just received the following pic from Deana Boulton the manager up at Richardson Road, halls of residence:

Accompanying the piccie was the following ‘A recycling string for cans – invented by students at Ricky Road for students!’

Not sure what they are getting…maybe it is a recycled firemans pole??

As usual the students are demonstrating that they are vibrant, creative, spontaneous and accepting of new ideas (and intelligent!).

What many people sometimes forget is that although students are ‘carefree’ they do care about the environment they live and work in.

It is always a challenge communicating to students and getting them to behave more sustainably on campus- they have alot going on (in their heads and social life) and our sustainability messgaes must compete with the tsunami of junk messages they get on a daily basis.

Therefore the approach must be as good as the best marketing! It should be FUN, clear and friendly. The approach needs to be innovative and fresh avoiding authoritarian and stuffiness.

here is an example from a campaign we delivered last year:

Information must be succinct and relevant. Therefore the tone and content of communications should change over time to suit trends.

And of course the student community is transient, so marketing has to be continuous.

And finally this was found on the roof of Ricky Rd accomodation last year..taken from a nearby park. Another example of student ingenuity. On viewing the photo Jennifer Molyneux remarked, “Do you think the students know something about climate change that we do not?”