Encams, the environmental charity that runs the Keep Britain Tidy campaign, is looking to connect with the Great British public through a new ‘socially inclusive’ online platform.
Web manager Keith Harris has been talking about his plans, and the Wigan-based organisation’s new roster of agencies, to How-Do.
Up until now the main audience for Encams' online presence has been local authorities and partnership agencies that are looking for information and assistance with regard to environmental campaigns.
However, the body is now looking at a radical repositioning to engage with a new breed of users and help push their messages out through a grass roots network of individuals and communities.
To achieve this Harris told How-Do that Manchester’s Reading Room had been selected from a recently appointed agency roster – which also features Liverpool’s Rippleffect and Norwich’s Affinity New Media – to create a completely new site under the Keep Britain Tidy branding.
A powerful brand
“We’re looking at creating something entirely different,” revealed Harris.
“We want to launch a site that is socially inclusive and really connects with communities. A destination where people that are concerned with the environment – with the state of the nation if you like – can visit, interact with one another and source inspiration and support.”
At the moment Encams has a main corporate site, www.encams.org, and a sizable stable of separate microsites that focus on specific campaigns, such as Eco Schools and Blue Flag Beaches.
The new portal – set to launch at www.keepbritaintidy.org this spring – would act as “a consolidation site”, according to Harris, bringing together the various strands of activity and campaigns and presenting one united front.
The current Encams site will then be phased out, with the content migrating over to Keep Britain Tidy.
In terms of connecting with the fresh target audience, Reading Room is currently working on a design that Harris believes draws on the key interactive and community elements the web can offer.
Earlier marketing efforts
He said it would showcase “social networking aspects” that include facilities for visitors to upload video and comment on issues that affect them, thus creating their own site content.
The site will also host a blog.
“There’s far more emphasis on working with people in their communities and we feel this kind of offer will help get our messages across, while providing a reason for repeat visits,” Harris opined.
Speaking of the roster he said that Encams’ original tender has attracted a great deal of interest and that the organisation was now looking forward to further projects with the agencies in the future.
The Keep Britain Tidy website was, however, “the primary project” for the charity going forwards.
Reading Room informed How-Do that it expects to launch the site in April.
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