Numbers of subscribers to the London air pollution alert service have more than doubled, thanks to an eye-catching new advertising campaign.
airTEXT, a free service delivered by a consortium of the London Boroughs and Slough Borough Council enlisted the services of creative communications and marketing agency, diva creative, back in August to help raise its profile amongst people living or working in London or Slough.
airTEXT is underpinned by CERC’s YourAir service, which generates twice-daily air pollution forecasts from the ADMS Urban dispersion model, using input data from the London Atmospheric Emissions Inventory and regional scale background pollution data from CHIMERE, a model run by the French-led PREV’AIR consortium. Subscribers select which borough they would like to receive the alerts for; the message format (SMS, email or recorded message to their telephone); and whether they would like to receive alerts at 7pm for the following day or at 7am for the rest of that day. When air pollution forecasts reach moderate or higher levels, the system sends an automatic alert to the subscriber, by their chosen method.
Using a ten-week advertising campaign on London buses, tube trains and in the local media, diva creative were able to highlight to Londoners how air pollution can affect their health, particularly if they suffer from a heart or lung condition, and how the free service would alert them, so that they could take precautions, such as carrying their reliever medication with them when they go outside, to look after their health.
Amanda Pearce, director of diva, said: “Our experience of marketing for clients within the environmental sector, particularly around campaigns designed to raise awareness of air quality, including South Yorkshire’s care4air campaign, meant we had a solid understanding of where the emphasis needed to be when promoting airTEXT.
“Although public awareness and understanding of poor air quality and air pollution is probably higher now than ever, awareness of the risks it can pose to our health is rather less so, and this is something we sought to address.
“In the period from the end of August to the middle of October, the number of airTEXT subscribers showed an increase from 1,967 to 3,707 - this shows how the public are taking the information on board."
Due to the success of the initial phase of the campaign, diva creative has been asked to take the campaign on to phase two, which will focus upon raising airTEXT’s profile amongst parents and carers whose children suffer from a health condition affected by air pollution, such as asthma; and also amongst health professionals.
For more information on airTEXT and to subscribe, visit www.airtext.info