Health and Behaviour Change

Client

North Yorkshire County Council

Project

Discoveries on Your Doorstep

Empowering residents in Scarborough and Selby to embrace walking in their local area. 

We were commissioned by North Yorkshire County Council to create and deliver a pilot intervention to target the general public in Scarborough and Selby, with the aim of encouraging more people to walk in their local area. At the heart of the project was a vision for enabling ‘stronger communities’ by empowering our target audiences to engage with their local area, to feel a sense of pride, and really take ownership of them!                                        

The main objective of the brief was to positively change people’s perceptions of walking and inspire more people to active in the local area. We needed to find the key motivations to making this happen. Other objectives included:

  • To encourage communities to discover and enjoy local trails and by doing so, improve their health and wellbeing.
  • To empower individuals, families, friends and community groups to promote the trails to others.
  • To engage key groups of people where the biggest impact could be made (groups where obesity and pre-obesity is prevalent).
  • To create a vibrant social movement in both Scarborough and Selby.

We created the Discoveries on Your Doorstep campaign, which encompassed a collection of local walking trails with various nature, history or culture sights people could visit whilst walking.  

Stronger Communities is an ambitious programme funded by Public Health, delivered through NYCC to help communities have more control over the delivery of services in the county.

The programme’s aim is to have strong and vibrant communities in all parts of North Yorkshire, using their knowledge, skills and drive to work with the Council and others, to develop a wide range of local services that maximise the wellbeing of local people. 

The project was based on the insight from six communities across Scarborough and Selby, which were identified by NYCC and Public Health as being in need of positive health interventions

The campaign creation and delivery was driven by insight and championed by passionate local residents.

We decided on the brand name ‘Discoveries on your Doorstep’ as we wanted to communicate a sense of adventure and excitement, as well as encourage local people to explore the hidden gems around them. We chose the word ‘trails’, as from our insight we found that referring to them as ‘walks’ would associate them with being inaccessible for wheelchairs and pushchairs, when in fact the routes were suitable for all!

We chose a bright colour palette, reflective of the colours you would see when out walking, and inspired by the woodland, fields and seaside in Scarborough and Selby. These earthy colours, matched with a rough and ‘outdoorsy’ brand font and friendly iconography created an inviting identity for the campaign.

The free, downloadable trails allow the public to discover everything from the waterways and locks in Selby to the Easter Island statues that sit on Jonno’s Field in Scarborough.

In addition to the trail maps, we also created children’s explorer packs, with fun, free and fascinating things to see and do, as well as advice and resources for community groups and businesses who were interested in setting up their own walking group.

Marketing deliverables for this campaign included social media, website and print assets, supporter packs and a number of PR students and events.

There were three core components that made this project approach so unique:

Community co-creation: We formed a strong partnership with community groups before the campaign was launched, to ensure we had a good understanding of the barriers and motivations around walking – all of which influenced the brand, messaging and media channels we used!

 Creating community champions: We worked with groups of local volunteers, community groups and businesses to act as ambassadors for the campaign. It was really important to find passion people who would help us fly the flag for the campaign and deliver the positive messages to others.

A network marketing approach: We created a wealth of the marketing tools and resources for to help our community champions promote the trails through their community networks.

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