Conception of a climate campaign for the manufacturing industry in Hamburg

The background

The Hamburg Ministry for Economics and Innovation (BWI) would like to launch a campaign to enable small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) located in Hamburg to prepare adequately for the increasing climate protection requirements. Within the framework of the Hamburg Climate Plan, SMEs shall be supported in identifying and implementing ecologically and economically sensible measures for their companies. The sustainability consulting firm corsus – corporate sustainability GmbH and the communications agency SCHIERRIEGER were commissioned to develop the strategic cornerstones for the campaign.

The approach

The concept was developed on the basis of qualitative interviews and a workshop with experts. The interviews were conducted with representatives of the Chamber of Trade and Commerce, the UmweltPartnerschaft (Environmental Partnership) and the Investment and Development Bank (IFB), who have been working intensively with SMEs in the manufacturing sector for some time. In particular, the experience of these experts with regard to events and suitable communication media for the target group was an important building block for the conception of the campaign. In a workshop with the district business development agencies and those responsible for climate protection management, the collected findings were finally validated and enriched with the districtspecific characteristics. The approach was completed by analysing statistical data on manufacturing SMEs in Hamburg as well as an analysis of the most important commercial locations in Hamburg’s districts via the geographic information system of the city.

The result

Based on the findings, the strategic cornerstones of the campaign were elaborated. This included

• the characterisation and description of the target group by means of so-called ‘personas’ based on official statistics
• the development of suitable event formats for the target group and the networking of relevant Hamburg actors
• the development of the cornerstones for the communication campaign, suitable means of communication as well as
• a process manual.