Measuring impact – outputs and outcomes – in public sector communications

Ever wondered about the impact of your campaigns? It’s one thing coming up with a beautiful idea – it’s another thing understanding whether that idea worked.

We are a long-term trusted design partner of Essex County Council and enjoyed working with them on their Love Essex campaign. Integral to this campaign was a measurement system to assess impact. We worked on a suite of Love Essex initiatives, which focused on encouraging residents to waste less, act more sustainably and move towards a circular economy. 

We created messages and campaign creative to support:

  • Waste match-making – aimed at young people around Valentine’s Day, educating residents on correct waste disposal and to increase recycling rates
  • Waste less food challenges – supporting behaviour change around meal planning, food storage and leftovers to prevent food waste
  • Bulky waste responsibility – encouraging responsible disposal of large household items, reducing illegal dumping and promoting reuse schemes
  • Reducing festive food waste – using seasonal messaging to reduce over-purchasing and waste at Christmas and other festive periods
  • Love junk – promoting re-use, repair and upcycling of household items
  • Recycling – reinforcing core messages around household waste management and encouraging residents to recycle more effectively.

Across these campaigns we developed creative concepts, messaging frameworks, digital and print assets, toolkits for local partners and campaign guidelines to ensure consistent delivery across the council’s brand and channels. Our designs were used across social media, print, events and out-of-home placements, always tailored to audience needs and behavioural insights.

Among the many measurement findings:

  • There was a total of 4.6m impressions/impacts on food waste, and a significant increase in the amount of food recycled in Harlow, as well as an increase in the number of items ‘freegled’ in Maldon and Tendering
  • On waste match-making, social media impressions were eight times higher than target and there were three times more website views than target 
  • For bulky waste responsibility, 87% recognised the main message in a post-campaign survey and 61% of people surveyed said they were more likely to donate for reuse after seeing the ads.

The council was able to collect a huge amount of campaign metrics but the figures above give you a quick indication of the results achieved. Here at Touch, we design campaigns that create real societal impact, are visually powerful, empathetically driven and strategically aligned. If you want to achieve more impact with your campaigns, then please get in This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..