16 April 2019
Memo to: Mayor
and Councillors
Memo
from: Administration Advisers
Subject: Governance Committee – 18
April 2019 – LATE ITEM
13. Late
Item: Update on Communications and Engagement Strategy 2
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Document
R10115
A report
titled Update on Communications and Engagement Strategy is attached and to be
considered as a minor late item at this meeting. This report is an
additional report and will be taken as item 13 on the public agenda for the
Governance Committee meeting on 18 April 2019.
Section
46A(1)-(6) of the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987
and Standing Order 9.8 require that agendas are distributed with the associated
reports. As this report was not distributed with the agenda for this
meeting, it must be treated as a late item to be considered at this meeting. In
this case, the item is a “minor matter not on the agenda”, in
accordance with section 46A(7A) of the Local Government Official Information
and Meetings Act 1987 and Standing Order 9.13.
In accordance with section
46A(7A)(b)(i) the Chairperson must explain at the beginning of the public part
of the meeting that the item will be discussed. However, the meeting may
not make a resolution, decision or recommendation about the item, except to
refer it to a subsequent meeting for further discussion.
Recommendation
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That
the Governance Committee
1. Considers
the item regarding Update on Communications and Engagement Strategy at this
meeting as a minor item not on the agenda, pursuant to Section 46A(7A) of the
Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act 1987.
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Item 13: Update on
Communications and Engagement Strategy
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Governance Committee
18 April 2019
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REPORT R10115
Update
on Communications and Engagement Strategy
1. Purpose
of Report
1.1 To
provide an update on progress in developing the Communications and Engagement
Strategy, and agree to the framework for the development of the strategy.
2. Recommendation
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That the Governance Committee
1. Receives
the report Update on Communications and Engagement Strategy (R10115) and its attachment (A2172259);
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2. Background
2.1 Two
workshops have been undertaken to seek feedback from elected members on the
topics of Council “Communications” and “Engagement”.
Information gathered from these workshops will be used to inform the
development of the Communications and Engagement Strategy.
2.2 This
report provides a high-level summary of the workshops, and seeks agreement on
the framework for developing the strategy. It is proposed that a draft of the
strategy will be presented at the 13 June 2019 Governance Committee Meeting for
recommendation to Council.
Communications Workshop
2.3 This
workshop was held on 11 December 2018. The discussion covered a range of topics
relating to how Council communicated with the community. This included how we
tell our story, the timeliness of messaging, the impact of social media, and
how to reach different community segments. There was also a focus on budgets
associated with communications activities and on measurement and performance
targets.
2.4 A
high level summary of the expenditure on communications activities was
requested, and can be seen in Table 1. This outlines total expenditure relating
to the design, production and communication of Council information to the
public.
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Table 1: Council expenditure on communications
mediums by year
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2016-17
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2017-18
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2018-19 (YTD)
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Advertising (Print)
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$112,391.88
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$78,047.09
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$58,970.71
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Festivals/Events
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$17,865.02
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Public Notices
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$8,784.77
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General Adverts (bus timetable changes/water
restrictions)
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$10,414.88
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Information (Our Nelson, Healthy Streams, Burn Bright
in Community papers)
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$21,906.04
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Digital Advertising
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$3,030.64
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$10,741.12
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$5,001.98
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Nelson App - Festivals/Events
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Facebook
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$3,524.85
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$1,513.42
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$4,704.45
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Information/Events/Festivals
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Outdoors
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$3,978.00
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Festival Posters
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Printing
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$52,133.35
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$81,476.62
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$37,599.16
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Banners/Brochures/Posters/Our Nelson newsletter
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Radio
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$45,311.45
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$17,667.41
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$7,460.09
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Festival/Events/Nbus/General
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Website Hosting/Development
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$36,900.20
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$37,228.70
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$22,805.00
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Cinema
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$10,661.00
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$7,740.00
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$11,651.57
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Festivals/Nbus/Nelson Nature
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Delivery
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$42,161.58
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$18,703.83
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$9,673.40
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Our Nelson Delivery
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Graphic Design
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$100,013.11
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$144,292.36
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$111,671.91
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Documents (Annual Plan/Long Term Plan/Arts Festival
Brochures), animated videos, brochures, Our Nelson newsletter, posters etc.
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Signage
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$23,479.00
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$14,658.58
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$11,645.35
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General Signage - all of Council
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Photography
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$7,628.00
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$13,986.88
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$3,870.92
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2016-17
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2017-18
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2018-19 (YTD)
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Totals
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$407,295.06
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$396,116.01
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$266,577.54
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Note: $21,315.02 in 2018-19 relates to Arts Festival
Advertising and Design.
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2.5 Table
2. highlights the key advertising mediums broken down by reach (defined by CPM
– the cost to reach 1000 people). It is worth noting the higher
expenditure required to communicate through print. This is due to
printing/delivery costs that the other mediums do not incur.
From Table 1 it can be seen that
there is a greater spend on lower CPM print relative to other print (i.e. more
$ are spent on the Our Nelson newsletter than general print advertising).
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Table 2: Cost to reach 1000 people by medium
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CPM
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Facebook
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$1.42
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Website
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$22.50
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Our Nelson – standalone newsletter (CPM for 1 full
page)
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$20.88
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Our Nelson - Nelson Weekly (CPM for 1 full page)
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$42.87
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Nelson Leader – (CPM for 1 full page)
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$75.00
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Nelson Mail – (CPM for 1 full page)
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$93.75
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Radio
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$36.45
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Note: Cost above does not include design
Reach metrics = Facebook (impressions), website (unique
users), radio (surveyed listenership), print (based on the number of
households receiving the publication - 20,000. This does not take into
account multiple readership within homes for print publications).
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2.6 Data
received through the 2017-18 residents’ survey shows the preferred
mediums to receive information from Council (Table 3). Printed publications are
preferred by older age groups, and social media mediums are preferred by
younger age groups.
Year on year there is an increase in preference for social media mediums from
6% across all demographics in 2016 to 23% in 2018. Expenditure in this area is
therefore increasing (as per Table 1).
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Table 3: Preferred medium for communication -
responses from Residents Survey by demographic
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E-mail
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Our Nelson
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Newspaper
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Website
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Flyers
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Social Media
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Age
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%
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16-39 years
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19
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21
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33
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24
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17
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39
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40-64 years
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26
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44
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38
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26
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18
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20
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65+ years
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13
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44
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64
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17
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13
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8
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(Figures shown as a % - multiple choices were allowed).
Only mediums that had a percentage of responses greater than 5% are listed.
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Engagement Workshop
2.7 This
workshop was held on 2 April 2019. The discussion sought elected members’
views on engagement and what the key outcomes are from good engagement. It was
noted that metrics are yet to be determined to report on successful engagement.
Alternative methodology for the resident’s survey is also being
investigated to determine timely and more relevant feedback.
2.8 Key
points from the discussion are summarised below.
Engagement enables community
views to inform Council decision making. Councillors are key figures in
engaging with the public, and their engagement role in the project should be
identified at the planning stage.
Identifying key stakeholders and
determining the engagement for those stakeholders needs to be considered at the
project scoping stage.
Outcomes of successful
engagement include new people submitting to Council, an increase in awareness
of Council activities, a sense of ownership of projects by the public, and an
increase in trust, confidence and awareness of Council activities.
Framework for Draft Strategy
2.9 The
following framework has been developed for the Communications and Engagement
Strategy. This framework is based on local government best practice from New
Zealand and overseas (primarily Australia and the United Kingdom).
Overview
The purpose of the Strategy is
to provide direction for how Council will communicate and engage with the
public:
• to
inform decision making
• to better understand community needs
• to raise awareness of services or issues
• to build/strengthen relationships
• to develop acceptance of proposed change
• to increase trust and confidence in what
Council does.
It is intrinsically linked to the
Council’s vision of being the Smart Little City.
Background/Context
Outlining current practice and
the changing local government environment. Identifying challenges and
highlighting opportunities
Principles
· Transparency
· Responsiveness
· Consistency
· Collaborative
approach
· Respect the
principles of the Treaty of Waitangi
· Reflect our
community’s diversity
· Set
appropriate expectations
· Encourage a
respectful dialogue
Objectives/Desired Outcomes
of Strategy
Key outcomes of the Strategy include:
· Enhanced
community input into Council decision making and planning
· Improved
trust, confidence and awareness with identified stakeholders/public
· Well
informed community
· Proactive
approach, with communications and engagement plans developed at project
initiation
· Staff
provided with tools necessary for effective engagement
· Clear
metrics to report back to governance to show success
Legislative Context
Set out statutory context
including Local Government Act requirements and relevance to other acts (such
as the RMA and Reserves Act). Linking Strategy to Special Consultative
Procedures, Significance and Engagement Policy, and engaging with Māori /
iwi.
Focus areas of strategy:
· Targeted
Engagement
Identifying communities of
interest and stakeholders to involve in the project/event/activity. Overview of
engagement methods to reach and receive feedback (see Appendix 1 for examples)
from relevant groups and, as appropriate, the wider community. Outline of
metrics to measure success.
· Communication
of Council activities/events/projects
Delivering simple, clear
messaging through the right medium, to the right people, at the right time.
Overview of communications mediums (see Appendix 2). Outline of metrics to
measure success.
· Promotion
of Council services
Actively promoting Council
general services to develop a greater knowledge and understanding of Council by
the general public – conveying the value proposition.
Conclusion
2.10 The
framework sets out the proposed structure of the Communications and Engagement
Strategy. It incorporates feedback from the workshops that have been held. It
is recommended that the Committee amend the framework as necessary and approve
it as the basis for a draft to be brought back for adoption.
Author: Paul
Shattock, Manager Communications
Attachments
Attachment 1: A2172259
Appendices for Communications and Engagement Report ⇩
