A campaign to promote awareness of standby energy use.

2000-2002, Schleswig-Holstein

households, retailers

Germany

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Summary of the case

In 2000, the Energiestiftung Schleswig Holstein, in cooperation with a marketing agency and the Deutsche Bundesstiftung Umwelt (DBU), started a campaign to address stand-by consumption of household appli-ances that make a up a significant share of household electricity consumption. The campaign was called Aus. Wirklich aus? (Off. Really off?) and was meant to be a pilot project for a larger, country-wide campaign.

The project can be classified as an informational instrument and was based on a marketing approach. The campaign was based on a two-pronged strategy, based on mass media on the one hand and appliance retailers on the other hand. There was a mass media campaign, mainly in newspapers and radio spots, backed up by a cinema spot. More detailed information was available via the internet or through a brochure. The mass media campaign advised people to get in touch with their local retailer to find out more about how to reduce standby consumption. These were the second pillar of the campaign. Retailers should become aware of the increasing stand-by consumption and be able to advise their customers on this issue.

Especially using a mass media campaign for "energy saving" as a product was an innovative approach. The focus of the campaign was on the financial savings that could be achieved and psychological motives of con-sumers to be ‘in control’ of their consumption.

There was a detailed evaluation of the campaign. This came to the conclusion that the campaign was rela-tively effective, both in terms of awareness and action.