TIDY Northern Ireland has considerable experience running anti-litter campaigns. It is able to cover the majority of litter (and anti-social behaviour) issues raised by the public. Our many years of experience mean we can adapt existing campaigns, and develop new campaigns, to suit a client's individual requirements. Please see the list of existing campaigns to choose from and contact us for further information.

Not all messages suit all people. Vocabulary changes depending on a person's age, lifestyle and upbringing. Some things that will trigger a reaction in an elderly person may not be noticed by an adolescent. Blanket messages rarely hit their target, and are regarded as a scatter gun approach. The problem with such an approach is that it is difficult to tell which messages have stuck and which have missed, which makes it difficult to learn from the campaign. Therefore one of the key marketing principles is to break down 'the public' into smaller more manageable chunks.

TIDY Northern Ireland - A history of campaigning

In the nineties TIDY Northern Ireland mounted general anti-litter campaigns aimed at the whole population of Northern Ireland, with limited success. We have now adopted a more targeted remit with regard to our campaigns, focusing on specific subjects, population sectors or individual areas of the province. While the method of campaigning differs greatly from what it was 10 years ago, the remit of the campaigns, 'to encourage people to stop dropping litter and deposit it sensibly', remains the same.

In more recent years TIDY Northern Ireland has also become involved with campaigning on other anti-social behaviour activities such as neighbourhood noise, fly tipping and waste issues. However the vast bulk of the campaigns that TIDY Northern Ireland will be involved with in the near future will be those featuring anti-litter messages, and focusing on specific items or litter - fast food, cigarettes, etc. - or specific sections of the general public who are known to drop litter, for instance car users.

Getting Public Action

Previous campaigning on litter by TIDY Northern Ireland has emphasised the need for awareness and education. While this approach is important, it is only part of the process. Since 2001, our campaigns and work have been geared towards achieving public action on issues such as littering and other anti-social behaviour. All our campaigns are now set to achieve action as opposed to education and awareness. The only true measure of success of campaigns is whether there is a noticeable difference in the litter that was dropped (or other relevant target) before and after a campaign.

Market Research

In 2001 TIDY Northern Ireland, in association with its sister charity Keep Britain Tidy in England, conducted extensive market research into the attitude of the general public on litter issues and produced a report on its findings. These findings form the basis for all the campaigns the organisation now runs. TIDY Northern Ireland uses this research to focus on specific litter issues, develop and market campaigns aimed at a targeted audience using pre-identified triggers for change.