Whether you’re aiming to tackle violence and anti-social behaviour, increase community confidence or improve the flexibility of local services, digital communications can be a powerful tool to help CDRPs engage a wide cross-section of local communities. But faced with a range of complex challenges and pressures, how can you best use these tools and techniques [...]
Author Archives: icecreates
Making the most of Digital Communications for CDRPs: Five top tips
Wednesday 22nd February 2012 – 12:24 PM
More Effective Highways Services: Your Five Key Steps
Wednesday 15th February 2012 – 1:13 PM
With some of the lowest temperatures of the winter so far and the current culture of “where there’s blame, there’s a claim”, local authorities are taking a hammering on insurance payouts– and that’s driving a reactive culture which concentrates on mitigating insurance risk rather than making the streets safer. So how can councils better deal [...]
Behaviour Change: Can you contribute to international best practice?
Tuesday 14th February 2012 – 2:46 PM
Supporting increased engagement across international and cultural boundaries will be vital to driving sustainable change to some complex and deeply entrenched behavioural challenges for us all. That’s why I’m working with peers internationally to help build a new Europe-wide network of behaviour change specialists. With a working name of the European Social Marketing Association, it’s [...]
What’s in your glass?
Friday 10th February 2012 – 11:18 AM
I have mixed feelings about the Government’s new ‘sneaky drinks’ Change4Life TV ad. Overall, I think it’s got a lot of appeal. But, by focusing on ‘glasses’ and not ‘units’ I do think it misses a key point. This ad specifically talks about the number of glasses people consume, but the fact is [...]
Meeting the challenge of NHS Dental Reforms: Your Essential Guide
Wednesday 8th February 2012 – 12:15 PM
Balancing the need for efficient and effective dental services with the drive to offer a truly people-centric patient experience is at the heart of the new commissioning landscape. As dental practices take ownership of marketing their services to local people – often ‘in competition’ with neighbouring practices – they’re looking to increase patient numbers and [...]
That ‘C’ word
Friday 3rd February 2012 – 10:21 AM
This Saturday is World Cancer Day and this got me thinking. Tackling the prevalence of cancer in our communities is still a major concern, but where do you start when the mere mention of the word makes people change the subject? We know that many people worry about the ‘C’ word, but the truth is, [...]
The Government’s Responsibility Deal: A real commitment to sustainable behaviour change?
Monday 30th January 2012 – 2:20 PM
The recent post by the Lancet (and my response here) reminded me about the extent to which the Government’s Responsibility Deal remains widely regarded with suspicion by many in public health and the voluntary sector. At its launch many commentators described it as “a mess” that needs to be “more ambitious”. The pledges were felt [...]
Sustainable Behaviour Change: Time the world’s leading medical journal had a rethink?
Friday 27th January 2012 – 11:29 AM
So The Lancet believes behaviour change programmes should be abandoned by the Government and replaced by what in their view ‘works’ – a tax and ban approach. Not exactly radical thinking. This, in spite of clear evidences (for example here and here) that tools like choice architecture and social marketing also work. For an august [...]
Engaging communities: Why the power of storytelling really works
Wednesday 25th January 2012 – 4:19 PM
Storytelling can play a powerful role in strengthening community engagement activities and enriching people’s lives. As thousands of people across the UK prepare to take part in National Storytelling Week (28 January-4 February 2012), it’s worth considering how you can use effective storytelling to engage, educate and inspire your target audiences. DOWNLOAD A PDF VERSION [...]
SO Change: managing demand and supporting citizens
Wednesday 18th January 2012 – 3:34 PM
A new study says Councils could potentially save up to £5billion each year by managing customer demand and supporting their citizens to make different lifestyle choices. DOWNLOAD A PDF VERSION OF THIS BLOG HERE It’s reported that the majority of senior-level decision makers questioned believe traditional methods of generating efficiency savings aren’t adequate to meet [...]
