UNISON the public service union

Case study: Using the TV ad

UNISON activists met the 2004 target of a 4% growth in membership, with impressive recruitment campaigns throughout the union. These drives owed some of their success to the hook of the union's 'One in a million' TV and national press campaign that ran from Oct 2004 to Jan 2005 - but were also down to good old-fashioned hard work and commitment from stewards and branches.

The word back from the regions was that the ad helped spark impressive recruitment work.

In the West Midlands, the actual TV ad was preceded by a teaser campaign where postcards with gradually more information were sent out to non-members.

"The ad is very modern, very understated and not obvious," said Christine Rogers, responsible for co-ordinating ad-related recruitment in the area. "Wherever I have shown it, people have first been intrigued and then delighted."

The ad was the first media campaign the union had tried since the warmly remembered 'Ants and bears' message of 10 years ago.

Joined-up thinking
The idea was to use the ad as a talking point and part of a concerted recruitment drive, with many recruiters using plenty of other techniques including that tried and trusted method, the freebie.

Many campaigns' successes have been about in bringing in young members. Lee Eagle, an 18-year old new joiner at Haverhill Leisure Centre in Suffolk went full-time after two years.

"I came into the staff room and there was a big UNISON banner and things, with freebies like a stress ball and a radio," he said. "I started chatting with the reps and they were really friendly and informative."

But nice as they were, it was neither the personalities of the recruiters nor the quality of the freebies that won him over.

"There have been issues around pay and some reorganisation at the centre and, though I'm not affected at the moment you never know what can happen in the future," he said.

"And I talked to one of my older colleagues here who told me it is really worth it if I ever get injured at work or for lots of things. So I completely disagree with anyone who says unions aren't for young people, it is really worth it." He has even persuaded a colleague of the same age to join up.

Retention and recruitment
The Eastern region saw one of the country's most successful recruitment pushes, aligned with the union's stronger centre push, which was about driving up numbers in the large employment centres in local government.

A team of full-time staff got on the road and travelled to all the major local government centres and other sites, including education centres, to mount a combination of lobby and desk visits. The numbers were impressive - a total of 2,000 packs were handed out in the lifetime of the drive.

"At one walkabout at Bedfordshire County Council, UNISON reps talked to 600 staff, 270 packs were given to non-members and we recruited 39 new members and two new stewards," said senior regional officer Ann Vinden. "We had an event at Essex University in Colchester where they were in dispute; 197 turned up and 60 joined."

Ms Vinden said the campaign worked because it was as much about retention as recruitment - the team made sure existing members were acknowledged and their priorities checked.

"The message we got back was 'good to see you'," she said. "All in all, this was so positive we plan to do a repeat in January."

Lay activists found the experience positive, too. Peterborough local government branch secretary Allan Baxter noted: "We had more than 30 join on one day alone. The advert was definitely a useful way in. We used a number of techniques, ranging from goodie-bags, a questionnaire, and a prize draw for £50.

"But what made the real difference was the assistance we had from the regional office in terms of people we could get to help us physically going round desk-to-desk. That's the only way we can make sure we cover an entire office or make a lobby event work."

Involving existing members
South West region has also had some great results - a total of 1,300 new members signed up.

Regional manager Liz French echoed Ms Vinden's emphasis on the benefit of talking to members as well as non-members during campaigns.

"We sent out a letter to members before we came and talked to branches and employers. The letter was customised to their likely interests: for example, we had an Agenda for Change leaflet in the health version.

"We also used this as an avenue for updating our records as well as launching a survey on what was important to the people in each branch."

Ms French's team used the useful tool of an incentive as well - in this case a free weekend away at the union's Croyde Bay resort, which was up for anyone who could report they'd recruited a friend at work.

"There are lots of ways in," she said, "such as the TV ad, the nice free stress-buster or free alarm clock, but there's no substitute for legwork.

"At one visit, we made sure we went from desk to desk at Taunton Dean council, asking everyone at work that day if they'd seen the ad, which was a useful opening gambit."

The team even made some 7am visits to council depots to make sure the word wasn't just going out to white-collar local government workers.

There weren't enough resources to do the same for all the schools in the region, so a targeted mailing campaign was used instead, again including relevant material for the target staff, such as technicians or cleaning staff. Trouble worth taking: in Somerset alone in one week in mid-October, 62 new members came on board.

Tools that work
In the North West, the TV adverts were backed up with more ads on buses, trams and taxis in November as well as a big push in the local press which reached 1.3 million people, said the region's Bill Campbell.

There is even a miniature version of one of the famous Blackpool trams with UNISON livery which will be sold both nationally and internationally by Corgi in the new year, he added.

Glyn Hawker, in charge of UNISON Scotland's organising and recruitment work, said 20,000 postcards spotlighting the TV ad were delivered across Scotland in early October, with staff and activists taking them to key workplaces, railway stations, libraries and other public places.

This was backed up with a mail-shot of every health sector employee in Scotland under 27. All employees of Argylle and Clyde received a pay-slip message urging them to join and stewards delivered more than a thousand goodie bags.

The community and voluntary sector is one area that has seen particular growth, as a direct result of regional and national organising strategies. The current membership figure stands at 43,000: a 6% increase since June.

The area has also recruited 14% more stewards, workplace contacts have increased by 11% and health and safety reps by 14%.

The recruitment drive has been particularly successful where the effort has been targeted at specific key national employers.

In Wales senior regional officer Dawn Hayes said the ad has been a great way to motivate branches to get out recruiting.

"They're always firefighting and doing other things and, therefore, recruitment isn't always a priority. The ad has given them the opportunity to really focus on it."

Recruitment

Case study: Using the TV ad