THE CHALLENGE

Airspace is a critical part of the UK’s infrastructure and, like our roads and railways, must be improved to keep people moving as efficiently as possible. However, our ‘roads in the skies’ have not been updated since the 1940s.

With a national programme of airspace change underway, ACOG wanted to engage with a range of stakeholders to explain the need for change, and demonstrate the benefits that can be delivered by modernising airspace. As a new body, ACOG was also keen to explain their central role in coordinating the programme.

Broad engagement across all stakeholders was therefore vital; however, a review of the existing campaign site showed response and engagement lacking from audiences. 

The ambition was to present airspace modernisation as a critical national infrastructure programme that can deliver benefits to the UK, which airports could reference in their engagement and consultations with the public. 

We wanted to create something that felt modern and relevant, communicating what can be a dry, complicated - and at times, highly sensitive - subject in a bright and engaging way.

THE APPROACH

We began with a thorough review of the current site and a landscape audit of aviation regulators and brands across Europe.

The campaign was unique in that it needed to appeal to policymakers, politicians and influential lobbyists, through to business advisors, trade associations and the aviation industry, alongside the general public.

This initially posed a challenge regarding site navigation, channels and tone of voice. How do we appeal and communicate to such a wide and, at times, very niche audience?

Our strategy was clear – keep it simple. Given the complex set of stakeholders and different audience needs, at the start of the project there was much discussion around how to group the target audiences and their site journey.

However, following client-side internal testing, and learning from the previous site failures, we focused on delivering clear and powerful messages.