Ahead of 2022 – the date the company has set to go fully hybrid/electric – Honda has crowned Manchester the UK’s greenest city.
The fact that a major car firm is rating cities based on their environmental sustainability speaks volumes about the extent to which car brands PR strategies have changed.
The general public’s attitudes towards sustainable transport has changed.
Put simply, the public likes green.
The Japanese car giant ranked UK cities based on several criteria – including the proportion of people who commute in an electric car – and Manchester came out on top.
Talking in a way the public wants
Honda shows an excellent understanding of their audience and have leveraged this knowledge to execute a great piece of PR.
Younger people in particular see greener transport as the path forwards. The fact that Honda has taken the time and effort to create a survey of Britain’s cities based on their greenness, communicates that Honda is a car brand that is actually aligned with their goals.
What’s more, the Japanese car giant has coupled this PR piece with a genuine commitment to improve the environmental impact of their business, meaning it will be tough for anyone to accuse the firm of ‘greenwashing’.
What can other firms learn from this?
Honda obviously keeps a close eye on their audience. They understand what trends and research really resonate with their audience and have developed a PR piece that reflects this.
Firms could also draw on the fact that Honda chose to do a piece that places a city at the top of the ranking. This resonates with their audience’s pride in the place they live, making it a prime example of shareable content.
Conveniently, the research placed Manchester – the UK’s third largest metropolitan area – at the top of the list, meaning the research would reverberate with 2.5 million people. Honda had obviously identified that similar pieces of content had great traction on social media before completing their survey.
It’s no surprise, then, that within a few hours many Mancunian local publications had picked up on the research and written articles, quoting it alongside Honda’s 2022 commitment.
The loop view
We pride ourselves on keeping on the pulse when it comes to consumer trends. Read our report which covers the public’s attitudes to vehicular automation and electric vehicles here.
Loop are automotive PR specialists. We help the sector communicate effectively with a dynamic audience in an ever changing environment. Find out more or call us on 01869 228 766.
