B&Q supports 'Start Today' initiative

Start Today is a brand new marketing initiative, uniting some of the UK’s leading brands to inspire their customers to live more sustainably. Launched on 1 November 2011, the campaign will encourage people throughout the UK to ‘do more with less’, and be more aware of their resource use.

Brands including Aviva, B&Q, British Gas, EDF Energy, Eurostar, IBM, M&S, MORE TH>N, P&G, Thames Water and Virgin Money will each champion a simple sustainable behaviour that their consumers can relate to and immediately adopt. This will cover everything from sustainable food choices and the joys of exploring on foot, right through to easy ways to start saving energy and creative ideas around re-using and sharing.

Start Today wants to defy the trend of telling consumers to stop acting in certain ways and to communicate positive and useful messages to the public in more ways than any single brand could do on their own.

1 November 2011 is the first day of this collaborative drive for sustainability and this is just the beginning.

Start Today is led by Start – the sustainable living initiative inspired by HRH The Prince of Wales – The Marketing Society and Business in the Community. The idea was conceived by integrated marketing agency Meteorite in response to The Marketing Society’s 2010 Film Challenge, which asked marketers to think about how marketing can make a difference to the planet. Start Today now involves many agencies, brand owners and media partners all over the UK.

B&Q’s simple step for Start Today is start switching off automatically. This proposition aims to show the general public the ease with which people can start switching off lights and appliances, rather than leave them on standby.

B&Q have recognised that one of the key barriers preventing people switching off at the wall is the perceived hassle involved and are informing customers that everything can be switched off automatically, with the help of some clever and affordable devices. Consumers see the dual benefits of this simple step with the significant savings to be made and the reduced effort involved.

The start switching off automatically simple step is to be communicated via PR, social media, internal communications to B&Q employees and the B&Q Home magazine.

As the UK’s leading home improvement store, B&Q are committed to helping the nation to create more sustainable homes, and saving energy is the first step towards this. Saving money and energy by simply switching off appliances, or installing gadgets to do this automatically, is one of the simplest steps one can take towards more sustainable living.

In addition to a range of energy saving devices, B&Q stocks energy monitors that show the cost of energy being used at any one given time. This provides the consumer with the information to encourage them to make small changes around the home to reduce their energy consumption.

B&Q is working with Start to help reach our shared ambition of a sustainable UK, and we are delighted to support Start’s latest campaign, Start Today. As part of this brand collaboration campaign, we are focusing on communicating the importance and money-saving benefits of starting to 'switch off automatically.' Matt Sexton, B&Q Director of Corporate Social Responsibility.

Source: http://www.starttoday.org.uk/content/about