LowCVP launches Cars NOT Carbon marketing challenge
The LowCVP is launching the ‘Cars NOT Carbon’ marketing challenge, a competition to promote greener motoring marketing.
[ClickPress, Wed Mar 07 2007] The Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership launches a ‘greener’ motoring marketing competition targeting the professional marketing and educational sectors.
The Low Vehicle Carbon Partnership is launching the Cars NOT Carbon marketing challenge to promote greener motoring, including ‘smarter driving’ and greener transport choices. The competition is designed to engage marketers, students and industry stakeholders in the production of compelling creative concepts based on ‘real world’ cars and fuels and on greener travel behaviour. The winning work will be viewed by senior industry executives from the motor, fuels and related industries and will be showcased at the LowCVP’s annual conference on June 28th.
The Cars NOT Carbon competition will be judged by a group of leading representatives of the advertising and communications industries, working alongside environment specialists and experts from the automotive, fuels and related industries. There is a panel of 12 judges and a chair including John Elkington, Founder and Chief Entrepreneur - Sustainability, Bruce Haines, Group CEO - Leo Burnett, Sue Adkins, Director - Business in the Community, Mark Hall, Marketing Director - Toyota and Andy Taylor, Director of Sustainability & Corporate Citizenship - Ford Europe. (See full list of judges - note 3 below)
The LowCVP is a partnership of nearly 250 organisations from the automotive and fuel industries, Government, academia, environmental NGOs and road user groups. The Partnership was established with Government funding in 2003 to help accelerate the shift to low carbon vehicles and fuels.
Marketing communications agencies nationwide and students on relevant educational courses are invited to produce creative ways of communicating greener motoring messages with submissions made across marketing disciplines and media channels. The campaigns will be judged on their originality and creative content as well as on the potential effectiveness of their message. It is hoped that the competition will lead to the production of fresh ideas and persuasive communication around the issue of sustainable mobility in the road transport sector.
Concern about climate change has reached unprecedented levels and experts are predicting an explosion in the demand by manufacturers to develop new communications approaches to increase demand for greener products. The motor industry alone spends nearly £1bn a year on advertising.
The Cars NOT Carbon competition comes in the wake of the European Commission’s new proposals to reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions from new cars and vans sold in the European Union, and will form the centrepiece of the LowCVP’s high profile conference on the 28th June 2007 in London. The conference will focus on communication and marketing approaches designed to encourage the purchase of lower carbon vehicles and fuels, greener methods of driving and alternatives to the use of private motor transport. Ultimately, it should also engage and encourage manufacturers to offer greener models and to adopt greener practices.
With nearly a quarter of all the UK’s carbon emissions being produced by road transport and with the prospect of new European regulation for low carbon cars and vans, as well as UK proposals for a biofuels obligation, there is strong pressure on car and van makers and fuel suppliers to respond to the low carbon agenda.
With stronger, clearer promotion consumers will begin to realise the only long-term solution is greener motoring. The Cars NOT Carbon competition is an opportunity to develop appropriate communication strategies.
It is clear that the communications industry itself is beginning to gear up to better communicate the low carbon agenda. The Financial Times’ recently reported that: “The biggest advertising agencies are predicting a wave of green marketing campaigns as businesses compete on their environment claims – some even arguing that it could become a matter of their very survival.” (‘Wave of Eco-marketing Predicted’, Carlos Grande, Financial Times, 12 Feb 2007)
Douglas Alexander, Secretary of State for Transport, whose Department help to fund the LowCVP said: "It's important we all take action to tackle climate change and I hope that the LowCVP's Cars NOT Carbon competition will help to engage the creative energies of marketers, car makers, energy suppliers and others in helping us move to a lower carbon transport future."
Greg Archer, the LowCVP Director said: “There are increasing pressures – and growing incentives – for car makers and fuel suppliers to make and market greener, lower carbon products. I expect that there will be an explosion in demand for ‘greener’ approaches to marketing from motor and fuels companies in future, and from other businesses with a direct stake in the low carbon transport agenda.”
According to Bruce Haines, Group CEO, Leo Burnett “Communicating sustainability at all levels is clearly becoming a prerequisite for brands and agencies alike. The challenge will be to collaborate and engage all stakeholders and policy makers across the communications spectrum to engender change from within with immediate affect.”
For more information visit the competition website: www.lowcvp.org.uk (follow the Cars NOT Carbon link)
ENDS
Notes to Editors:
1. New LowCVP website: The Cars NOT Carbon micro-site appears on the newly revamped LowCVP website. The new website continues to feature the latest news and political developments and also has enhanced search functions to enable visitors to easily access over 1000 items of news, reports and studies, viewpoints, press releases, presentations, events, links and other documents and downloadable resources that are available on the site.
The website includes a host of new features including: a 'Viewpoints' section containing agreed Partnership positions; an 'Events' area giving a quick guide to relevant upcoming conferences, seminars etc; an on-line opinion poll; a 'Members Directory' for quick reference and contact details for the LowCVP's near 250 members; and a password-protected members-only area for works in progress and meeting papers.
2. The Low Carbon Vehicle Partnership was set up in January 2003 with funding from the DfT and the DTI and a mandate to accelerate the shift to low carbon vehicles and fuels. The establishment of a stakeholder partnership was one of the central actions arising out of the Government’s ‘Powering Future Vehicles’ strategy (2002) which highlighted greenhouse gas emissions reduction as a priority of future transport policy. The Partnership comprises about 250 members representing government, the motor and fuels industries, vehicle users, environmental groups, consumer representatives and others.
3. By 2050 the UK Government aims to reduce UK emissions of carbon dioxide by 60%. Road transport contributes around a quarter of the UK’s total emissions of this most significant greenhouse gas. The Government has also set a target for sales of low carbon cars of 10% by 2012. Sales of vehicles classed as ‘low carbon’ are currently very small.
4. Full list of Judges
Chair
John Elkington, Founder and Chief Entrepreneur, Sustainability
Judges
Sue Adkins, Director, Business in the Community
Bruce Haines, Group CEO, Leo Burnett
Mark Hall, Marketing Director, Toyota
Stephen Joseph OBE, Executive Director, Transport 2000
Mike Longhurst, Senior Vice-President, EMEA Corporate Affairs, McCann Erickson
Alison Lucas, Director of Communications, The Climate Group
Philip New, Senior Vice-President, Biofuels, BP
Naresh Ramchandani, Guardian Journalist
Philip Sellwood, CEO, Energy Saving Trust
Andy Taylor, Director of Sustainability & Corporate Citizenship, Ford Europe
Jo Parry, Head of Strategic Marketing, DEFRA
Caroline Marshall, Consultant Editor, Haymarket Brand Media
For further information on the LowCVP visit (www.lowcvp.org.uk) or contact:
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