A reputable body like Trafford Council strives for community trust – an indispensable asset when successfully representing their district. So, how can they create public confidence when deciding how to allocate their resources? We reveal how Mike Pye + Co helped Trafford Council deconstruct the complex nature of inactivity by truly understanding their audience.
Trafford Council is one of ten metropolitan district councils in Greater Manchester – providing the majority of government services in the local area. After receiving funding from Sports England for their Active Aging Project, Trafford Council commissioned us to co-produce a campaign with the community to ensure that the money was spent in the right way – boosting the regions activity levels.
The aim of the campaign was to help get more over 55s active – encouraging the use of sport and activity to help tackle issues such as poor mental health, dementia, loneliness caused by bereavement, and addiction.
The project was to be ‘co-produced’, involving participants from the target demographic in the creation of both the activity strategy and marketing plan.
As you get older, statistics say that you’re far more likely to become inactive: 42% of people aged 55 and over are inactive, compared to just 29% of the wider adult population.
The Active Ageing fund, awarded to Trafford Council, supports “innovative and experimental approaches” to tackling inactivity in those aged 55 and above.
Trafford Council are passionate about improving their local area by listening to residents so, in order to get the most out of their grant, it was essential to consult the local residents to reveal:
Trafford Council would be one of twenty districts awarded this grant and therefore it was essential to clarify the public’s expectations for the funding to encourage stronger local collaboration and deliver actionable recommendations that would be adopted by the community.
We set to work on developing a strategy that would reveal what the community wanted – determining that a mixture of quantitative and qualitative research would be essential in fully understanding what to deliver.
This project was executed in four stages:
We consulted experts and forecasted the data requirements that would underpin the foundations of this project. From this deepened appreciation, we were able to develop the questions that would give Trafford Council the information they needed to inform their decision making.
Over 1000 face-to-face interviews were conducted with targeted participants across the Trafford area for a widespread and representative sample. From this initial point, we then drove delegates onto a series of focus groups to delve into their notions and concerns through a more in-depth discussion.
For a holistic approach, we also conducted a number of supporting activities. These included:
After identifying some key themes from the initial research stage, we sought to find a solution that Trafford Council could act on –organising and leading a series of focus groups to explore the options available.
By analysing the data that represented the public’s intentions, we were able to provide Trafford Council with solid recommendations – backed up with hard evidence – on how to progress with this campaign. Using the extensive data obtained from the research stage, a project plan was created to respond to participant’s feedback regarding physical activities and marketing messaging.
Following the project plan development, we created an activity plan. This was supported by a multi-channel marketing plan, in line with the feedback from project participants and based on sound rationale derived from our initial market research.
As with all projects undertaken by our company, it’s important to evaluate progress against a range of KPIs to determine success. This enabled the project to be monitored, assessed and optimised continually for the best results.
The research provided by Mike Pye +Co helped Trafford Council to break down the complex nature of inactivity and understand:
This extensive research delivered a fortified foundation to their campaign approach and aided decision-making that accurately reflected their residents.
The Ageing report which was produced from the Trafford focus group is brilliant and really captures and highlights the constant issues and barriers that we face. It really made me question whether we understand the older adult perspective in GM at all when findings such as air pollution get drawn out of the conversation which I would never have guessed. Really useful exercise.
Beth Mitchell, Development Officer for Greater Sport
This is a cracking piece of work thank you so much!
Louise Wright, Sport & Physical Activity Relationship Manager, Trafford Council
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