introduces the five Canadian case studies
that are used throughout this guide to illustrate each step
of the social marketing planning process. The programs
come from a range of settings – including school,
workplace, small town and large city.
#1: Carrefour Financier Solidaire’s (CFS) Employee
Program is a great model for small businesses. Since the
fall of 2007, Montréal's Carrefour Financier Solidaire
(CFS) has been rewarding employees for choosing more
environmentally friendly ways of getting to work, while
at the same time making it easier to do so. The CFS
consists of eight social and economic development
institutions with 130 employees in 2009. Fondaction, the
largest of these, had 78 employees at that time. At
Fondaction, in the first two years of the program, the
modal share for single occupant vehicles decreased by
15%, from 72% of all trips to 57% of all trips; transit and
carpool use increased correspondingly. The number of
individuals commuting by active transportation has tripled
in summer time.
http://ethipedia.net/len/node/1176
#2: Green Communities Canada’s (GCC) Active &
Safe Routes to School program is used as an example in
all of the planning-step chapters in this guide, to help
build continuity between chapters. It is a comprehensive
community-based program that taps into the increasingly
urgent demand for safe, walkable neighbourhoods. The
program promotes the use of active and efficient
transportation for the daily trip to school, addressing
health and traffic safety issues while taking action on air
pollution and climate change. National-level activities,
conducted by Green Communities Canada (GCC),
provide resources, tools, information and links for schools
and communities to create their own unique Active &
Safe Routes to School programs. This case study will
focus on the introduction of the program’s School Travel
Planning initiative, with viewpoints from the national,
provincial, municipal and school levels. The school is
Glenayre Elementary, located in Port Moody, British
Columbia, with 395 students from kindergarten to grade
five.
www.saferoutestoschool.ca/
www.sd43.bc.ca/elementary/glenayre/
Case Study Examples
11
#3: University of Victoria’s Travel Choices TDM
program serves a total population of 23,500 (19,000
students, 4,500 employees). It offers a range of initiatives
that encourage a shift to using transportation other than
the single-occupant vehicle (SOV). The objective is to
ultimately decrease the number of vehicle trips to the
campus and reduce both traffic and the amount of land
resources required to accommodate parking associated
with growth.
http://web.uvic.ca/sustainability/TransportationTravelCho
ices.htm
http://web.uvic.ca/security/parking/index.html
http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/programs/environment-utsp-
casestudy-cs66e-tdm-808.htm
#4: Whitehorse Moves, launched in 2004, was one of the
eight community-based programs funded by Transport
Canada’s Urban Transportation Showcase Program to
demonstrate ways of reducing greenhouse gases emitted
from transportation activities. The City of Whitehorse is a
modern, northern community with a population of
approximately 26,000 people. The program resulted in a
10% increase in the number of households that had at
least one member of the household walk or cycle
downtown. In addition, downtown commuters increased
their frequency of cycling and walking (between April
and October).
http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/programs/environment-utsp-
whitehorse_final-803.htm
#5: Winnipeg’s WinSmart Showcase, launched in
November 2006, was another of eight community-based
programs funded by Transport Canada’s Urban
Transportation Showcase Program. It included a range of
measures including the construction of a new active
transportation path, the introduction of real-time
electronic bus departure information, and a new park and
ride facility. Also included was a Community-Based
Travel Marketing pilot that contacted 2,200 households
using the individualized marketing model. These
measures were remarkably successful in bringing about
modal shifts despite Winnipeg’s harsh winter weather and
entrenched car-culture.
http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/programs/environment-utsp-
winnipeg-804.htm
12
Dashboard Overview
1) Form a Planning Team
» Form a knowledgeable and influential planning
team.
» Establish an efficient schedule for the planning
process, balancing the time needed to carry out
the steps properly while maintaining good
momentum.
2) Determine Focus, Behaviours and Audiences
» Determine the unique focus, transportation
behaviours, and key audiences for your initiative
based on solid information.
» Make the rationale and focus of your initiative
very clear.
» Be as specific as possible in terms of the modal
changes / changes in transportation behaviours
that your primary audience would adopt if you
are successful, and the measures that secondary
audiences (e.g., decision-makers and influencers)
could adopt to influence or support your primary
audience.
3) Gather Information (Formative Research)
» Identify, learn about, and segment your key
audiences based on existing and new research.
» Prioritize and choose the segments, barriers and
benefits on which to focus.
» Identify opportunities and challenges, including
with what and/or whom are you competing.
» Learn from similar programs and existing
research on similar audiences, and then check if
these findings apply to your target audiences.
4) Set Objectives
» Set S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measureable,
attainable, relevant and time-sensitive)
objectives.
5) Develop the Strategy
» Base your strategy on a solid foundation. Use
your answers from chapter three as guides.
» Make the behaviours attractive, competitive,
easy and popular.
» Develop a strategy that methodically overcomes
the key barriers and highlights the benefits that
are most relevant to your specific audience
segments, ideally through personal interaction.
» Mind your Ps (product, price, place and
promotion). This will most likely involve not just
communicating messages but also creating
conditions more conducive to adopting the
desired behaviour.
» Make synergistic use of the proven tools of
change (such as Norm Appeals, Prompts, Word
of Mouth, and Obtaining a Commitment).
6) Establish Partnerships
» Establish mutually beneficial partnerships with
organizations that could adopt a range of
measures or policies to address barriers or
provide additional resources, increase the
credibility of your messages, and facilitate your
access to audiences.
» Draw up a written partnership agreement.
7) Pre-test and Pilot Test
» Pre-testing is necessary to ensure that specific
elements of the program are ready for pilot
testing.
» Pilot testing is necessary to ensure that the
program works and to measure and improve its
cost-effectiveness.
» In both cases, refinement may be required.
» During pre-testing and pilot testing, compare a
number of approaches so you can learn more
about the strengths, weaknesses and cost-benefits
of each.
8) Implement and Improve Continuously
» Plan for ongoing monitoring and evaluation.
Improve continuously.
» Before starting your program, set a baseline (see
chapter four) and select one or more control or
comparison groups.
» Innovate and compare approaches on an ongoing
basis, so you can increase cost-effectiveness over
time.
» Monitor some measures frequently to ensure
your program stays on track.
13
This chapter looks at rallying colleagues (staff, volunteers,
consultants) to benefit from their expertise, experience,
networks and future support. You may simply consult with
them or you may invite them to join a formal planning
team that can help coordinate and deliver your program.
The case studies provide examples of the types of people
you might want to include on your team.
In short
Form a knowledgeable and influential planning
team.
Establish an efficient schedule for the planning
process, balancing the time needed to carry out the
steps properly, while maintaining good momentum.
Note for small programs15
Recommendations
Note: The letter beside each recommendation below
corresponds with the worksheet section to which it applies.
Use Worksheet 1 to organize and summarize your
decisions.16
15 Note for small programs: Throughout this guide look for
notes like this one, highlighting the sections most relevant
to you. We strongly encourage you to think through each
of the guide’s eight planning steps – even if you don’t spend
much time on all of them. In this chapter, don’t miss
sections A and B.
16 The worksheets used in this guide have been adapted
from Lagarde, F. (2004). Worksheets to introduce some
basic concepts of social marketing practices. Social
Marketing Quarterly, 10(1), 36-41.
A. Planning team members
While some practitioners may be able to plan alone for
relatively small programs, you will generally benefit
from involving staff, volunteers and consultants who
jointly have a good understanding of:
i. Where the program fits into the
organization’s mission, vision and plans, and
the ability of the organization to respond to
increased demand for services, if applicable.
ii. Basic TDM, social marketing, behaviour
change and communications principles, as
well as best practices.
iii. Key audiences, including various linguistic
and ethno-cultural segments, as well as
market research your organization or others
have conducted.
iv. Previous and current initiatives of key
stakeholders relevant to the transportation
issue.
v. Partners to give credibility to the intervention,
provide access to audiences or various types
of resources.
vi. Organizational policies and practices.
vii. Financial commitments and ability of the
organization to access funding sources, if
necessary.
Ensure that individuals whose approval is crucial
(those who have the authority to actually say “yes,
let’s proceed”) are involved as early and as often as
possible so that everyone shares a common sense of
understanding and ownership. If you are not assured
of the involvement of these decision-makers on your
team, brief them throughout the process to: 1) confirm
the overall objectives and process; 2) share what you
know about the audience and confirm priorities; and 3)
present and adopt the plan, then confirm or seek funds.
1. Form a Planning Team
14
B. Other stakeholders
Make sure your planning process also includes input
from representatives of the intended audience as well
as key stakeholders and partners. Stakeholders include
those people (both internal and external to your
organization) and organizations who will be affected
by or share an interest in your work. At this stage, note
those that would be valuable additions to your
planning team; those that may simply want to be
informed and have a say in how you set your
objectives and select your strategies (they may not be
interested in the actual implementation); and those you
will approach later to help you with implementation at
chapter six (Partnerships). Decide how and when you
will consult these stakeholders.
C. Schedule
Strategically establish a schedule for the planning
team, taking into account such factors as financial
periods, funding deadlines, and when key committees
meet. Plan for a minimum of two to three meetings
over a three- to six-month period, depending on the
scope of the project; this will likely be the time needed
to gather information, plan and work your way through
the decision-making process.
M
ake sure your planning process also includes input from
representatives of the intended audience as well as key
stakeholders and partners.
D. Terms of Reference
Terms of reference are useful, so everyone knows his
or her role, time commitment, and how decisions are
made.
PRIMARY EXAMPLE – CASE STUDY #2 : GCC’s Active and Safe Routes to School
program
Here’s how GCC’s Active and Safe Routes to School program would have filled in Worksheet 1 at the time it was
launching its School Travel Planning initiative
Worksheet 1: Form a planning team
A. Planning team members
National level:
» Green Communities Canada – the Project Lead and the Program Manager (project management)
» Cape Breton University - academic staff from the Department of Education (Child and Youth-Friendly
Guidelines, sustainable happiness, sustainability)
» University of Toronto – academic staff from the departments of Geography (infrastructure aspect of
transportation planning, evaluation) and Physical Activity and Health (health and psychological influences)
» Provincial leads (responsible for provincial rollouts)
15
Provincial level:
» Provincial lead (provincial level coordination). Leads can be NGOs, governments or health agencies.
» Ministries of health, education and transportation (to correspond with the health, education and
transportation representatives steering the program within each municipality; and to help enact supportive
policy changes at every level of government)
» Provincial funders
Municipal level:
» Municipal lead (municipal level coordination)
» Municipal health, education and transportation representatives
» Police
» School District representatives
School level (Glenayre School):
» Vice Principal (official administrator)
» Parent volunteer
» Consultant (got grant and ran program)
» City of Port Moody police (safety issues), roads and community program (coordination with other city
programs)
» Port Moody School Board, District 43, School Board member (help legitimize program for the school;
support role)
B. Other stakeholders. Who are they and how and when will you consult them?
» National level: Consulted with professional associations of educators, health and wellness, health
promotion, planners, and national NGOs related to the policies being promoted
C. Schedule the first two to three planning team meetings
» National and Provincial levels: meet face-to-face once or twice a year – work mostly through email and
web conferencing
» Municipal level: establish steering committees and statements of support, and select schools by May
2008; meet face-to-face once every two to three months
16
D. Terms of Reference. Who will prepare this and by what date will it be done?
» National level: GCC and its members to prepare this, based on the national funding agreement, by
January 2008
» Municipal level: Ask municipal steering committee members to sign a Statement of Support, to be
reviewed by their organizations, specifying the level of support and contributions from each organization;
create Terms of Reference based on the statement of support, to be agreed to by the committee; provide
templates for both agreements in the standard toolkit for participating municipalities (based on
agreements used by other programs)
EXAMPLES FROM THE OTHER CASE
STUDIES
#1: CFS’s Employee Program was guided by its
employee committee for sustainable transportation,
which included a representative from each of the eight
institutions within CFS, including staff from the human
resources, communications, and environment functions.
The committee was assisted by a project manager from
Voyagez Futé, Montreal’s downtown transportation
management association.
#3: University of Victoria’s Travel Choices TDM
program is managed jointly by the Office of Campus
Planning and Sustainability together with the
Transportation and Parking Coordinator in Campus
Security Services. A very active Bicycle Users’
Committee contributes to planning concerning cycling
facilities and events on campus.
#4: Whitehorse Moves was first conceived of in
October 2002, during a planning charette (a type of
brainstorming / visioning session). The ideas were
formalized by the teams that worked on the City’s
Transportation Master Plan, and then by its submission
to Transport Canada’s Urban Transportation Showcase
Program. Represented on these teams were: interested
members of the public, including cyclist and seniors, and
city planners, transportation engineers and environmental
specialists.
#5: Winnipeg’s WinSmart Showcase program steering
committee included representatives from the City of
Winnipeg, Province of Manitoba and additional members
including local industry, local academic institutions and
non-profit organizations who were going to be involved
with the implementation of the project.
17
This chapter helps you determine your program’s focus,
target behaviours and key audiences, so you can
concentrate your efforts where they will produce the
greatest impact. Whitehorse and the GCC’s Active and
Safe Routes to School programs provide examples of how
to do this.
In Short
Determine the unique focus, transportation
behaviours, and key audiences for your initiative
based on solid information.
Make the rationale and focus of your initiative very
clear.
Be as specific as possible in terms of the modal
changes / changes in transportation behaviours
that your primary audience would adopt if you are
successful, and the measures that secondary
audiences (e.g., decision makers and influencers)
could adopt to influence or support your primary
audience.
Recommendations
The focus and rationale, transportation behaviours and
primary audiences that you want to influence may already
be clearly identified as part of your organization’s mission
or plans, or by your program or funding agreements.
Decisions that have already been made may focus you on
particular travel modes (for example, transit or cycling) or
settings (such as the workplace or school). However, more
often than not, at least one of these elements is not well
defined or not based on solid evidence. Start by filling in
the worksheet for those decisions already made; then use
this as an opportunity to strengthen any weak or missing
sections.
Focus and rationale (Worksheet 2a)
A. Main issues
List the main issues you are trying to address by
changing travel behaviours (for example, traffic
congestion, insufficient physical activity, or
greenhouse gas reduction).
B. Why you, why now?
Justify your organization’s involvement at this time,
and note how important these issues are relative to
others being faced by your organization. Consider
organizational goals or capacity, planned activity,
expectations from partners or the public, and funding
opportunities.
C. Financial limitations
If you are working with a pre-determined budget, note
the impact on how much you can take on, including
your selection of transportation behaviours and target
audiences. In an ideal budget-setting scenario, the
budget would be established only after all planning
steps are completed. However, it is useful to know: 1)
whether senior officials have a pre-determined idea of
financial/human resources and in-kind services to be
allocated to your initiative; 2) what similar
organizations are doing in this area; and 3) your
organization’s track record in securing funding and/or
services from other sources. This will help keep your
initiative realistic.
Behaviours and audiences (Worksheet 2b)
D. Transportation behaviours
Select the transportation behaviours / modal shifts that
are most likely to have the greatest impact, given both
the impact of an individual adopting the behaviour and
the number of individuals likely to do so. Be as
specific as you can.
The main groups of behaviour changes promoted by
2. Determine Focus, Behaviours
and Audiences
18
ecoMOBILITY17 are the following.
i. Reduce the amount of single-occupant vehicle
driving
ii. Switch trips to off-peak hours
iii. Telework
iv. Replace single-occupant vehicle driving with:
1. carpooling
2. public transit
3. Active transportation (walking, cycling
etc.).
E. Primary audiences
For each behaviour, list the primary audience segments
– the people whose travel habits you want to change.
For most TDM initiatives this will include car users.
You will want to further segment your audience(s), as
discussed in chapter three.
17 ecoMobility website:
http://www.ecoaction.gc.ca/ecotransport/ecomobility-
ecomobilite-eng.cfm.
F. Secondary audiences
For each primary audience, list secondary audiences
(those who will influence your primary audiences) –
both internal and external, including partners. For most
TDM initiatives, this will include the primary
audiences’ family members, neighbours and
colleagues. Other secondary audiences may include
policy makers, such as elected officials, administrators
and employers who can adopt “soft” to “hard”
measures in support of reduced car use. Examples of
these measures include18:
i. Hard measures: Physical improvements to
transportation infrastructure or operations,
traffic engineering, control of road space and
changes in price.
ii. Soft measures: workplace travel plans,
personalized travel planning, public transit
marketing, and travel awareness campaigns.
iii. Soft measures with hard elements: improved
public transit service; parking fees and
restrictions.
18 Möser, G. & Bamberg, S. (2008). The effectiveness of soft
transport policy measures: A critical assessment and meta-
analysis of empirical evidence. Journal of Environmental
Psychology, 28, 10-26.
19
PRIMARY EXAMPLE – CASE STUDY #2: GCC’s Active and Safe Routes to School
program
Here’s how GCC’s Active and Safe Routes to School program would have filled in Worksheets 2a
and 2b at the time it was launching its School Travel Planning initiative.
Worksheet 2a: Focus and rationale
A. Main issues:
» Safe, walkable neighbourhoods; active, efficient and sustainable transportation; health and fitness; traffic
safety and congestion; air pollution and climate change
B. Why you, why now?
» The other national-level NGO working in the area is no longer active
» No other organization has came forward to take the lead
» GCC supports community-based programs across Canada
C. Financial limitations:
» With all the stakeholders at the table, the financial costs are relatively low. Infrastructure changes may
require municipal and/or school district funding but a well-organized community with a good travel plan
can work through municipal council to get these items in the budget
20
Worksheet 2b: Behaviours and audiences
D. Transportation
behaviours
List them below:
E. Primary
audiences F. Secondary audiences (who are they and what do you
want them to do)?
Walking and cycling
to school Students from
kindergarten to
grade eight
Elementary and
middle schools Help run the program in their
schools
Parents » Help run the program in their
schools
» Encourage their children to
participate
» Drive and park responsibly
» Turn off engines when parked
CASE STUDY #4: Whitehorse Moves
• “While our program encouraged all alternative
modes of transportation, we focused particularly on
bicycle travel to and within the downtown core, in
which 60% of our residents work. Cycling in
Whitehorse is perhaps the most reasonable form of
active transportation in the spring, summer and fall,
as the distances to most of the outlying
neighbourhoods make walking less efficient and less
probable. Public transit and carpooling are the two
most realistic alternative commuting modes in the
winter.”
–Sabine Schweiger, Environmental Coordinator,
City of Whitehorse
GCC’s Active and Safe Routes to School program
engaged students from kindergarten to grade eight in
walking and cycling to school.
21
This chapter discusses the types of information you’ll
want to find, in order to identify and prioritize the
audience segments, benefits and barriers on which to
focus. You’ll need this information to develop your
objectives and strategy. The three case study examples
show the sorts of information you can get and how useful
it can be in developing your program.
In Short
Identify, learn about, and segment your key
audiences based on existing and new research.
Prioritize and choose the segments, barriers and
benefits on which to focus.
Identify opportunities and challenges, including
with what and/or whom are you competing.
Learn from similar programs and existing research
on similar audiences, and then check if these
findings apply to your target audiences.
This key step may take more time than you are
used to. But it’s time well spent and will make the
next steps faster and more strategic.
Note for small programs19
19 Note for small programs: You may not have much time
or budget to do research. However, even small programs
need to ensure they are based on a solid foundation. At a
minimum, summarize the answers you already have for
sections A to L. Then check your understanding with
others, including some from each key audience.
Recommendations
Note: In this chapter there are two worksheets: Audience
Analysis (Worksheet 3a) and Opportunities and
Challenges (Worksheet 3b). The letter beside each
recommendation below corresponds with the worksheet
section to which it applies.
Audience Analysis (Worksheet 3a)
This worksheet will help organize and summarize the
information you collect for each audience. In some
instances, the answer may be the same for both those who
have adopted and those who have not adopted the
behavior; however there must be some significant
differences between the two.
A. Audience
Analyze at least your primary audience.
Perform a systematic audience analysis of (at least)
your primary audience, which in most cases will be
drivers of single occupant vehicles. You may want to
consider performing an analysis of secondary
audiences that you consider important, as in the
example worksheet below which looks at elementary
schools as influencers of student behaviour.
3. Gather Information
(Formative Research)
22
B. Travel behaviour(s)
See chapter two (“Determine the focus, audiences
and behaviours”). While you may be able to cluster
some travel behaviours together, you will likely need
to fill out more than one table to cover a range of
transportation options.
C. Demographic data
For demographic data, include information that might
help explain the difference between those who have
adopted the travel behaviour and those who have not.
Typically, this includes: the number of individuals in
the audience, age, gender, level of education, family
status, income, occupation, hours of work, commute
distance, urban or rural setting, languages and other
cultural characteristics.
D. Benefits and incentives
Consult your audiences to really understand what
would motivate them (from their perspective) as well
as the words they would use to express this
motivation. What role does transportation play in
their lives?
The benefits most often associated with specific
travel behaviours and measures are the following:
• time savings
• cost savings
• convenience (short walking and cycling trips)
• avoiding traffic congestion
• exercise / fitness benefits
• pleasure / recreation
• environmental benefits
• the ability to read, work, relax on transit
while carpooling
• chance to spend time with others
• independence (children)20.
While these are generally listed in order of overall
impact, the relative importance of each will vary
depending on the action being promoted, the climate,
20Transport Canada (2009). Compendium of Canadian
Survey Research on Consumer Attitudes and Behavioural
Influences Affecting Sustainable Transportation
http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/programs/environment-urban-
menu-eng-2084.htm
the community situation, the audience segment
involved, and other factors.
Based on the information gathered, which benefits
will you assign a high priority?
E. Barriers
Focus particular attention on reducing barriers,
especially those that have the greatest impact and that
you can influence most cost-effectively.
Typical barriers associated with TDM-related
behaviours and measures are:
• distance travelled
• time required
• exposure to inclement weather
• inconvenience
• lack of flexibility
• need to carry things
• need to respond to emergencies
• need to pick up family members
• lack of alternative transportation options
• no shower or change facilities
• no bike parking
• free car parking
• viewing transit use as a sign of financial
need (not normal)
• forgetting to take action
• misconceptions
• dangerous road or trail conditions /
safety concerns (for self or children)
• parents won’t allow it (children)
• workplace won’t allow it (telecommuting)20.
Based on the information gathered, which barriers
will you assign a high priority?
Figure out if barriers are real or perceived. A real
barrier will need to be dealt with using concrete
measures. A perceived barrier can be dealt with
using information delivered by influential and
credible leaders.
23
Focus particular attention on understanding key
barriers, like road safety and inclement weather.
F. Influencers
Pay particular attention to the person-to-person
interactions that affect your audience. For influential
individuals, include specific names of people, not just
titles. Ideally, these leaders would be models of the
travel behaviour(s) you are promoting, or should be
among the first to participate in a specific promotion
campaign. These individuals can potentially become
influential spokespersons and partners in your
strategy.
Include in your list other organizations that are
already promoting the travel behaviour to your
audience, as well as those who are promoting
competing alternatives, like driving alone or being
driven to school. What benefits do audience members
perceive from the competing alternatives (including
continuing to do what they are doing now)? Include
these in section E on barriers and costs of choosing
the travel option you are promoting. What costs are
associated with the competing alternatives? These
belong in section D.
G. Norms
Explore what your audience considers to be “doing
the right thing”, what they think their friends and
colleagues are doing, and what they think “most
people” do.
H. Media habits and channels of communications
Learn about which media and channels your target
audiences use and how. At this point in your
planning, you don’t have to select the channels that
you will use – you can simply identify potential
alternatives for reaching your audience. Consider the
full range of available communications channels
listed in the Appendix. Note for small programs21.
I. Membership in groups, events and places
Look for low-cost, credible ways of communicating
with your audiences.
J. Segmentation
Segmentation is the process of dividing a more
heterogeneous audience into smaller, more
homogeneous groups based on how likely people are
to respond to a particular marketing mix. For
example, people travelling a kilometre or less are
often more willing to walk; in this case, trip length is
the segmentation variable.
Segmentation enables you to divide your audience into
groups with more similar (homogeneous) members, so that
y
our strategy and messaging can be fine tuned to each
group.
In most cases past and current travel behaviours are
the best predictors of future travel behaviours.
Consider:
• how often audience members use the travel mode
21 Note for small programs: Don’t let the word “media” put
you off because it doesn’t make sense to use the town
newspaper, radio or television. You may not have to reach
that many people. More targeted media may be more
relevant and affordable such as: a billboard in the
company parking lot, bulletin boards in the workplace,
newsletters, neighbourhood newspapers, and social media
networks.
24
or do the travel behaviour now
• if they have done so more often in the past
• how often their friends and colleagues do
• perceived or real barriers to doing so (for
example, personal safety concerns, unsafe
infrastructure, and unpredictable pickup
and arrival times)
• related skills (for example, cycling skills) and
• capacity to adopt the travel behaviour.
By analyzing your audiences, you may find that
demographic data, such as age, ethnicity, language,
education, employment or social networks, are also
helpful in your particular situation. Psychographic
data such as perceived benefits and readiness to
change (knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs) may also
be of value. Choose the segmentation variables that
will help you better prioritize and develop your
strategy. Then list the key distinguishing factors that
people in each segment have in common.
K. Key moments
Identify key moments when your audiences are most
likely to try and adopt the desired and competing
travel behaviours (for example, during the spring or
fall, when starting a new job or school, or having
children).
L. Missing information:
Which research methods will you use to gather the
necessary information to make strategic decisions?
Opportunities and Challenges (Worksheet 3b)
M. Competition
Include the main influences competing with you for
your audience’s attention – including advertising and
promotion from vehicle manufacturers, free or
subsidized transportation (for example from parents
and school boards), and your audience’s current
travel choices. Identify the barriers/costs and benefits
associated with the main ones, how to take advantage
of those costs, and how to offset those benefits.
N. Community Support
Note areas where your community or setting is not
supportive of the desired travel behaviours, and how
you can best overcome these negative influences.
O. Other opportunities and challenges
Note the main legal, political, social, environmental,
economic, business, technological, ethical or other
considerations and events that represent an
opportunity or challenge, and how you can best
respond to them.
This additional information is provided to give you
a brief overview of research methods
Secondary Research: Start with What’s Known
The quickest and least expensive way to start
gathering this information is to review reports from
similar programs and the findings from past
research (for example, Transport Canada’s
Compendium of Canadian Survey Research on
Consumer Attitudes and Behavioural Influences
Affecting Sustainable Transportation). This is
called secondary research. It will suggest what
questions need to be addressed by any new
(primary) research.
Primary Research: Collect New Information
A two-step research design using qualitative
methods followed by a survey is recommended for
primary research wherever resources allow.
Qualitative methods, like focus groups, interviews
and consultations enable you to probe deeply into
“what”, “why” and “how” questions. A survey is
then used to quantify responses and apply the
findings with confidence to the larger groups that
make up each of your audience segments.
For guidelines on conducting focus groups,
interviews and surveys, see the Resources chapter
at the back of this guide.
25
PRIMARY EXAMPLE – Case Study #2: GCC’s Active and Safe Routes to School
program.
Here’s how GCC’s Active and Safe Routes to School program would have filled in Worksheets 3a
and 3b, at the national level, at the time it was launching its School Travel Planning initiative.
Worksheet 3a: Audience analysis and segmentation
A. Audience: Students from kindergarten to grade 8 (Primary Audience)
B. Travel Behaviour: What you want them to do? Walk or cycle to school
Those who have
adopted the
behaviour
Those who have not
C. Demographic data
» Living within 1 km
of the school
» Living more than 1 km from the school
D. Benefits and incentives:
Why are/would they do the
behaviour? Will incentives be
required to engage this
audience? If so – what kind of
incentives?
» Convenience
» Time savings
» Independence
» Socializing time
» Interaction with
adults
» Small incentives and recognition can
help encourage trial
26
E. Barriers: Why would they
stop / aren’t they? Which
barriers have the greatest
impact and which ones can
you influence most cost-
effectively?
» If offered free
busing, or a ride
from a parent
» If the trip distance
increased
significantly
» Automobile-dependence, without
seeing self as part of the problem
» Unsafe infrastructure in school
communities, making it safer to travel
in a car or by bus
» Parents not allowing their children to
walk in cold or wet weather conditions
» Parents believing that walking
consumes a much longer period of
time than driving (In reality, it often
takes less time and less frustration to
walk a child to school)
» Lack of health awareness
F. Influencers: Who has an
influence on them?
» Peers
» Parents
» Teachers
» Peers
» Parents
» Teachers
G. What do they perceive the
norm to be? Have most people
like them adopted the
behaviour?
» Varies from school
to school and
changes as more
people walk and
cycle
» Varies from school to school and
changes as more people walk and
cycle
H. Media habits and channels
of communications
» Bulletin Boards
» School newsletters
» School signage
» Bulletin Boards
» School newsletters
» School signage
I. Membership in groups, and
events and places where they
can be reached
» Student / school
councils » Student / school councils
J. Segmentation: Among those who have not yet adopted the behaviour, can you identify specific
segments that are more receptive than others? More successful at adopting the new behaviour?
More likely to maintain it? On what basis (elimination of barriers, possible benefits, and/or
demographics)?
» Those living within 1 km of the school
» Those with peers who are already walking to school
27
K. Key moments: When are your audiences most likely to try and adopt the desired and
competing travel behaviours?
» Spring (better weather) and fall (start of a new school year) although wintertime promotions have
worked well too
L. Missing information: Which research methods will you use to gather the necessary information
to make strategic decisions?
» Walkability study with students from 70 elementary schools, and focus groups with students at six
schools
» School Travel Plan model framework for gathering data at each school site; national roll-up of the
quantitative and qualitative results
a) School site visit & walkabout
b) Family survey: mode and route taken to school, barriers existing along that route, related attitudinal
factors
c) People at each entrance to the school tracking the number of pedestrians/cyclists/vehicles arriving,
and unsafe behaviors such as illegal parking or U-turns, unsafe crossing of roads by pedestrians
• “We had already done international best practice
research in 2006, leading to a research summary
report and a report of recommendations for Canada.
We then conducted a walkability study with students
from 70 elementary schools and followed up with
focus groups with teachers and students at six
schools. The students indicated that they would like
to walk and cycle to/from school but it was their
parents who made the decisions about how they got
to school. The boys in particular said they would
prefer to cycle to school in the nice weather when
the distance was three km or less rather than taking
the school bus. Since parent meetings hadn’t been as
effective as we wanted in reaching the parents, we
started focusing on the students themselves as the
key influencers in their families. That’s one of the
reasons we now organize IWALK clubs, IWALK
Days, and Winter Walk Days.”
–Jacky Kennedy, Program Lead, Green Communities
Based on these findings, the program started focusing on the
students themselves as the key influencers in their families.
A. Audience: Elementary and middle schools (Secondary audience)
B. Travel Behaviour: What you want them to do? Participate in the program
28
Those who have
adopted the
behaviour
Those who have not
C. Demographic data
D. Benefits and incentives:
Why are/would they? Will
incentives be required to
engage this audience? If so –
what kind of incentives?
» Improved routes to
school
» Safer school zone
» Builds school and
community spirit
» Healthier, more
attentive students
» Staff save time and
reduce stress
otherwise spent on
traffic duty
» Funds for sports equipment
» School walking routes signage
» No idling signs
» Incentives for students and classes
E. Barriers: Why would they
stop / aren’t they? Which
barriers have the greatest
impact and which ones can
you influence most cost-
effectively?
» Move to another
school where the
program is not
already operating
» Time pressures and competing
priorities (although the program can
actually save them time and stress)
» Liability concerns
» Unsafe infrastructure in school
communities, making it safer to travel
in a car or by bus
F. Influencers: Who has an
influence on them?
» The children who
attend the school;
successes from
other local schools;
media
» The children who attend the school;
successes from other local schools;
media
G. What do they perceive the
norm to be? Have most people
like them adopted the
behaviour?
» Depends on the
culture of the
school
» Depends on the culture of the school
H. Media habits and channels
of communications
» School newsletter
» Local community
papers
» School newsletter
» Local community papers
29
I. Membership in groups, and
events and places where they
can be reached
» Parent Council » Parent Council
J. Segmentation: Among those who have not yet adopted the behaviour, can you identify specific
segments that are more receptive than others? More successful at adopting the new behaviour?
More likely to maintain it? On what basis (elimination of barriers, possible benefits, and/or
demographics)?
» Schools with medium to high socio-economic status; active parent councils; supportive and engaged
teachers and Principal
» Specific targets as program champions within each school include: Principal, Vice-Principal, or a
teacher (physical education teacher or one with a very keen interest in health and/or environment)
K. Key moments: When are your audiences most likely to try and adopt the desired and
competing travel behaviours?
» When school busing services are being reduced
» When the weather is pleasant
» When they see others (other parents / teachers / schools) doing it
L. Missing information: Which research methods will you use to gather the necessary information
to make strategic decisions?
» Walkability study with students from 70 elementary schools and focus groups with teachers and
students at six schools
» Through the international IWALK committee, learned of the School Travel Planning approach then
conducted research into international best practice to learn more (Transport Canada funded)
30
Worksheet 3b: Opportunities and Challenges
M. Competition: With what and/or whom are you competing for your audience’s attention?
» Car-related advertising and promotion
» School busing provided free of charge to qualified students
» Parents offering their children lifts to school
» After-school activities outside the school, scheduled so close to dismissal time that the children can’t
get there in time by walking or cycling
» Both parents in the workplace and schedules don’t allow time to walk to school
Should you compete with or join the competitor?
» Work with schools, school boards and parents to educate them on the importance of a balanced
approach so policies and routines can be changed
N. Community Support: Is the community or setting generally supportive and ready or not?
» General support for child safety, child health, and reducing greenhouse gas emissions; needs to be
translated into support for walking and cycling
» Some resistance to change from the school and School Boards - there is a need to relate the issue to
cost to demonstrate how budgets can be cut
31
O. Other Opportunities and Challenges: Are there legal, political, social, environmental,
economic, business, technological, ethical or any other considerations and events that represent an
opportunity or challenge?
Opportunities
» Some school boards are reducing the use of
school buses for financial reasons
» Increasing recognition of the link between
inactivity in children and the later development of
diseases such as obesity and diabetes, cancer
and other lifestyle diseases
» Increased interest in and support for reducing
greenhouse gas emissions related to
transportation
Challenges
» Fiscal constraints
» Unsafe infrastructure in school communities,
making it safer to travel in a car or by bus
» Liability concerns; however, we are making
progress across Canada to counter these concerns by demonstrating how active travel programs can
reduce liability
Schools are particularly receptive to GCC’s Active and
Safe Routes to School Program when their school
boards reduce the use of school buses for financial
reasons.
CASE STUDY # 1: CFS
• “A survey of employee transportation habits and
attitudes found that many more than expected
lived close to the work site, so we focused on
active transportation measures.”
–Amélie Laframboise, Investment Analyst at
Fondaction, and a member of CFS’s Employee
Committee for Sustainable Transportation
CASE STUDY #5: Winnipeg’s WinSmart
Showcase (CBTM pilot)
• “For our Community-Based Travel Marketing
pilot, we used information from our baseline
survey and travel diaries to measure behaviour
change progress and also to segment households
into three groups: those who already used
sustainable modes of travel some or all of the
time, those who drove most of the time but who
were interested in trying sustainable modes and/or
reducing their motorized trips, and those who
drove all of the time and were not interested in
changing their behaviour. We avoided wasting
resources by focusing only on the first two groups
and targeting those most likely to change their
behaviour.”
–Beth McKechnie, Resource Conservation
Manitoba
32
4. Set Objectives
This chapter provides a framework for developing
realistic and measurable targets that you can use to
measure, manage and report on your progress. It also
provides examples of the objectives set by three of the
case studies.
In Short
Set S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measureable,
attainable, relevant and time-sensitive)
objectives.
Recommendations
Note: The letter beside each recommendation below
corresponds with the worksheet section to which it
applies.
Use Worksheet 4 to organize and summarize the
information about your objectives. Begin development
of your evaluation plan while you are setting your
objectives. The measurement perspective will help you
design measurable objectives. A useful resource is
Transport Canada’s “Canadian Guidelines for the
Measurement of TDM Initiatives: User’s Guide”,
particularly the sections on assessment levels and
indicators. (See also chapter eight in this guide:
Implement and improve continuously).
A. Indicators
For each of the transportation behaviours you want
to change (you identified these in chapter two), and
for each of your key audience segments (among
primary and secondary audiences), list the
indicators you will use to measure progress. Ensure
that you are measuring behavioural changes (the
outcomes of your strategy22) not just the number of
people who will attend events, take part in
exercises, or read newsletters. You may also want
to set objectives for the number who will recall
messages, gain knowledge, or change attitudes,
intentions or perceptions about related benefits,
barriers and norms.
When deciding what indicators to use and what
objectives to set, it is usually helpful to focus on a
small number (a half dozen or so) of these - the
ones that are most relevant and important to your
organization and funders.
Ensure that you are measuring behavioural changes,
not just the number of people you will reach. Shown
here: students arriving by bicycle at the University of
Victoria.
22 Assessment levels F, G, H and/or I in the Canadian
Guidelines for the Measurement of TDM Initiatives:
User’s Guide.
33
B. Baseline
Obtain your baseline data while conducting
formative research (see chapter three) or as soon as
possible thereafter. For each transportation
behaviour that you are working to change and for
each of your key primary audiences, determine the
number of people who are currently doing that
behaviour and how often, the current modal share
and/or the distance travelled by each mode, as well
as any other key indicators from section A.
C. Targets
Choose a milestone date when you expect to have
made significant progress. Then determine the
realistic number of members in each priority
segment who will adopt and maintain the
behaviours being promoted, the target modal share
and/or the target distance travelled.
Start by understanding the impacts similar
programs have achieved elsewhere. Then consider
the circumstances in your community that might
make it possible to achieve greater impacts more
quickly, as well as the challenges and how you can
address each. Take into consideration the current
size of each segment and the projected size at the
end of this time period.
PRIMARY EXAMPLE – CASE STUDY #3: University of Victoria
Here’s how the University of Victoria would have filled in Worksheet 4 in 2009, based on its
Sustainability Action Plan: Campus Operations, 2009-2014.
Worksheet 4: Objectives
Audience/Segment A. Indicators B. Baseline C. Target -
number Target - date
Students and staff Modal share of bus,
cycling, and
carpooling
2008: 62.5% 70% 2014
Students and staff Per capita proportion
of bicycle use 1996: 6.9% More than double 2014
Staff Number of fleet
vehicles that consume
fossil fuels
71% 40% 2014
34
CASE STUDY #2: GCC’s Active and
Safe Routes to School Program
(Glenayre Elementary School)
• “The school travel plan set the objective. Baseline
surveys had found that prior to the program about
50% of students were walking to school. The
objective was to have 100% of the students
walking to school within one year.”
–Bonny Gibson, Parent Volunteer
CASE STUDY #5: Winnipeg’s WinSmart
Showcase (Community-Based Travel
Marketing pilot)
• “The critical indicator for the WinSmart
Community-Based Travel Marketing pilot was a
2% reduction in transportation emissions by
participating households. Associated with this
indicator were expectations of an increase in the
mode share for walking, cycling, transit and
carpooling, and a corresponding decrease in
driving alone. The pilot had additional objectives
to ensure that we could have confidence in our
findings (we wanted to achieve a 40% or higher
response rate on the baseline travel survey) and
would engage a meaningful number of households
at a substantial level (we wanted to provide
personal trip planning assistance to at least 100
households).”
–Beth McKechnie, Resource Conservation
Manitoba
35
5. Develop the Strategy
This chapter looks at how to methodically overcome key
barriers and make particular travel behaviours more fun,
easy and popular. You’ll find lots of ideas for doing this,
both in the Recommendations sections, and in the many
case study examples. Once you’ve completed this chapter
you’ll have outlined your strategy for achieving your
objectives.
In Short
Base your strategy on a solid foundation. Use
your answers from chapter three as guides.
Make the behaviours attractive, competitive, easy
and popular.23
Develop a strategy that methodically overcomes
the key barriers and highlights the benefits that
are most relevant to your specific audience
segments, ideally through personal interaction.
Mind your Ps (product, price, place and
promotion). This will most likely involve not just
communicating messages but also creating
conditions more conducive to adopting the desired
behaviour.
Make synergistic use of the proven tools of
change (such as Norm Appeals, Prompts, Word of
Mouth, and Obtaining a Commitment24).
23 Adapted from William A. Smith: Make it fun, easy and
popular – Source: Smith, W.A. (1999). Marketing with no
budget. Social Marketing Quarterly, 5(2), 6-11.
24 These tools are explained in further detail at
www.toolsofchange.com and www.cbsm.com.
Recommendations
Use Worksheet 5 to sketch out your strategy. Base the
strategy on what you have learned about your target
audiences in chapter three. Reduce the barriers to and
costs of adopting the behaviour you are promoting, while
making it as easy, rewarding and popular as possible.
Ensure that what you are selling is better than the
competition (the current behaviour and/or other
competing behaviours).
Note: The letter beside each recommendation below
corresponds to the worksheet section to which it applies.
A. Barriers (‘Price’ and ‘Place’ – two of the Four Ps
of marketing)
Make it easier for people to take each new step, adopt
or maintain the behaviour, by overcoming specific
barriers. Use incentives if necessary to encourage
trial or subsequent, deeper commitments. If you can’t
maintain the incentives indefinitely, don’t use them
on an ongoing basis as they can undermine intrinsic
motivation so that once they are removed the
behaviour might not persist.
Examples of incentives / disincentives:
i. Cash, a free transit pass, or membership in a
fitness club, for people who do not have a
dedicated parking spot at work, or do not
usually use their car to get to work
ii. Cash for commuters to use bikes—rather
than cars—to reach the public transit station
iii. Charging for parking; increasing the parking
fee
iv. Designated, closer parking places for
carpoolers and vanpoolers
v. Hot drinks for those walking to school or
work in the winter
36
TYPICAL BARRIERS COMMON SOLUTIONS
Distance travelled, time
required Make it easier to take public transit part of the way, and an active mode like
walking or cycling closer the other part (e.g. safe bike parking near transit stations,
bike racks on transit)
If the nearest transit station is too far away from a workplace, provide a shuttle
service to it
Exposure to inclement
weather Provide shelter when waiting for public transit
Show how others deal with inclement weather
Ensure that participants are aware of suitable clothing choices and where to get
them, and have access to adequate change facilities at workplaces and public
institutions
Inconvenience Highlight the convenience of alternative options (e.g. being able to read on the bus
or when carpooling, not having to find parking, and the ease of walking and
cycling short distances)
Allow public transit users convenient access (e.g. through their smart phones and
computers) to track the moment-to-moment status of any bus or train, so they
know the exact time when their ride is going to depart and arrive
Lack of flexibility, need to
make local business trips
during the day
Taxi chit, transit chit, fleet car and guaranteed ride home programs
Car sharing and bike sharing services
Make it easy for participants to switch between alternatives (e.g. carpool some
days and drive alone other days)
Flexible work hours
No shower or change
facilities, no bike parking Provide access to adequate facilities
Free car parking Charge for parking or provide participants with a cash equivalent if they use other
modes
Dangerous road or trail
conditions / safety concerns
(for self or children), parents
won’t allow it (children)
Conduct walkabouts to identify dangerous situations and then provide safer
infrastructure, such as safer intersections, better road markings and dedicated
cycling paths
Provide ridematching services that screen participants
Provide road safety training courses
Organize walking school buses, so that parents take turns walking their children to
37
school
Promote the use of cycling helmets and make it easier and less expensive to buy
suitable attractive ones
Involve parents in walking and cycling with their children, so that they better
understand and support activities that are safe
Workplace won’t allow it
(telecommuting) Educate employers and employees about the benefits including:
• Increased productivity;
• Staff retention and loyalty (competitiveness);
• Contribution to green commuting (corporate image);
• Reduced operating expenditures; and
• Business continuity during emergencies.
Promote and/or provide existing tools for employers and employees to implement
a formalized telecommuting arrangement, such as templates for a Telework Policy
in the workplace and for agreements between the organization and employees
outlining responsibilities, performance measurements, IT requirements, etc. 25
Forgetfulness and competing
priorities Prompts (for example, a key fob that reminds the driver of his or her interest in
and commitment to using alternative modes)
Engage your audiences when and where they are most receptive to adopting
alternative travel options; work and school are two settings that have proven
particularly successful
B. Product (another of the Four Ps of marketing)
Highlight the benefits of the travel choices you are
promoting and consider how you could maximize
these benefits. For example, if time savings and
convenience are two of the main benefits of cycling
to work or school for those who live close enough,
provide suitable bicycle parking facilities located
strategically to minimize time and effort. As another
example, high-occupancy vehicle (HOV) priority
lanes can offer significant time reductions for those
driving in multiple-occupant vehicles, including in
carpools and vanpools, and make their travel times
more reliable.
C. Positioning and branding25
Positioning and branding are ways of making a
particular travel option, as well as your organization
25 Based on Calgary's "How to Use Telework" webpage:
http://www.workshiftcalgary.com/workshift-
business/how
and initiative, stand out from the competition. When
positioning a travel option, highlight for your
audience how it is more important/attractive and
beneficial than other options (including their current
travel choices). Focus on one or two benefits or
clusters of benefits that are most important to your
audience. Ensure that your strategy is consistent with
your positioning and will deliver what you "promise."
Choose your brand elements (name, slogan, terms,
packaging, graphic and/or sound elements) to clearly
and consistently communicate your positioning.
D. Additional Tools of Change
Help people remember to do the action by providing
prompts as close as possible to the time and place
where they make their travel choices. Build
motivation for continuing the action and sustain
motivation and momentum towards change over
time, by obtaining incremental commitments; using
feedback, recognition, and norm appeals; and by
facilitating word-of-mouth communication.
38
Here are some common tactics used to do this:
TOOLS OF CHANGE COMMON TACTICS
Obtaining a commitment and
buddy systems Program membership
Oral or written agreement to try a travel option or to use it more often
Pairing up participants (buddies) to keep each other on track
Oral or written agreement to have name included in listing of participants
Asking for increasingly demanding agreements over time
Feedback and recognition Articles in newsletters, newspapers
Recognition programs for people and organizations who use alternative
transportation most often
Celebration events
Norm appeals Profiling opinion leaders who are already using the travel option (e.g. senior
management in a business setting)
Profiling people who your audience considers to be like them, who are
already using the travel option
Publishing the names of participants, or listing them on a poster
Making participation more visible
• Logo or messaging on t-shirts, bicycle decals, stickers, and pins
• Bike rallies and workshops
• Bike racks in highly visible locations
• Cycle-to-school/work
Prompts Reminder cards
Posters
Key chains with a message
Automated emails asking for participants to enter their travel choices over
the past week
Word of Mouth Making participation more visible (see Norm appeals, above) to encourage
people to talk with others about their transportation choices
Asking program participants to invite their friends and colleagues to attend
information sessions and/or participate
39
E. Promotion (1) –Messaging (another of the Four
Ps of marketing)
Make your communications vivid, credible,
personalized and empowering. Pre-test them with
your key audiences to ensure that they are on the
mark and to improve cost-effectiveness (see
chapter seven for details on pre-testing).
F. Promotion (2) – Channels of communication
(another of the Four Ps of marketing)
Select a combination of channels (including key
influencers, media, events and settings) that are
readily accessible to you and will reach the
majority of your priority audiences. Do you have
contacts or access to some of these channels,
groups and events that make them more realistic
options given your budget? Also specify when and
how often you will use each channel. A list of
channels is included in the Appendix.
Community-based social marketing emphasizes the
use of interpersonal communications, which are
understood to be most powerful (for example, from
supervisors, teachers and coaches, as well as peers,
family members and opinion leaders). Remember
that modest media activities, such as postcards and
word-of-mouth communication, can be just as
effective as large-scale media campaigns. Consider
mass media if you are trying to reach a large
number of people and if it would be more cost-
effective than reaching them one by one.
When developing your communications strategy,
plan for frequent exposure in whatever channels
you use. Exposure gained through frequency and
multiple channels is a success factor in most
communications campaigns. This is primarily due
to the fact that people vary in their timing and
willingness to respond to a message. “The more
times the message is made available, the more
likely the audiences are to hear/see it when they are
ready to attend to it”26. Successful campaigns are
not just a matter of the right messages delivered to
the right audiences, but also a result of the right
levels of frequency over time.
26 Hornik, R.C. (2002). Exposure: Theory and evidence about
all the ways it matters. Social Marketing Quarterly, 8(3), 30-
37.
40
PRIMARY EXAMPLE – CASE STUDY #5: Winnipeg’s WinSmart Showcase
Here’s how Winnipeg’s WinSmart Showcase would have filled in Worksheet 5.
Worksheet 5: Develop the strategy
A. Barriers / Price and Place: What are the most
important barriers that discourage your target
segments from adopting the desired travel
behaviour? Which ones can you reduce and how will
you do that? Will you need to introduce incentives or
disincentives?
Personal Safety
» Active Transportation Pathway designed to
discourage automobile traffic along route and provide
safe transportation connections for an uninterrupted
route (e.g., paved path connections through parks &
right-of-ways); improved lighting for visibility and
safety
Lack of information / misinformation / unreliability of
information / concern over inclement weather / inertia:
» Real-time Electronic Bus Departure Displays, New Park and Ride Facility
a) New heated shelter
b) Real-time bus departure information at six locations to increase convenience and ease of use (e.g.,
lets users know if they missed their bus or if a bus is delayed) and reduce concerns about waiting
for a bus
» Community-Based Travel Marketing Pilot Project
a) Individual trip planning assistance tailored to each household’s circumstances – for example,
helping people learn how to plan a trip by bus using Winnipeg Transit’s online trip planner, or
providing advice on what type of gear makes commuter cycling practical or which route to ride
b) Order request form for a variety of resources at no cost, such as a bike map, a neighbourhood-
specific walking and cycling map, transit schedules, a walking brochure, information on idling and
carpooling, cold weather cycling brochure, and much more
c) Green Your Travel neighbourhood map emphasizing walking and cycling for short trips and
highlighting nearby popular destinations (such as community centres, schools, grocery stores,
pools, and library branches); scale on map to show how long it would take to walk or bike, to
counter the tendency to overestimate time required
Winnipeg’s WinSmart modeled cycling and engaged
p
eople in conversations about cycling and
s
ustainable transportation, by having trained Travel
Ambassadors deliver requested resources by
bicycle.
41
A. (continued) Where and when will your audience initiate the action or access the service being
promoted? What facilities, systems, times and other factors can make the desired transportation
options more convenient and pleasant?
» Active Transportation Pathway, providing enhanced path connections and safety features to an existing
route preferred by users
» Real-time Electronic Bus Departure Displays, New Park and Ride Facility, enhancing convenience
» Community-Based Travel Marketing Pilot Project: Information and incentives delivered to household
doors
B. Product: How can you improve on your product? How are you going to make the desired travel
choice more attractive, competitive and popular?
» Active Transportation Pathway, enhanced signage, and complementary active transportation paths in
adjacent neighbourhoods
» Real-time Electronic Bus Departure Displays, New Park and Ride Facility
» Community-Based Travel marketing Pilot Project: Green Your Travel neighbourhood map tied into local
shopping
C. Positioning and branding: How do you want the audience to see the desired behaviour and your
initiative or organization? Will you use some elements (e.g., name, slogan, terms, packaging,
graphic and/or sound elements) to brand the behaviour or your initiative?
» The program will focus on increased accessibility to safe, convenient and reliable routes and
connections for transit and active transportation modes. No unified brand at this stage
D. Additional Tools of Change: How and when will you prompt people to do the behaviour? How
will you build motivation and reinforce the behaviour over time? For example, will you ask for
commitments at key stages, raise the visibility of participation (norm appeal) and provide feedback
and recognition?
Community-Based Travel Marketing Pilot Project
» Obtaining a Commitment: answers on baseline survey indicating an interest in trying alternative modes;
subsequent request for additional information and resources
» Incentives: for submitting an order request – free bike light and reflective strap or pedometer plus tote
bag
» Recognition: provide households segmented as regular users with an umbrella and tote bag (a reward
for using sustainable modes of transportation at least some of the time, and encouragement to
continue) whether or not they submit order request form
» Norms and Word of Mouth: deliver requested resources, rewards and incentives on bicycle by trained
Travel Ambassadors (model cycling and engage people in conversations about cycling and sustainable
42
transportation)
E. Promotion – messaging: What messages will you convey? Will they highlight benefits, norms
or influential individuals, promote ways to overcome barriers and/or include specific calls to
action?
» Try sustainable travel options – get your feet wet by giving it a try or using sustainable modes more
often
» Highlight benefits and ease of trying another mode for at least some trips
» Highlight increased accessibility to safe, convenient and reliable routes and connections for transit and
active transportation modes
» Emphasize popular destinations available within the neighbourhood or nearby, that are easily
accessible using transit and active transportation modes
F. Promotion – channels: What combination of interpersonal channels (e.g., word-of-mouth, home
visits, events, workplace and school place programs) will you select to convey your messages?
What combination of other media channels will you select to convey your messages?
Park & Ride: 11-week editorial plus advertisement package with local community newspapers, featuring a
draw for those who try out the new facility (prize - one year of paid car insurance). Advertisements in buses
and on the city web site. Visibility of the Park and Ride itself and on-site signage
Active Transportation Path: Signage, inclusion in cycling maps, word-of-mouth from current users noticing
the improvements
Real-time bus departure displays: media advertising (e.g., on buses, web site), word-of-mouth
Community-Based Travel marketing Pilot Project
» Order request form and trip planning request sheet mailed to households segmented as most likely to
change their travel behaviour
» Telephone follow-up to confirm the mailing has been received, answer any questions, and encourage
households to complete and return the form
» Reminder letter to households that have not yet responded after three weeks
» Requested resources, rewards and incentives delivered to households by trained Travel Ambassadors
on bicycle with trailer
43
CASE STUDY #1: CFS
• “By choosing more environmentally-friendly ways
of getting to work, CFS employees earn special
points in our "CarboPOINT" program, calculated
according to the likely reduction in greenhouse gas
emissions. CarboPOINTs can be redeemed each
year in exchange for up to $250 worth of outdoor
gear, gift certificates for fair trade and organic
products, health care services or charity donation.
To make it easier to make these choices, we also
provide 50% of the cost of monthly transit passes, a
“public transit try” program for drivers, assistance in
finding matches and reserved indoor parking for
carpool drivers, and free bicycle tune-ups each
spring. Those who leave their cars behind qualify for
up to four reimbursed emergency trips home each
year and use of a local car share service for work-
related trips during the day.”
–Amélie Laframboise, Investment Analyst at
Fondaction and a member of CFS’s Employee
Committee for Sustainable Transportation.
CASE STUDY #2: GCC’s Active and Safe
Routes to School Program (National
level)
• “Because safety concerns were a key barrier to
parents allowing their children to walk to school, we
helped schools organize “walking school busses” so
that parents took turns walking groups of children to
school. Family surveys provided information to each
school about how students were getting to school
and existing barriers / safety issues along these
routes. The walkabouts then brought together all of
the key stakeholders (politicians, parents and school
administration) to observe these safety concerns,
determine built environment issues, and brainstorm
short and long-term solution. That way they were
fully aware of the issues, had begun discussing them
with the other participating decision makers, and had
become invested in finding a solution.
“Based on our research, we focused on the students
themselves as the key influencers in their families.
We organized IWALK clubs, IWALK Days, and
Winter Walk Days that were easy to join, and that
led to further commitments to walk and cycle at
other times as well. We also encouraged the use of
small incentives and recognition for encouraging
initial and increasing involvement in the program.
To increase word-of-mouth promotion and norm
CFS offered free bicycle tune-ups each spring
(image courtesy of Vélo-Québec and Voyagez Futé).
The GCC’s walkabouts brought together all of the
key stakeholders to observe safety concerns and fin
d
solutions, so they were aware of the issues, had
begun discussing them with other decision makers,
and had become invested in finding a solution.
44
appeals, each student in the pilots received a pencil
case with the logo “It’s Really Cool to Walk to
School,” along with pencils bearing the same logo.
In addition, teacher/principal champions at each of
the 12 pilot schools received reusable mugs bearing
the same message. Our longer-term strategy is to get
the school boards and municipalities to develop
more supportive policies, by engaging enough
schools across each municipality to ask for those
changes.”
–Jacky Kennedy, Program Lead, Green
Communities
CASE STUDY #3: University of Victoria
• “To increase the convenience of cycling on campus,
we provided more than 2,900 bike parking spaces-
including 96 bicycle lockers for rent, covered bicycle
shelters, clothing storage lockers, shower and change
room facilities (now available in 9 buildings), electric
bike charging stations, a self-service bike repair
kiosk, pressurized air hoses, a towel service, bicycles
for facilities and maintenance staff to use on their
rounds, and a bike bursary program for students. We
also widely promoted the annual Bike to Work events
with high participation rates of both staff and
students. We improved walking infrastructure, for
example through crosswalk improvements and
improved roadway signage. To promote use of
transit, we introduced discounted universal student
transit passes (U-Pass) and employee discounted
transit passes (E-Pass).
“We arranged for staff who do not own a vehicle to
get free membership in the Victoria Car Share Co-
Op, providing access to 20 car share vehicles in
greater Victoria, including four on campus. We also
arranged for University staff who get to work using
sustainable modes, to access a University vehicle for
personal or business use during the day. We set
automobile parking fees at market rates (i.e. we do
not subsidize parking) and provide designated
parking for those who rideshare and carpool/vanpool.
We also reduce the number of trips through more on-
campus housing and videoconferencing. We have
created “Green Event” guidelines that advise event
planners to encourage conference and event attendees
to travel to campus using sustainable transportation
such as transit, carpool, cycle or walk.”
–Rita Fromholt, Sustainability Coordinator, University
of Victoria
CASE STUDY #4: Whitehorse Moves
• “We did a number of things to make walking and
cycling more competitive with driving. We
improved active transportation road and trail
infrastructure leading to and within the downtown
core, by introducing new cycling lanes, multi-use
trails, connector paths and stairways, road-diets,
bike parking stalls, a new roundabout at a key
intersection, and a new pedestrian and cycling
bridge. We also offered free basic bike
maintenance courses, held commuter challenges,
and ran a “look who’s cycling now” feature in our
local newspaper. Our long, harsh winters posed a
particular barrier. We ensured that clearing key
trails after snowstorms had equal priority to
clearing key roadways for automobiles. We also
went with seasonally specific themes – walking
and cycling in the spring and summer; carpooling
and transit in the fall and winter.”
–Sabine Schweiger,
Environmental Coordinator, Town of Whitehorse
UVic provides a self-service bike maintenance and
repair kiosk, with pressurized air hoses.
45
6. Establish Partnerships
This chapter discusses partnering with organizations that
share the same interests and goals to reduce barriers,
increase benefits, improve the credibility of your
messages, and facilitate access to your audiences. This
can involve formalizing further activities with the
organizations represented on your planning team and also
reaching out to additional organizations. You’ll find ideas
for the nature and scope of possible contributions, and
potential benefits that might attract partners, in the
Whitehorse Moves case study. Once you’ve completed
this chapter you’ll be ready to approach potential partners.
In Short
Establish mutually beneficial partnerships with
organizations that could adopt a range of
measures or policies to address barriers or
provide additional resources, increase the
credibility of your messages, and facilitate your
access to audiences.
Draw up a written partnership agreement.
Recommendations
Note: The letter beside each recommendation below
corresponds with the worksheet section to which it
applies.
Use Worksheet 6 to organize and summarize your
thinking.
Check if your organization has a partnership or
sponsorship policy, or if it should develop one before
approaching partners, especially from the private sector.
Engage partners at every step, communicate regularly,
and treat your various partners and sponsors fairly.
A. Needs Sought
List the needs that are the most important to fulfill
from partnering. Consider possible contributions
towards: credibility, access to your target audiences,
supportive policies, and resources to implement your
strategy (including funding, staff, volunteers, know-
how, program materials, and facilities).
B. Possible organizations
Given your needs, list possible partners that could
help in those areas. Circle the ones that could be most
helpful.
C. Acceptability
Of those you listed, note which would be partners
that would be acceptable to your organization,
audience, funder, the media and other key
stakeholders.
D. Nature and scope of contribution
Note specifically how you would like each
organization to contribute.
E. Benefits to them
Before approaching potential partner organizations,
analyze them as you would analyze any other
audience. They will expect benefits, may see barriers
and are likely to consult other people before agreeing
to your proposal. Build your case accordingly.
F. Notes
If the potential partner would be more likely to
respond positively if asked by someone they already
know and trust, consider who could make that request
for you. Also note any particular terms of the
agreement that come to mind, and how you might put
your mutual commitments in writing.
46
PRIMARY EXAMPLE – CASE STUDY #4: Whitehorse Moves
Here’s how Whitehorse Moves would have filled in Worksheet 6.
Worksheet 6: Establish partnerships
A. Needs Sought: Expertise, funding for infrastructure improvements, promotion, clearing trails in winter
B. Possible
organizations C.
OK? D. Nature and scope of
contribution E. Benefits to them F. Notes
Cycling
Association of the
Yukon, Riverdale
Community
Association,
Yukon Council on
Disability
OK » Expertise (design and
implementation,
accessibility issues)
» Meet policy /
workplan
objectives
Government of
Canada – One
Tonne Challenge
OK » Funding (consumer
research survey,
promotional slide at
theatre)
» Promoting links with
climate change
» Meet policy /
workplan
objectives
Icycle Sport OK » Incentives (prizes) » Community
promotion and
good will
Klondike
Snowmobile
Association
OK » Clearing trails in winter
(after snowfalls, packing
the main trails into and
out of downtown)
» Community
service
» Recreation
opportunity
Main Street Yukon OK » Support and advice from
downtown businesses
» Funding (landscape
planter boxes)
» Tourism benefits
from improved
trail infrastructure
47
Northern Climate
Exchange OK » Promotion to Yukon
College students and
staff
» Meet policy /
workplan
objectives
Rec. and Parks
Assoc. of the
Yukon
OK » Financial support
» Expertise
» Meet policy /
workplan
objectives
Rotary Clubs of
Whitehorse OK » Funding (“purchase a
plank campaign” for new
pedestrian bridge)
» Community
service
Skookum Asphalt OK » Expertise (design and
construction) » Community
service and
public relations
Transport Canada OK » Contribution towards
funding
» Expertise, advice and
opportunities to
exchange ideas with
others
» Meet policy /
workplan
objectives
Yukon Electrical
Company Ltd. OK » Funding (improved street
and trail lighting) » Meet policy /
workplan
objectives
Yukon Energy
Corporation OK » Funding (new pedestrian
bridge) » Meet policy /
workplan
objectives
Yukon Territorial
Government OK » Funding (cycling
commuter map) » Meet policy /
workplan
objectives
• “We knew it was important to clear the walking and
cycling pathways in the winter, but we didn’t have
the resources to do it ourselves. One of our partners
is a local snowmobile club and they’ve been packing
the main trails into and out of downtown along the
waterfront.”
–Sabine Schweiger, Environmental Coordinator,
City of Whitehorse
48
7. Pre-test and Pilot Test
This chapter describes ways to keep checking with
reality as you develop your program, to identify and
resolve weaknesses, ensure the program will work, and
improve its cost-effectiveness. The case study examples
from GCC’s Active and Safe Routes to School Program
and Winnipeg’s WinSmart Showcase illustrate both in-
depth and quick-and-dirty ways of doing this testing.
Once you’ve completed these tests, you and your
managers / funders can have confidence investing more
resources in your program.
In Short
Pre-testing is necessary to ensure that specific
elements of the program are ready for pilot
testing. Note for small programs27
Pilot testing is necessary to ensure that the
program works, and to measure and improve its
cost-effectiveness. Note for small programs28
In both cases, refinement may be required.
During pre-testing and pilot testing, compare a
number of approaches, so you can learn more
about the strengths, weaknesses and cost-
benefits of each.
27 Note for small programs and those with less financial or
organizational capacity: This step need not be onerous.
Consider going to some pre-scheduled meetings (that
may have a different purpose but include your target
audience), and gathering a few volunteers from your
target audience who are willing to do a focus group in
exchange for a small incentive. If the people you meet
with are not representative of all your key audience
segments, account as best you can for these missing
opinions.
Recommendations
Note: In this chapter there are two worksheets: Pre-
testing (Worksheet 7a) and Pilot testing (Worksheet 7b).
The letter beside each recommendation below
corresponds with the worksheet section to which it
applies.
Pre-Testing (Worksheet 7a)
A. Purpose and Timing
Write down what you want to learn from pre-testing,
and note when you will need that information. You
can pre-test your strategy, tactics, messages,
information products and communication channels,
and you can pre-test at early concept stages as well as
when developing materials. Do not overreact to pre-
test results – use your judgment. Sound planning in
previous steps should not create too many surprises.
Before developing your own program materials, you
may want to check to see if there are existing
communication products that could be used (with
permission, of course) as is or that could be adapted
for your situation. It is advised that you pre-test these
to see how well they would work for your target
audiences and what (if any) changes would be
required.
Typically, pre-testing aims to learn about one or more
of the following factors:
i. Intrusion: When testing tactics, messages,
information products and communication
channels, you can check to see if your
approach would be able to break through the
28 Similarly, you can pilot test even with a very small
project and a shoestring budget. When we say start on a
relatively small scale, we are simply suggesting that you
test out and improve your approach until you are satisfied
that it will meet your objectives, before committing to
widespread implementation.
49
clutter of existing information and get your
audience’s attention.
ii. Impact on barriers and motivators: Test if
your target audiences think your approach
would successfully address their main
barriers to adopting the transportation
behaviours you are promoting, and if the
approach would help motivate them to do
the behaviours.
iii. Impact on behaviour: Ultimately, you will
want to know if your approach is likely to
bring about the desired changes in travel
behaviour and what you can do to make this
more likely.
iv. Other factors: You can also use this
opportunity to check the credibility,
relevance and appropriateness of your
approach. If you are pre-testing messaging
or communications products, ask if anything
is confusing or offensive and also check for
overall comprehensibility and recall.
B. Participants
Decide which segments of your audience you want to
include and exclude in testing.
C. Method
Consider using focus groups, interviews, an
“advisory group”, or trying to have your item added
to an agenda of a pre-scheduled meeting (that may
have a difference purpose but that includes your
target audience).
D. Questions
To get you started, we’ve included the following list
of typical pre-testing questions29
i. What is the main idea of the (program
strategy / concept for a communication
product - such as an ad, brochure etc. /
mock-up of the communication product)?
What is the main message you get from it?
ii. Who do you think it is intended for? (this
helps assess if your target audiences think it
29 Many of these points have been adapted from Siegel, M.
& Doner Lotenberg, L. (2007). Marketing public health –
Strategies to promote social change (2nd ed.). Sudbury,
Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett Publishers
is relevant to them)
iii. What action does it want you / them to take?
iv. How likely would you be to take that action?
If unlikely, what would it take?
v. What aspects will work in influencing you
and people like you to … (the transportation
behaviour being promoted)?
vi. What aspects won’t/don’t work? What, if
anything, discourages you from (doing the
behaviour / making the change)?
vii. Was anything offensive (messaging, images,
etc.)? If so, what didn’t you like? Who
would it offend? If it was offensive, why?
How can it be rectified?
viii. What, if anything, did you particularly like?
Why did you like it? What, if anything did
you particularly dislike? Why did you
dislike it? What could make it better?
ix. When testing messages: Was anything hard
to understand? If so, what? Was anything
hard to believe? If so, what?
When asking questions, order matters. To avoid
biasing answers, wait until later in a session to
explain your program’s objectives, move from open-
ended questions towards ones that ask or probe for
specific answers, and test concepts before messaging
and graphics. If you want to get at participants’ initial
responses before being influenced by others in the
group, ask them to write down their comments before
sharing them.
You can ask about behavioural intentions before and
after presenting your material, to test for impact on
behaviours.
Pilot Testing (Worksheet 7b)
Pilot testing enables you to test out your approach on a
small scale and make improvements before rolling it out
more broadly. Evaluation results may indicate that you
are likely to meet your objectives using the approach - i.e.
your CBSM strategy is ready for broader implementation,
with some improvements to increase program impacts and
reduce cost of delivery. On the other hand, the results may
indicate that the approach is not successful enough to
justify expansion of scope; in this case, it may be
appropriate to adjust the strategy in light of lessons
50
learned and to re-pilot. If you don’t have a budget for
pilot testing, consider using part of your research budget
for this purpose.
E. Participants
Pilot test your entire strategy on a relatively small
scale to allow for troubleshooting problems and
making improvements before widespread
implementation.
F. Evaluation Method
The monitoring and evaluation methods used during
the pilot testing phase should be as similar as possible
to those developed for use during full-scale
implementation. Randomly select one or more groups
that will be approached according to your strategy
(remember to compare a number of approaches, so
you can learn more about the strengths, weaknesses
and cost-benefits of each). At the same time,
randomly select one or more groups that will serve as
a comparison (control” groups). Ensure that you are
able to collect some impact data on an ongoing basis
throughout the pilot (not just at the end of it) so you
make adjustments as necessary and avoid a failed
pilot.
G. Data to Collect
Collect data for each measure (see also chapters three
and eight), starting from before your pilot starts
(baseline) and lasting for a while afterwards (to
measure how your impact is sustained).
FIRST EXAMPLE – Case Study #2: GCC’s Active and Safe Routes to School program.
Here’s an example of a quick-and-dirty pre-test for a DVD, and a more involved pilot study, by
GCC’s Active and Safe Routes to School program
Worksheet 7a: Pre-testing
A. Purpose and Timing (What do you want to learn? When should you carry out the pre-test(s)?)
Planning to use a DVD on walking and cycling safety for children, designed for the classroom use, created in
British Columbia by ICBC in 2006/7; pretest by December 2008 to see if it would be used by teachers under
Ontario’s new curriculum
B. Participants (Which segments of your audience do you want to include and exclude in testing?)
Five teachers
C. Method: Send the DVD to them and get their comments
D. Questions: Would you use it? How often? For what purpose? How much preparation work would you
need to do before using it in your classrooms? What would make it easier to use and more helpful to you?
Worksheet 7b: Pilot testing
51
E. Participants
» Elementary schools in each of four provinces (NS, ON, AB and BC) – 3 pilot and 2 control schools per
province (20 in all)
F. Evaluation Method
» Hands-up classroom survey
» Family survey
» Optional: Traffic/pedestrian/cyclist counts (requires stationing people at each entrance to the school, so it
is very labour intensive)
G. Data to Collect
» Hands-up classroom survey – mode of transportation used by every student in the school to AND from
school for one week
» Family survey – information from every family about present mode of school transportation, routes taken
to school, existing barriers along those route, and attitudes towards school travel
» Optional: Traffic/pedestrian/cyclist counts – number of pedestrians/cyclists/vehicles arriving via that
entrance; unsafe behavior
SECOND EXAMPLE – Case Study #5: Winnipeg’s WinSmart Showcase (Community-
Based Travel Marketing pilot)
The WinSmart Community-Based Travel Marketing pilot tested the effectiveness of the
individualized marketing model within the Winnipeg context. It also served to build local capacity
and expertise to deliver such a program in advance of a large-scale application. Here’s how it would
have filled in Worksheet 7b.
Worksheet 7b: Pilot testing
E. Participants
A total of 2,200 households out of a possible 9,600 households in the pilot project area to be randomly
selected for participation. In future, given ample budget, every household within the selected
neighbourhood(s) would be invited to participate
The neighbourhoods and number of households selected to participate in the pilot project are based on:
» Location within the Pembina Corridor, which represented the focus of the WinSmart initiatives
52
» Mix of demographics in the households reached
» Walking and cycling proximity to destinations and amenities
» Good access to transit
» Proximity to the new WinSmart Active Transportation Pathway, which was under development
» Project timeframe and budget parameters
F. Evaluation Method
One year after the baseline travel survey, participating households complete a follow-up survey and the data
from the two surveys are compared to identify shifts in travel behaviour and to quantify reductions in
household transportation emissions
G. Data to Collect
Household information (name, address, phone number, number of people living in the household and number
of motorized vehicles in the household); demographics for each household member (gender, year of birth,
valid driver’s licence, employment status); general transportation profile for each household member
(frequency of use of public transit, walking, cycling, carpooling); interest in changing behaviour; and one-day
travel specifics for each one-way trip (time of trip start, origin, destination, mode, time of trip end, distance,
whether a motor vehicle is available for the trip)
The WinSmart Community-Based Travel Marketing pilot tested the effectiveness of the individualized marketing model
within the Winnipeg context.
53
8. Implement and Improve Continuously
This chapter looks at how to ensure your program
stays on track, evaluate impact, and increase cost-
effectiveness over time. You’ll see the logic model,
timetable and schedule for GCC’s Active and Safe
Routes to School Program, and find out the impacts of
each of the five case study programs. After doing this
final step, you’ll have a social marketing plan for
changing transportation behaviours.
Recommendations
Note: The letter beside each recommendation below
corresponds with the worksheet section to which it
applies.
Use Worksheets 8a, 8b and 8c to organize and record
your thinking. Plan to innovate and compare
approaches on an ongoing basis so you can increase
cost-effectiveness over time. Consider hiring an
evaluation expert to assist you and maintain objectivity.
Logic Model and Evaluation Methodology
(Worksheet 8a)
Summarize your monitoring and evaluation scheme by
mapping out your logic model. You can use this model
to summarize how your strategy is expected to work
and quickly establish a common language and point of
reference – for example, when gaining cooperation and
approvals from within your organization and when
approaching potential partners and funders. The model
also provides a structure for evaluating progress
towards your objectives, explaining any deviations
from plan, and identifying opportunities to increase
cost-effectiveness. This structure can also be used to
monitor your work as you go and to ensure that your
strategy is delivered according to plan, is reaching the
right audiences, and is successfully changing travel
behaviours.
Use your logic model to summarize how your strategy
is expected to work and quickly establish a common
language and point of reference.
In Short
Plan for ongoing monitoring and evaluation.
Improve continuously.
Before starting your program, set a baseline
(see chapter four) and select one or more
control or comparison groups.
Innovate and compare approaches on an
ongoing basis so you can increase cost-
effectiveness over time.
Monitor some measures frequently to ensure
your program stays on track.
Evaluate impact measures at key milestones.
Establish a realistic and optimal timetable and
budget.
54
A. Inputs
List all of the resources that will contribute
significantly to achieving your program objectives.
Include, for example, your program budget (the
total from Worksheet 8c), the number of staff and
volunteers, partner resources, and anticipated
infrastructure improvements beyond your control
(such as a new cycling trail). When evaluating your
program, account for any changes to these and how
that may have affected your results.
B. Outputs
Write down the main ways by which you will reach
out to and influence your target audiences (these
are the components and deliverables of your
marketing mix, from chapter five). To set
Promotion targets, note how many members of
each target audience you will reach, how
frequently, and though what communication
channels. To set targets for the other three Ps of
marketing (Product, Price and Place), note the
ways you will have reduced key barriers to the
travel behaviours, and other ways you will have
made them more attractive, competitive, easy and
popular. Include, for example, any associated
infrastructure improvements within your control
(such as changes in signage or lane markings).
C. Outcome indicators
List the targets you set in chapter four.
D. Data collection methodology
For each indicator, describe what data you will
collect, and how and when you will collect the
information. If you can, collect mid-term (2-3
years) and long-term impact data, not just
immediate results. Also ensure that you have some
ways of monitoring outcomes (and/or other
indicators of progress towards them) on an ongoing
basis, so you know if you are on track.
Wherever possible, make use of control or
comparison groups (randomly selected groups of
people who did not participate in and were not
exposed to your program). This helps filter out
background changes and influences so that you can
be more confident in measuring the changes that
are actually a consequence of your program. A less
reliable alternative is to simply compare travel
behaviours before and after implementing your
program.
If you can, collect mid-term (2-3 years) and longer-
term impact data.
Timetable (Worksheet 8b)
Specify the tasks, people involved and deadlines to
ensure effective and efficient implementation of your
activities. Assign a competent and dedicated person to
oversee each activity.
E. Establish baselines (see chapter four)
F. Finalize and pre-test the strategy (see chapters
five and seven)
G. Expand existing and establish additional
partnerships (see chapter six)
H. Pre-test messaging (see chapter seven)
I. Pilot test (see chapter seven)
J. Roll out to broader audience (see chapter eight)
K. Monitoring meetings (see chapter eight. Plan for
review meetings to ensure you are staying on
track.)
L. Evaluation milestones (see chapter eight. Set
dates for more formal data collection, analysis
and reporting.)
55
Budget (Worksheet 8c)
M. Revenues
Include all sources of revenue and in-kind
contributions.
N. Expenses
Include all expenses, including staff time and
overhead, outside expertise, research, pre-testing,
pilot testing, monitoring, evaluation, promotion,
taxes, and contingencies.
PRIMARY EXAMPLE – Case Study #2:
GCC’s Active and Safe Routes to
School program
Here’s how GCC’s Active and Safe Routes to School
program would have filled in Worksheets 8a, 8b and 8c,
at the time it was launching its School Travel Planning
initiative.
Worksheet 8a: Logic model and evaluation methodology
A. Inputs (budget, staff, volunteers, partner resources, anticipated infrastructure improvements
beyond your control):
» National program lead and program manager
» Provincial coordinators / consultants
» Five schools (3 pilot and 2 control schools) in four provinces (20 in all)
» $434,000 funding over two years, for four provinces (see budget below)
B. Outputs:
Promotion: IWALK clubs, IWALK Days, and Winter Walk Days; walking school buses; in-school
announcements, competitions, travel counts and recognition programs
Product, Price, Place: school-based program; neighbourhood walkabouts, school travel plans, and
related infrastructure improvements; walking school buses; incentives, competitions and recognition for
initial and more frequent participation
C. Outcome indicators D. Data collection methodology
Short term Proportion of children
walking and cycling to
school
» Hands-up classroom surveys
Longer term Proportion of children
walking and cycling to
school
» Hands-up classroom surveys
» Family surveys
56
Worksheet 8b: Timetable
Typical Tasks Dates Person-in-charge
E. Establish baselines » By October 2008 » Individual schools
F. Finalize and pre-test the
strategy » By October 2008 » GCC program lead and program
manager
G. Establish partnerships » By October 2008 » Individual schools
H. Pre-test DVD » By December 2008 » GCC program lead and program
manager
I. Pilot test » By March 2009 (first
four provinces) » GCC program lead and program
manager
» Individual schools
J. Roll out to broader audience » By March 2012 (six
provinces and one
territory)
» GCC program lead and program
manager
K. Monitoring meetings » Meetings every 4-8
weeks (via Skype,
webinars, and
teleconference)
» GCC program lead and program
manager
L. Evaluation milestones » March 2009 (first four
provinces)
» May 2011 and March
2012 (six provinces
and one territory)
» Individual schools
» Wrap-up by GCC program lead
and program manager
57
Worksheet 8c: Budget
Budget over two years $343,000 as below ($85,750 for each of four provinces).
GCC staff and overhead came to an additional $91,000 over two years.
M. Revenues $
Your organization 0
Funders and sponsors GCC 85,750
Partners (Each province to match GCC contribution) 30,000
Donations 0
Other 0
Total 115,750
N. Expenses $
Managementandstaff‐coordination,mediaandpartnerrelations,selectingand
workingwithsuppliersandvolunteers,Websitemaintenance,etc.
Provincial coordinator
100,000
Expertise and committees 0
Research, pre-testing, pilot-testing, monitoring and evaluation
» Honorarium – all 5 schools
» Detailed traffic counts at one of the 3 pilots
» Incentives
8,000
1,250
3,000
Infrastructure improvements Local expense
Other strategy components, including communication / promotion expenses
Material costs / photocopying
2,000
58
Other / Contingencies
Attend two national face-to-face training and coordination meetings per year
1,500
Total 115,750
Program Impacts and Lessons Learned
At the pilot schools the mode share of active
transportation (walking, walking part-way or biking)
increased from 43.8% during the baseline measurements
to 45.9% during the follow-up measurements. While this
is a modest increase, it was seen as a significant step
forward for the first year of implementation, particularly
since all of the pilot schools had no previous experience
with such programs. GCC’s Active and Safe Routes to
School program knew from previous work with other
schools, that the mode shift would likely grow each year;
in the past, schools with strong program champions and
solid support from both the schools and their
communities, had over time achieved 60% to 80% mode
shares for active transportation.
According to the family follow-up survey, 13% of parents
drove less as a result of participation in the pilot.
On the basis of the pilot organizers decided that in the
next stage of program testing and rollout they would also
pay each participating school $400 to cover data entry.
At the pilot schools, more children walked to school
and their parents drove less.
Impacts From the Other Four Programs
#1: CFS’s Employee Program: At Fondaction, in the
first two years of the program, the modal share for single
occupant vehicles decreased by 15%, from 72% of all
trips to 57% of all trips; transit and carpool use increased
correspondingly. The number of individual commuting
by active transportation has tripled in summer time.
Carpool and transit use increased while use of active
modes tripled in summer.
59
#3: University of Victoria’s Travel Choices TDM program
TRANSPORTATION MODE 2004 2006 2008
SOV 47% 44.1% 37.5%
Carpooling (2 or more people) 11.8% 11.9% 12.7%
Transit 26% 27.4% 31%
Cycling 6% 5.3% 7.1%
Walking 9% 11.2% 11.2%
Skateboarding 0.2% 0.1% 0.3%
There was a 20% modal shift away from SOV driving since 1996, even while the campus population continued to grow.
Purchasing an employee bus pass at the University o
f
Victoria.
#4: Winnipeg’s WinSmart Showcase
Community-Based Travel Marketing pilot: This portion of
the showcase resulted in an 11.7% reduction in drive-
alone mode share and an 18.2% reduction in CO2
emissions for participants’ household trips. The number
of vehicle kilometres travelled also decreased by 5.4%.
There was a 54.3% relative increase in cycling, a 3.4%
increase in walking and an 8% increase in carpooling.
Transit use declined by 7.8%, which was attributed in part
to the fact that the majority (60%) of people who reported
using transit in the baseline survey switched to an active
mode in the follow-up survey.
Park and Ride: Had the new park and ride facility not
been available, 43% of those surveyed would have used a
motor vehicle to commute to work, 45% would have used
an alternative transit route, 6.9% would have used a
combination of modes, and 5% would have used active
transportation or some other form of transportation.
Real-time electronic bus departure displays: Of transit
user surveyed, 44.8% said that they would take at least
one more trip per week specifically because of the
addition of the displays.
Active transportation path: Of trail users surveyed, 14%
said they would have used their car for transportation had
the new path not been available, 12% would have used
transit, 45% and 22% would have cycled and walked
60
using another route, and 6% would have used a
combination of modes.
WinSmart’s Community-Based Travel Marketing
p
ilot observed a 54% relative increase in cycling
among program participants. Photo by Nils Vik.
#5: Whitehorse Moves: 10% increase in the number of
households that had at least one member of the household
walk or cycle downtown. In addition, downtown
commuters increased their frequency of cycling and
walking (between April and October).
In Whitehorse, downtown commuters increased their
f
requency of cycling and walking between April and
October.
61
Piece Together Your
Social Marketing Plan
This chapter contains blank copies of all worksheets, for your convenience. Photocopy or print
them as needed.
Worksheet 1: Form a planning team
A. Planning team members
B. Other stakeholders. Who are they and how and when will you consult them?
C. Schedule the first two to three planning team meetings
D. Terms of Reference. Who will prepare this and by what date will it be done?
62
Worksheet 2a: Focus and rationale
A. Main issues:
B. Why you, why now?
C. Financial limitations:
Worksheet 2b: Behaviors and audiences
D. Transportation
behaviours
List them below:
E. Primary
audiences F. Secondary audiences (who are they and what do you
want them to do)?
63
Worksheet 3a: Audience analysis and segmentation
A. Audience:
B. Travel Behaviour: What you want them to do?
Those who have
adopted the
behaviour
Those who have not
C. Demographic data
D. Benefits and incentives:
Why are/would they do the
behaviour? Will incentives be
required to engage this
audience? If so – what kind of
incentives?
E. Barriers: Why would they
stop / aren’t they? Which
barriers have the greatest
impact and which ones can
you influence most cost-
effectively?
F. Influencers: Who has an
influence on them?
G. What do they perceive the
norm to be? Have most people
like them adopted the
behaviour?
H. Media habits and channels
of communications
64
I. Membership in groups, and
events and places where they
can be reached
J. Segmentation: Among those who have not yet adopted the behaviour, can you identify specific
segments that are more receptive than others? More successful at adopting the new behaviour?
More likely to maintain it? On what basis (elimination of barriers, possible benefits, and/or
demographics)?
K. Key moments: When are your audiences most likely to try and adopt the desired and competing
travel behaviours?
L. Missing information: Which research methods will you use to gather the necessary information
to make strategic decisions?
65
Worksheet 3b: Opportunities and Challenges
M. Competition: With what and/or whom are you competing for your audience’s attention?
Should you compete with or join your competitors?
N. Community Support: Is the community or setting generally supportive and ready or not?
O. Other Opportunities and Challenges: Are there legal, political, social, environmental, economic,
business, technological, ethical or any other considerations and events that represent an opportunity
or challenge?
Opportunities
Challenges
66
Worksheet 4: Objectives
Audience/Segment A. Indicators B. Baseline C. Target Target Date
67
Worksheet 5: Develop the strategy
A. Barriers / Price and Place: What are the most important barriers that discourage your target
segments from adopting the desired travel behaviour? Which ones can you reduce and how will you
do that? Will you need to introduce incentives or disincentives?
A. (continued) Where and when will your audience initiate the action or access the service being
promoted? What facilities, systems, times and other factors can make the desired transportation
options more convenient and pleasant?
B. Product: How can you improve on your product? How are you going to make the desired travel
choice more attractive, competitive and popular?
C. Positioning and branding: How do you want the audience to see the desired behaviour and your
initiative or organization? Will you use some elements (e.g., name, slogan, terms, packaging, graphic
and/or sound elements) to brand the behaviour or your initiative?
Continued…
68
D. Additional Tools of Change: How and when will you prompt people to do the behaviour? How
will you build motivation and reinforce the behaviour over time? For example, how and when will
you ask for commitments, raise the visibility of participation (norm appeal) and provide feedback
and recognition?
E. Promotion – messaging: What messages will you convey? Will they highlight benefits, norms or
influential individuals, promote ways to overcome barriers and/or include specific calls to action?
F. Promotion – channels: What combination of interpersonal channels (e.g., word-of-mouth, home
visits, events, workplace and school place programs) will you select to convey your messages? What
combination of other media channels will you select to convey your messages?
69
Worksheet 6: Establish partnerships
A. Needs Sought:
B. Possible
organizations C.
OK? D. Nature and scope of
contribution E. Benefits to them F. Notes
70
71
Worksheet 7a: Pre-testing
A. Purpose and Timing (What do you want to learn? When should you carry out the pre-test(s)?
B. Participants (Which segments of your audience do you want to include and exclude in testing?)
C. Method:
D. Questions:
Worksheet 7b: Pilot testing
E. Participants
F. Evaluation Method
G. Data to Collect
72
Worksheet 8a: Logic model and evaluation methodology
A. Inputs (budget, staff, volunteers, partner resources, anticipated infrastructure improvements
beyond your control):
B. Outputs:
Promotion:
Product, Price, Place:
C. Outcome indicators D. Data collection methodology
Short term
Longer term
73
Worksheet 8b: Timetable
Typical Tasks Dates Person-in-charge
E. Establish baselines
F. Finalize and pre-test the
strategy
G. Establish partnerships
H. Pre-test DVD
I. Pilot test
J. Roll out to broader audience
K. Monitoring meetings
L. Evaluation milestones
74
Worksheet 8c: Budget
M. Revenues $
Your organization $
Funders and sponsors $
Partners $
Donations $
Other $
Total $
N. Expenses
Management and staff - coordination, media and partner relations, selecting and
working with suppliers and volunteers, Web site maintenance, etc. $
Research, pre-testing, pilot-testing, monitoring and evaluation $
Infrastructure improvements $
Other strategy components, including communication / promotion expenses $
Other / Contingencies $
Total $
75
Resources
( 1 ) Form a planning team
Online
Transport Canada (2010). Workplace Travel
Plans. Provides details about TMAs and other
potential team members focused on workplace
TDM.
http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/programs/environment-
urban-menu-eng-1682.htm
Print
Lagarde, F. (2004). The challenge of bilingualism
– ParticipACTION campaigns succeeded in two
languages. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 95
(Suppl. 2), S30-S32. Examines the factors
associated with successful bilingual campaigns,
including the need to involve skilled English and
French staff and suppliers at every step of the
creative development and production process.
Lagarde, F. (2009). What if your organization
couldn’t care less about social marketing? Social
Marketing Quarterly, 15(2), 105-108. Describes
challenges and opportunities when introducing
social marketing practices to organizations.
( 2 ) Determine focus, behaviours and
audiences
Online
Transport Canada (2009). Compendium of
Canadian survey research on consumer attitudes
and behavioural influences affecting sustainable
transportation. Provides an overview of recent
Canadian research findings, including barriers and
benefits, and identifies sources for locating this
type of information
http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/programs/environment-
urban-menu-eng-2084.htm
Print
Lagarde, F. (2006). Le marketing social. In G.
Carroll (ed.), Pratiques en santé communautaire
(pp. 99-112). Montreal: Chenelière Éducation.
One of the few social marketing resources
available in French, this book chapter provides a
succinct yet comprehensive review of social
marketing principles and planning steps along with
ethical considerations.
Möser, G. & Bamberg, S. (2008). The
effectiveness of soft transport policy measures: A
critical assessment and meta-analysis of empirical
evidence. Journal of Environmental Psychology,
28, 10-26. Provides an extensive review of studies
evaluating three types of soft transport policy
measures including travel planning, public
transport marketing, and travel awareness
campaigns.
Reynolds, L. & Merritt, R. (2010). Scoping. In J.
French, et al. (2010). Social marketing and public
health: Theory and practice (pp. 161-191). Oxford
University Press. Provides systematic
recommendations on how to conduct the initial
and formative steps in planning a social marketing
project.
76
( 3 ) Gather information
Online
ACT Canada and Noxon Associates Ltd. (2009)
Workplace travel plans: Guidance for Canadian
employers. (pp. 22-26 - Tools for Gathering and
Analyzing Information). Transport Canada. The
comments on surveys, counts, consultations (focus
groups and open houses) and key indicators (like
modal share and emissions) are helpful even for
programs that are not work-based.
http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/programs/environment-
urban-menu-eng-1682.htm
Kassirer, Jay. Tools of change: Proven methods
for promoting health, safety and environmental
citizenship. The site’s detailed case studies of
North American travel behaviour programs and its
listings of resources for researching such programs
can be accessed directly at
http://toolsofchange.com/en/topic-
resources/transportation/
McKenzie-Mohr, D. Fostering sustainable
behaviour: Community-based social marketing.
The site’s collection of transportation articles, case
studies and forums can be accessed directly at the
bottom of the home page. www.cbsm.com
Transport Canada (2009). Compendium of
Canadian survey research on consumer attitudes
and behavioural influences affecting sustainable
transportation. Provides an overview of recent
Canadian research findings, including barriers and
benefits, and identifies sources for locating this
type of information.
http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/programs/environment-
urban-menu-eng-2084.htm
Print
Andreasen, A.R. (2002). Marketing research that
won’t break the bank. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Publishers.
Kotler, P. & Lee, N.R. (2008). Social marketing:
Influencing behaviours for good (pp. 96-115).
Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. This comprehensive
and practical textbook is used widely worldwide.
The specific section on conducting a situational
analysis will be particularly useful at this stage of
the planning process.
Lagarde, F. (2004). Worksheets to introduce some
basic concepts of social marketing practices.
Social Marketing Quarterly, 10(1), 36-41.
Introduces some earlier versions of the worksheets
used in this guide along with suggestions for
completing them and lessons learned.
Maibach, E.W. (2002). Explicating social
marketing: What is it, and what isn’t it? Social
Marketing Quarterly, 8(4), 6-13. Provides an
overview of key elements of social marketing
practice that differentiate it from educational
approaches.
McKenzie-Mohr, D. & Smith, W. (1999).
Fostering sustainable behaviour. Gabriola Island,
BC: New Society Publishers. The classic text on
community-based social marketing.
Myers, J.H. (1996). Segmentation and positioning
for strategic marketing decisions. American
Marketing Association.
( 4 ) Set objectives
Online
Environment Canada. EcoAction Community
Funding Program – Funding resource guide
(Section on Objectives).
www.ec.gc.ca/ecoaction/default.asp?lang=En&n=
D10BC75F-1#at_a_glance
Health Canada. Social marketing e-learning tool
– Section 3: Setting objectives. www.hc-
sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/activit/marketsoc/tools-
outils/_sec3/index-eng.php
Kassirer, Jay. Tools of change: Proven methods
for promoting health, safety and environmental
citizenship. Contains case studies showing what
others have achieved. www.toolsofchange.com
77
McKenzie-Mohr, D. Fostering Sustainable
Behaviour: Community-Based Social Marketing.
Contains case studies of what others have
achieved. www.cbsm.com
Transport Canada (2009). Canadian Guidelines
for the Measurement of TDM Initiatives: User’s
Guide. www.tc.gc.ca/eng/programs/environment-
urban-guidelines-practitioners-tdmguide2009-
menu-1657.htm
Print
Myers, J.H. (1996). Segmentation and positioning
for strategic marketing decisions. American
Marketing Association. Describes segmentation
methods in detail.
( 5 ) Develop the strategy
Online
ACT Canada and Noxon Associates Ltd. (2009).
Workplace travel plans: Guidance for Canadian
employers (pp. 22-26 - Tools for Gathering and
Analyzing Information). Transport Canada.
Outlines nine groups of strategy measures for
workplaces.
http://www.tc.gc.ca/eng/programs/environment-
urban-menu-eng-1682.htm
Calstart (2009). A Compendium of Sustainable
Community Transportation Strategies.
http://www.calstart.org/Libraries/First_Mile_Docu
ments/Compendium_of_Sustainable_Community_
Transportation_Strategies.sflb.ashx
Kassirer, Jay. Tools of change: Proven methods
for promoting health, safety and environmental
Citizenship. The site’s detailed case studies of
Canadian and American travel behaviour
programs can be accessed directly at
http://toolsofchange.com/en/topic-
resources/transportation/.
McKenzie-Mohr, D. Fostering sustainable
behaviour: Community-based social marketing.
The site’s collection of transportation articles, case
studies, strategies and forums can be accessed
directly at the bottom of the home page.
www.cbsm.com
National Cancer Institute. Making health
communication programs work. Outlines the basic
planning steps that can help make any
communication program work, regardless of size,
topic, geographic span, intended audience, or
budget. http://cancer.gov/pinkbook/page5
Ogilvie, D. et al. (2007). Interventions to promote
walking: systematic review. BMJ, 334, 1204.
www.bmj.com/cgi/content/full/334/7605/1204
The Health Communication Unit. Select
communication channels and vehicles. Provides a
list of key selection considerations for and detailed
menus of possible communication channels.
http://www.thcu.ca/infoandresources/publications/
StepSixSelectChannelsVehiclesForWebOct9-
03.pdf
Victoria Transport Policy Institute. Online TDM
encyclopedia. Reviews a range of transportation
demand management strategies. www.vtpi.org
Print
Hastings, G. (2007). Social Marketing: Why
should the devil have all the best tunes?
Butterworth Heinemann. (See Chapter 4: Opening
the Toolbox, pp. 59-79). Contains practical steps
and tips for strategy development.
Hornik, R.C. (2002). Exposure: Theory and
evidence about all the ways it matters.Social
Marketing Quarterly, 8(3), 30-37. Demonstrates
the need to devise a strategy for obtaining enough
exposure to messages, through multiple channels,
over time.
Kaplan, A.M., & Haenlein, M. (2010). Users of
the world, unite! The challenges and opportunities
of social media. Business Horizons, 53, 59-68.
Describes the concept of social media and
provides a classification of possible applications.
McKenzie-Mohr, D. & Smith, W. (1999).
Fostering sustainable behaviour. Gabriola Island,
78
BC: New Society Publishers. The classic text on
community-based social marketing.
Mintz, J.H., & Chan, J. (2009). Guide to branding
in the public and not-for-profit sectors. Ottawa,
Ontario: Centre of Excellence for Public Sector
Marketing.
( 6 ) Form Partnerships
Online
Colterman, B. (2008). Elements of
effective partnering, and Using objectives to
simplify your approach towards partners
and sponsors.
http://berniecolterman.wordpress.com/2008/08
and
http://berniecolterman.wordpress.com/2008/03
Print
French, J. (2010). Partnerships in social
marketing. In J. French, et al. (eds.), Social
marketing and public health: Theory and practice
(pp. 301-317). Oxford University Press. Advises
how to select appropriate partners and develop
a partnership management system.
Kotler, P. & Lee, N. (2005). Corporate social
responsibility. John Wiley & Sons. Provides
insight on ways corporations are approaching their
contributions to social issues.
( 7 ) Pre-test and pilot test
Online
Centre for Disease Control. Social marketing for
nutrition and physical activity web course (Start at
www.cdc.gov/nccdphp/dnpa/socialmarketing/train
ing/phase4/pretesting.htm and click on the “next”
button at the bottom right to continue).
McKenzie-Mohr, D. Fostering Sustainable
Behaviour: Community-based social marketing.
www.cbsm.com
National Cancer Institute. Pink book – Making
health communication programs work. (See Stage
Two “Developing and Pretesting Concepts,
Messages and Materials”)
http://www.cancer.gov/pinkbook/page6
Print
Siegel, M. and Doner, L. (2007). Marketing public
health: Strategies to promote social change (2nd
ed.). Sudbury, Massachusetts: Jones and Bartlett
Publishers. Covers all aspects of planning,
implementing and evaluating public health
initiatives.
( 8 ) Implement and improve
continuously
Online
Transport Canada. (2009). Canadian Guidelines
for the Measurement of TDM Initiatives: User’s
Guide. www.tc.gc.ca/eng/programs/environment-
urban-guidelines-practitioners-tdmguide2009-
menu-1657.htm
University of Wisconsin Extension, Program
Development and Evaluation Unit. Logic Models.
Demonstrates how to construct a logic model
showing the intended relationships between
investments and results.
www.uwex.edu/ces/pdande/evaluation/evallogicm
odel.html#more
79
Appendix
Channels of Communication30
The following is a list of channels of
communication to consider.
Interpersonal Interaction
• Word-of-mouth
• Presentations (in settings identified in your
audience analysis)
• Association and club meetings and activities
• Courses / training sessions
• School-based lessons / curriculum
• Workplace activities and meetings
• Social media (e.g. Facebook and Twitter)
Events (these can involve interpersonal interactions
and/or media at the events)
• Family events / gatherings
• Community events / gatherings
• Sport and artistic events
• Conferences
• Contests
• Fairs
30 Adapted from The Health Communication Unit –
University of Toronto and other sources (see
Recommended Readings.)
• Fund-raisers
• Rallies
• Awards ceremonies
Ensure that events will effectively reach the intended
audience. It may be more cost-effective to work within
an existing and successful event to attract your
audience, rather than organizing your own.
Media
• Direct mail: brochures, generic letters, tailored
letters, trial offers, kits, etc.
• Displays
• Magazines: articles, ads
• Newspaper: commentaries, letters to the editor,
news coverage, supplements, advertisements
• Online world31: e-mail (tailored or generic), web
sites, advertisements, blogs
31Web sites are increasingly becoming an important
component of social marketing promotion. Visitors are
information-seekers, who are already receptive to your
product or service. You should therefore provide how-
to information, not just general motivational messages.
Your Web site URL should be given high visibility in all
materials and activities, and should include a name that
is easy to remember. Be sure the Web site is attractive,
easy to navigate, fast to download, interactive, with
reasons for future visits and is consistent with all other
campaign materials.
80
• Other print media: brochures, booklets, flyers,
paycheck stuffers, newsletters, comics/stories,
newsletter articles, newsletter ads, posters, other
print ads
• Outdoor: billboards, signage, transit shelter ads,
bus ads, streetcar ads
• Phone: direct calling with message, hotline (live),
info-line (taped message)
• Point of purchase: brochures / other print materials,
demonstrations, displays, posters, videos, audio
recordings, information booths
• Promotional items: fridge magnets, hats, buttons,
bags, pens, pencils, stress balls, bracelets
• Radio: Community announcements, advertisement,
phone-in shows, news coverage, guest speakers,
editorials / commentaries
• Television: community channel text ads /
messages, documentaries / extended educational
pieces, news coverage, programming,
advertisements
• Movie: product placement, programming
If you consider using the mass media to communicate
your message, determine which approach to take:
Generating publicity is the most realistic approach to
gaining visibility in the media. Getting coverage comes
from personal media contacts, pitching stories to the
right people in the media, preparing for interviews and
selecting spokespeople including celebrities. This may
require training the spokespeople, organizing news
conferences and briefings.32
Paid advertising or unpaid public service
announcements can be a powerful means of
communication, but are also expensive and it can be
difficult to ensure ongoing exposure. If you rely on free
airtime (e.g. PSAs), confirm placement before spending
any money on production. You may want to hire a
media placement consultant or agency (perhaps the
same one that is developing your messages) to
maximize your resources by selecting the right media
with the optimal frequency and duration to reach your
audience and achieve your objectives.
32 Bonk, K., Griggs, H. & Tynes, E. (1999). Strategic
communications for nonprofits. San Francisco, CA: Jossey
Bass.
81
