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Business: Transportation

Anti-Idling Campaign

Final Report

November 2002

1.0 Introduction

1.1 Backdrop for the Anti-Idling Campaign
The Canadian Petroleum Products Institute (CPPI) is an association of Canadian companies involved in the refining, distribution and/or marketing of petroleum products for transportation, home energy and industrial uses. Collectively, CPPI member companies operate 17 refineries (representing 80 per cent of Canadian refining capacity) and supply 10,000 branded stations with transportation fuels across Canada. CPPI is interested in promoting the efficient use of transportation fuels and other petroleum products as part of a broad energy conservation communication platform. CPPI views this communication platform from a business perspective, recognizing the importance of engaging consumers in a dialogue that makes a link between their fuel consumption practices, personal transportation spending and effects on the environment.

At first glance, it may strike some as strange that gasoline companies are advising motorists about how they can conserve fuel. The CPPI's member companies are promoting the efficient use of fuels – and other petroleum products – as part of a broad energy conservation program. The program links consumer consumption, personal transportation spending and cleaner air. Basically, we are reminding people that, if they want a lower overall energy bill and want to contribute to cleaner air, they should take a close look at how they use gasoline and all other forms of energy. – Alain Perez, CPPI President

Over the past year, CPPI and Natural Resources Canada's (NRCan's) Office of Energy Efficiency worked jointly with the Public Policy Forum to obtain a better understanding of what actions could be taken to help motorists make a clearer link between fuel consumption, personal transportation spending, and environmental impacts. As a key outcome from this initiative, an anti-idling public awareness campaign involving CPPI member company retail sites was proposed as a concrete first step in the new energy conservation communication program. Unnecessary vehicle idling – leaving one's engine running for more than ten seconds when parked – was identified as a key focus for this initial campaign as it wastes fuel and money, and is also a contributor to air pollution, greenhouse gas emissions and climate change.

1.2 Campaign Overview and Funding
The Anti-Idling Campaign was jointly initiated and funded by CPPI and NRCan's Office of Energy Efficiency (on behalf of the Government of Canada). Five CPPI member companies – Esso, Shell, Petro-Canada, Canadian Tire and Sunoco – participated in developing and implementing the campaign, which ran during the last two weeks of August 2002.

At the outset of the project, the campaign partners determined that a pilot campaign should be developed and tested, prior to future campaign roll-outs in other Canadian cities and broader, national implementation. With this approach, strong emphasis was placed on monitoring and measuring the pilot campaign's effectiveness, so that lessons learned could be incorporated into future campaigns.

Mississauga, Ontario, was identified as the initial test location for the pilot campaign. The City of Mississauga was selected because of its leadership role on anti-idling, having initiated a citywide anti-idling campaign in the fall of 2001. The petroleum industry's pilot campaign was seen as complementary to Mississauga's citywide anti-idling initiative, with CPPI's focus on testing gasoline retail sites as venues for communicating with motorists about vehicle idling issues.

More than 50 Esso, Petro-Canada, Shell, Sunoco, and Canadian Tire stations participated in the two-week campaign, which used posters, banners, cling vinyl window decals, air fresheners and information cards to raise awareness about idling at the gas station level. Student "ambassadors" were on hand at the participating sites to distribute materials and seek commitments from motorists to avoid unnecessary idling. Newspaper, transit shelter and radio ads were also used to remind drivers to reduce unnecessary idling throughout the Mississauga area.

Participating CPPI member companies also introduced the Anti-Idling Campaign to their employees through the distribution of campaign materials, and posting of anti-idling signs at head office locations in the Greater Toronto Area.

1.3 Campaign Objectives
The overall objectives of the Anti-Idling Campaign were to:

  • Test methods of communicating the anti-idling message to drivers at gasoline retailing sites;
  • Increase awareness among the driving public of the problems created by excessive idling; and
  • Encourage the reduction of idling whenever and wherever it occurs.

1.4 Overview of Campaign Report
This Final Report has been prepared by Lura Consulting on behalf of the project's funders, partners and participating CPPI member companies. Following this Introduction, the report describes the overall campaign design and specific approaches used (Section 2.0), the results emerging from the campaign (Section 3.0) and proposed future directions based on lessons learned (Section 4.0).

2.0 Campaign Design and Implementation

2.1 Key Starting Points for the Campaign: Community-Based
Social Marketing

The Anti-Idling Campaign used the unique methodologies of Community-Based Social Marketing (CBSM) to encourage drivers to avoid idling their engines. CBSM is an innovative approach to facilitating behaviour change, emphasizing personal contact and communications, and providing an attractive alternative to traditional information-based public outreach campaigns. It involves identifying the barriers to an activity, designing a strategy to overcome those barriers using knowledge from the social sciences, piloting the strategy to ensure that it is successful, and then implementing it on a broader scale.

CBSM approaches have been used with increasing success to address the idling issue in numerous Canadian communities – including as part of the City of Mississauga's broad anti-idling campaign – over the past several years. In addition, CBSM techniques were recently applied at gasoline stations in Mississauga as part of the "Promoting Correct Tire Pressure Project." The results from this project were invaluable in developing the Anti-Idling Campaign approaches at the station level.

Idle-Free Zone Web Site
The campaign approach and tools were drawn directly from NRCan's Idle-Free Zone Web site (http://oee.nrcan.gc.ca/autosmart/idling), which has extensive information to support the design and development of anti-idling campaigns using CBSM techniques. This Web site features extensive background information on the idling issue as well as downloadable tools, including:

  • Market research on attitudes and behaviours related to idling, and barriers to public participation in anti-idling campaigns.
  • "What you can do" to reduce idling as an individual, group, business, municipality or school, and tips for setting up community-wide or site-specific anti-idling initiatives.
  • An overview of Community-Based Social Marketing, and how its techniques can be applied to reduce unnecessary idling.
  • The Anti-Idling Tool Kit, including:
    • Fact sheets on idling;
    • Calculators and worksheets;
    • Games and quizzes; and
    • Ready-to-use graphics such as logos, images, posters, brochures, stickers, a PowerPoint presentation, an information card, an idling observation form, the Personal Five-Step Action Plan and sample letters to the editor.

In particular, the Web site graphics and sample materials provided an important starting point for the campaign, enabling the key communications materials – posters, banners, cling vinyl window decals, air fresheners and information cards – to be developed quickly and cost-effectively.

2.2 Campaign Development
The development of the Anti-Idling Campaign involved three key activities:

  1. Selection of gasoline retail outlets for the campaign;
  2. Identification of CBSM strategies; and
  3. Development of project communication materials.

Selection of Gasoline Retail Outlets for the Campaign
In consultation with the participating CPPI member companies, four key criteria were used to select stations for the campaign:

  • the physical layout of the gas station must lend itself to the distribution of information on vehicle idling, the posting of signs and the conducting of personal discussions with motorists;
  • the gas station must be entirely or partially self-serve, to give project staff an opportunity to approach drivers while they are filling their own tanks;
  • the volume of customers should be high enough to support a significant amount of personal contact with drivers; and
  • the manager of the gas station must be willing to participate in the campaign.

Using these criteria, 51 gasoline stations in the City of Mississauga were selected to participate in the campaign.

Identification of CBSM Strategies
Drawing on the approaches of Community-Based Social Marketing, it was determined that an effective anti-idling strategy would include the following elements:

  • First, motorists need to be reminded to turn off their vehicles when parked. To accomplish this, it was decided that the campaign would use a combination of signs, banners and posters at participating gas stations. These station level awareness-building approaches would be augmented by an over-arching media campaign, including newspaper, transit shelter and radio advertising.
  • Second, personal contact is important. It was determined that the campaign would feature the use of anti-idling "ambassadors" to approach motorists and speak to them about the importance of avoiding unnecessary idling.
  • Third, motorists would be asked to make a commitment to avoid idling while parked for more than ten seconds.

Development of Project Communication Materials
Drawing on the graphics and tools on the Idle Free Zone Web site, communications materials were developed to support implementation of the campaign:

Idle-Free Zone Signs: These were placed in gas station parking areas where motorists were most likely to leave their engines running while parked, to remind them to not idle.

Idle-Free Zone Banners: These were hung in areas of the gas station that were highly visible to passing motorists, as well as those drivers entering the station, to provide additional reach for the campaign message.

Meet the Idle-Free Crew Sandwich Boards: These portable signs were placed at the entrance to the gas station to alert motorists that project staff were on site to talk to them about the benefits of not idling.

Idling Gets You Nowhere Information Cards: These were provided to motorists at participating stations. The two-sided card indicated that turning off your engine when parked saves money, has health and environmental benefits, and promotes more efficient use of energy. The information card also included five simple steps individuals can take to reduce unnecessary idling, as well as a link to NRCan's Idle Free Zone Web site and 1-800 number.

Idling Gets You Nowhere Decals: Project ambassadors asked motorists to make a public commitment to turn their engine off when parked by placing a cling vinyl decal in their vehicle's window.

Idling Gets You Nowhere Air Fresheners: As an additional incentive and reminder to motorists to turn their engines off when parked, project staff also offered air fresheners to motorists to hang from their rearview mirror.

Idling Gets You Nowhere Hats and T-shirts: Project staff wore hats and t-shirts to give the campaign a uniform appearance, to help put customers at ease when being approached, and to serve as additional prompts for motorists to turn off their engines when parked.

Key Anti-Idling Campaign Messages

  • Turn your engine off if you are going to be stopped for more than 10 seconds, except in traffic.
  • You can save fuel, money and contribute to cleaner air by turning your engine off when parked.
  • Idling gets you nowhere!
  • If every Canadian motorist avoided idling their vehicle for just 5 minutes each day of the year, we could prevent more than 1 million tonnes of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere.
  • All it takes is the turn of a key.

Campaign Communication Materials

Campaign Communication Materials.

Campaign Communication Materials.

2.3 Campaign Implementation
The campaign took place over a two-week period in late August of 2002 at 61 Esso, Petro-Canada, Sunoco, Shell and Canadian Tire gas stations in Mississauga. The stations were randomly divided as follows:

  • Intervention Stations (51 stations): These stations had signs, sandwich boards, banners and interventions which involved project staff approaching motorists with the information card, decals and air fresheners;

  • Control Stations (10 stations): These had neither signs nor project staff conducting interventions, providing a basis for comparison with the intervention stations. Approximately 20 project staff were recruited and trained to approach motorists at selected stations with the information card, cling vinyl decal and air freshener. Motorists were then offered the information card and air freshener and asked to make a commitment to turn off their engine while parked by posting the decal on their windshield.

Interventions were conducted for approximately 1 hour and 45 minutes daily at each participating station between the hours of noon and 8 p.m. from Tuesday to Saturday. These times and days were selected to capture the full spectrum of gas station use, including during business hours, evening rush-hour, and weekends. In addition, the ambassadors worked in male-female pairs to enhance their comfort level and safety, with female staff instructed to approach female motorists wherever possible, in order to help make women motorists as receptive as possible.

Media Campaign and Launch
In addition to the signs and interventions at gas stations, a broader media campaign was developed and implemented, targeting the general driving public. The media campaign included a media launch, paid advertisements on the radio and in newspapers, and transit shelters posters. The media launch included a mime, the NRCan mascot and all of the anti-idling "ambassadors" in their "Idling Gets You Nowhere" t-shirts and hats performing the Anti-Idling Salute. There were also opportunities for key dignitaries, including CPPI representatives (Boris Jackman, CPPI Chair and Executive Vice President of Petro-Canada; Alain Perez, President of CPPI; and Bob Clapp, Vice President), and the Minister of Industry, the Honourable Allan Rock (speaking on behalf of the Ministers of Natural Resources and Environment) to comment about their commitment to reduce idling and encourage energy conservation amongst the driving public.

Duration/Percent Reduction of Idling by Strategy.

Percent Idling at School Sites by Strategy.

Duration/Percent Reduction of Idling at School Sites by Strategy.

Percent Idling at TTC Sites by Strategy.

2.4 Campaign Evaluation
Evaluation of the effectiveness of the campaign was carried out using a number of methods.

Media Coverage Tracking
Tracking the media's interest in and coverage of the launch and campaign allowed the project's funders and partners to gauge the general level of interest in the topic and the reach of the campaign's key messages.

Intervention Results
Tracking the response of members of the public to being approached by project staff at gas stations gives a picture of how well received the interventions were and people's overall willingness to discuss the topic, receive anti-idling information and make a commitment to reduce unnecessary idling.

Pre- and Post-Campaign Telephone Surveys
Telephone surveys were conducted both before and after the campaign among Mississauga residents who drive a car at least once a week to help evaluate the campaign's impact on idling awareness and behaviours.

Personal Interviews
Similarly, pre- and post-campaign interviews were conducted with members of the public at several intervention sites, as well as at control sites and a community location (a shopping centre) in order to receive in-person feedback on the campaign.

3.0 Campaign Results

3.1 Media Coverage
The media launch generated substantial interest in the campaign, with extensive coverage by television, radio and print media outlets, as summarized below:

Television

  • Global TV (national and local news coverage)
  • Focus Ontario (Global TV)
  • Canada Now (CBLTTV)

Radio

  • Windsor Now (CKLWAM)
  • CBC Radio One (Toronto and Ottawa regional news)
  • Radio News (CJCL-AM)
  • Radio News (CHSJ-AM)

Print

  • Globe and Mail
  • National Post
  • Toronto Star
  • Mississauga News
  • Environmental News Service (international wire service)

Of particular note, Focus Ontario (Global TV) named the Anti-Idling Campaign launch the Political Play of the Week, recognizing it as the best political announcement of that week. CHSJ-AM Saint John announced that the Clean Air Coalition was urging Saint John to follow Mississauga's lead, emphasizing that the campaign was a joint initiative between the federal government and the CPPI. In addition, CPPI representatives fielded numerous inquiries from different parts of Canada – including Belleville, Fredericton, Toronto, Kelowna, and the Northwest Territories – asking about the campaign, and whether it would be repeated elsewhere.

3.2 Interventions
The reaction of drivers to being approached by the anti-idling ambassadorsat the participating station sites was overwhelmingly positive. Of the over 11,000 motorists who were approached in the two weeks of the campaign, 86% were willing to discuss idling issues with the ambassador, 85% took the information card, and 81% took the cling vinyl windshield decal, making a commitment to reduce unnecessary idling. An impressive 20% posted the decal in their windshields on the spot, making public their commitment to reduce idling.

Thoughts from Motorists on the Campaign

  • I hate idlers…I don't idle because I can't afford it.
  • You guys are doing a great job…keep it up!
  • You should talk to the bus drivers and truck drivers too.
  • Is this for free?

The table below summarizes the reactions of gas station customers approached by project staff during the interventions. The data show that men represent almost three-quarters of those approached, but that there is no appreciable difference between men and women in their willingness to talk, take an information card, take a sticker, post the sticker on their windshields or take an air freshener.

  Men Women Total
People approached 8,202 (73%) 2,984 (27%) 11,186
Willing to talk 7,068 (86%) 2,558 (86%) 9,632 (86%)
Took card 6,958 (85%) 2,494 (84%) 9,459 (85%)
Took decal 6,662 (81%) 2,389 (80%) 9,057 (81%)
Used sticker 1,668 (20%) 587 (20%) 2,255 (20%)
Took air freshener 6,314 (77%) 2,250 (75%) 8,570 (77%)

Based on experience with similar projects, the intervention results are impressive. In particular, the 20% rate of posting the decal on the windshield is relatively high and indicates an excellent rate of successful interactions with the public. The air fresheners were also found to be highly popular with drivers, with 77% taking the free offering.

3.3 Telephone Survey

Methodology

The impact of the Anti-Idling Campaign was measured using pre- and post-campaign telephone surveys:

  • A pre-campaign survey – conducted August 12 and 13 – was used to establish benchmark data for awareness of and attitudes towards unnecessary vehicle idling.
  • A post-campaign survey – conducted August 27 and 28 – was completed to measure the effectiveness of the campaign, and provide a basis for comparison with the pre-campaign benchmark data.

In each survey, 300 interviews were completed with Mississauga residents who drove a car, truck, van or SUV at lease once in an average week. The survey results for a sample this size are accurate within +/- 5.8 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Highlights of Findings
The following provides a summary of key findings from the telephone surveys. Additional information is contained in the campaign survey report, which is available under separate cover.

Campaign Awareness

  • Overall, the anti-idling campaign reached a large proportion of respondents in the Mississauga community. In the post-campaign survey, 52% claim to have seen, read or heard promotions related to the issue of vehicle idling on an unaided (47%) and aided (5%) basis. By comparison, 34% of respondents indicated that they were aware of anti-idling promotions in Mississauga in the pre-campaign survey. (The baseline awareness of 34% of anti-idling promotions is high in Mississauga, due to the citywide campaign that has been running in the City since October 2001.) This represents a 65% increase in public awareness of the idling issue as a direct result of the campaign.

  • Among those who claimed to recall anti-idling promotions, the vast majority (81%) correctly identified at least one campaign message (proven recall). Re-percentaged among the total sample surveyed, 42% of all respondents had proven recall of the campaign, indicating that the campaign was effective in spreading the anti-idling message.

  • "Turn off engines when stopped for more than 10 seconds", was the most frequently mentioned main message (45%).

Impact of Campaign on Vehicle Idling Behaviour

  • Generally, the campaign resonated with respondents and is likely to persuade changes in vehicle idling behaviours. Concerned that vehicle idling is a problem, almost half (46%) say that the anti-idling campaign is likely to motivate them to change their current idling behaviours. Further, half (23%) of these respondents say that the impact of the campaign will dramatically affect their idling in the future. This suggests that the anti-idling campaign was effective in creating awareness and encouraging motorists to reconsider their idling habits.

Perceived Severity of Vehicle Idling

  • Overall, the majority of respondents (85% in the post-campaign; 87% in the precampaign) perceive vehicle idling to be a problem (those who scored a 4 or more on a 10 point scale).

  • Half of the respondents (50% of the post-campaign; 47% of the pre-campaign) believe the problem is serious (scored 8-10), with one quarter (25% post-campaign; 20% pre-campaign) who view idling as a very serious problem (10). Few (15%) do not consider idling a moderate or serious problem, suggesting that the public well is aware of the hazard that idling poses to the environment.

  • Females are more likely than their male counterparts to acknowledge idling as problematic (54% vs 45% in the post-campaign; 49% vs 44% in the pre-campaign).

  • Similarly, results in both surveys suggest that age influences the perceived severity of vehicle idling in that older respondents are more likely to think idling is a problem.

Problems Associated with Vehicle Idling

  • In both surveys, pollution (64% post-campaign; 65% pre-campaign) emerged as the most serious impact associated with vehicle idling among those who rated the severity of the idling problem as a 2 or more. Specifically, respondents identified general pollutants (46% post-campaign; 42% pre-campaign) and exhaust fumes (17% post-campaign; 19% pre-campaign) as the most serious impact associated with vehicle idling.

Arguments to Stop Vehicle Idling

  • Corresponding to perceptions that idling creates unnecessary pollution, the majority says that they would stop idling if it would improve air quality (70% post-campaign; 69% pre-campaign).

  • In the post-campaign survey, females (73%) and those who perceive idling as a serious problem (78% who score 8-10) are more likely to be convinced of this argument.

  • Conversely, only 16% in the pre-campaign and 14% in the post-campaign would be convinced to stop idling to save money on gas. In both surveys, saving money is a greater motivation among men, younger respondents (under 35) and those who do not perceive idling as a serious problem.

3.4 Interviews

Methodology


To supplement the findings from the quantitative telephone surveys, personal interviews were conducted by the project's ambassadors before and after the campaign at a sub-set of intervention sites and control sites, as well as at a community location (a local mall – Erin Mills Town Centre). The interviews were designed to explore perspectives on the perceived severity of the idling problem and reasons to reduce idling, and gauge awareness of the campaign. The interviews also provided the opportunity to discuss with motorists whether gas stations are a good location to discuss vehicle-related issues, such as idling. Over 700 interviews were completed: 301 before the campaign began and 465 once it was completed.

Highlights of Findings

In general, the findings from the interviews were very consistent with the telephone survey results:

  • On average, 80% of those interviewed felt that vehicle idling is an environmental problem.
  • As with the telephone surveys, concern about air quality was identified as the most important motivation for putting a stop to unnecessary idling.
  • Overall awareness of the campaign was high, with over 40% of interviewees at the gas stations (intervention sites – 43%; control sites – 42%) having heard about the campaign.
  • There was no appreciable difference between the intervention and control sites on any of the above items.

Gas Stations as a Venue for Anti-Idling Messages
In general, respondents felt that gas stations are a good place to share information about the issue of vehicle idling. In the post-campaign interviews, support for gas stations as a venue to raise the idling issue ranged from 92% (shopping mall) to 80% (intervention stations) to 55% (control stations). Notably, support for this concept rose significantly between the pre- and post-campaign interviews – 74–92% at the shopping mall; 62–80% at the intervention stations; 48–55% at the control stations – suggesting that the interventions and campaign as a whole had a positive effect on people's attitude towards the use of gas stations as a venue for these types of messages.

3.5 Summary of Campaign Results
The evaluation results suggest that the Anti-Idling Campaign was extremely successful in:

  • testing methods of communicating the anti-idling message to drivers at gasoline retailing sites
  • increasing awareness among the driving public of the problems created by excessive idling
  • encouraging the reduction of idling whenever and wherever it occurs

In Summary

  • There was substantial media interest in the campaign, with extensive coverage by television, radio and print media outlets.

  • The reaction of drivers to being approached by the anti-idling ambassadors at the participating station sites was overwhelmingly positive. Of the over 11,000 motorists who were approached in the two weeks of the campaign, 86% were willing to discuss idling issues with the ambassador, 85% took the information card, and 81% took the cling vinyl windshield decal, making a commitment to reduce unnecessary idling. An impressive 20% posted the decal in their windshields on the spot, making public their commitment to reduce idling.

  • In general, members of the public felt that gas stations are a good place to share information about the issue of vehicle idling.

  • Overall, the anti-idling campaign reached a large proportion of respondents in the Mississauga community. In total, 52% claim to have seen, read or heard promotions related to the issue of vehicle idling, representing a 65% increase (from baseline) in public awareness of the idling issue as a direct result of the campaign.

  • Generally, the campaign resonated with the public and is likely to persuade changes in vehicle idling behaviours. Concerned that vehicle idling is a problem, almost half (46%) of the those surveyed following the campaign say that the anti-idling campaign is likely to motivate them to change their current idling behaviours.

4.0 Future Directions

The Anti-Idling Campaign was the first issue to be addressed under a broad new energy efficiency and conservation communications initiative by CPPI.

Future directions include:

  • assessing the results of this initial pilot campaign prior to future campaign roll-outs in other Canadian cities – potentially Vancouver and Montreal – and broader, national implementation of a public awareness initiative on the issue of vehicle idling.
  • implementing additional campaigns on other topics (e.g., tire pressure and driving habits) as part of CPPI's broad energy conservation communication platform.