Question 4 (10 marks). identify downstream, midstream and upstream stakeholders for BEST if it were to introduce its) initiative/sin the Wollongong City Council area (or a local council area nearby to where you currently reside). Provide a discussion of how a program may be more likely to be suecessful by including midstream and/or upstream measures. I Chapter Overview This case examines the social marketing efforts of Better Environmentally Sound Transportation (BEST) in Vancouver, Canada. BEST encourages bicyclists to ride to major local entertainment events by providing convenient and secure bicycle parking at these events. The goal of BEST is to increase bicycle ridership to major events in order to reduce traffic congestion at events, with the secondary goal of encouraging bicycling more generally. BEST works with event planners to offer secure, professionally attended bicycle corrals at major events where cyclists can store their bikes and their bicycling gear. This can increase bicyclists' self-efficacy toward cycling to major events. By offering a useful service, making the service free for cyclists, conveniently locating bike corrals, and promoting their service in locations that cyclists frequent such as bike shops, BEST has developed a successful social marketing campaign to reduce event traffic congestion and encourage bicycling. Introduction This caw study examines how Beter Rnvironmentally Sound Tranportation (BEST) mode sustainable trancortixion easier for locul residents of Vancoever, British Columbia Canade. Their efforts facilitated the use of sustainable transportation to attenl mako event in the area, thes reducing traffic congestion at events and cacouraging cycling behavior, By ralucing concems of safety for their bicycles, the BkST prognam enhances self-efficacy for cyclists withing to ride to event. Bandura's (1989) Social cognitive theory describes how people's self-efficacy (i.c. me's belief in their ability to succeed at a task) influences their level of motivation. The mare a person believes in their own capabilities, the more likely they are to complete a desired behavior (e.g., riding a bike to work). Naturally, those with low self-etticacy of en abandon the behavior when they are faced with difficulties, opting for easier altematives (e.g., driving a car). In these instances of self-doubt, social marketers have two options to encourage peneverance: (1) they can reassure their target audience of their own competency and the positive foelings associated with completing the action (which may may not be successful given that ordinary social realities are full of setbacks, failures, and inequities, Bandura, 1989), or (2) they can simply make the desired behuvior casier to complete. Campaign Background and Environment BEST has been a leader in promoting sustainable transportation in the Lower Mainland of British Columbia (BC) since 1991. With support from the City of Vancoever and other generous donon, BEST has implemented social marketing programs to make sustainable transportation casicr. BEST ako aids land us planning in order to support pedestrian, cycling, and transi-oriental neighborhoods With over 1.2 milifion licenved vehicks, the Lowa Mainliand of BC faves sevenal chalkenges from automobile transporiation. In the early 2000s, the Vancouver Sun published a poll showing that 47% of Lower Mainland citivens felt that transportation was the most important iswe facing local residents, well ahead of crime (17\%), health care (12%), and education (12%). The transportabion problam in the region was fuckd by vehick kevies and tranportation txes, a long transit strike, cuts to transit services, and the political difficuldes facing Traselink (the region's tranyportition authoriny). To mect growing demand from predided increases in coonomic activity. populaion gowth, and environmental needs, innwative mochanikms were nceded to increase the morivation of local roskidents to we sustainable tnanyortation. Bicycling is typically the fasieu mode of transportation for trips less than 5km. Since arcuad 506 of all trips made in Metro Yancouver are less than 5km, cycling is a time-competitive aliemative to the nutumotule for aboat half of alt trips made in the region (Trandiak, 2013). Secure ticycle parking plays an important role in increasing self-efficacy beliefs toward cycling More people will ride their troycle kixning dicy have ai tafe place to park. The bicycle valet (BV) is intended to 20. Using Social Maketing to Increase Bickck Aidership to Major provide secure bisycle parking at a varicty of events in and around Metro Vancouver. Bikes are neatly organized in a custom-made, fenced corral, instead of having bikes locked up at every available pole. The Bicycle Valet in Vancouver BEST has nun an annual Buke Month campuign promoting suktainable transportation in Metro Vanouver since 1996 . After running Bike Month for ten yean, BEST staff felt enough ground had been covcred and moved from builing awareness to making sustainable choices easicr. In 2006 , with the continued support of the Ciry of Vancouver and Transl, ink, BEST launched a pilot program to increase motivation for cycling to local events and festivak. Bacause of the limitod and unsecure bicycle parking at festivals at the time, the strategy was to provide a free "coat check" style parking sarvice at community events for individuals using active transportabion. BEST staff and volunteen would tag incoming bicyclos and provide the wer with a claim stub. Users would then bring back the claim stub when they want their bicycles returned. Usen were also permitted to leave their hedmets, panniens, trailens, and other acxeswories securdy attached to their bicycle in the valet. SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) Strengths BEST hes a great reputation and brand recognition in the cycling community. BEST has a strong volunteer base that could be trained to run the valet. BEST has the ability to customize the service to meet the needs of specific events. Weaknesses The start-up costs to build a bicycle valet are expensive and require grant support. The operational conts to run the valet at an event would require financial support fram event organizers or sponsors. BEST staff had no experience providing a well-executed valet service. Opportunities Uken would feel like they're part of something exciting. There was a high demand for a well-executed valet service from event patrons and organiuers. More people will nide their bikes knowing they have a safe place to park, and more pecple will atienl an event that is easy to get to. There are a substantial number of groen consumers in the region. A bicycle valet service at high traffic community events would create a tunique marketing oppontunity for businesses and event onganizen to promote "geen goodwill. "Since the valet would be the fint point of contact at an event, the valet is a highly visual indicator that an event supports a hecal, sustainable initiative. BEST could enter into strategic partnenhips with potential sponson. Furthermore, BEST would be able to negotiate premium locations with event organizers who value "green goodwill." Consumers expect and value socially responsible efforts on the part of companies (Cone, 2015). Sponsors can use their support of BEST to demontrate their com: mitment to social responsibility, which could increase companies' willingness to sponsor. Threats Other non-profit organizations may enter the bicycle valet market. Any bicycle theft from the valet coukl reduce the users' confidence in the service. The accessibility of the valet depends on the location and space provided by the event organizers. The success of the valet at each event would depend on the event organizer's commitment to promoting the service in their promotional material and on their webrite. If users perceive that the service takes too long to use (skw check-in and check-out process), they may be unwilling to check their bukes at future events. Past and Similar Efforts BEST's bicycke valet service was the fint of its kind in the Lower Mainland of BC. Their revearch os similar efforts in other areas was the foundation of their operations. They learned how to provide good service in terms of peed and consistency from evert ofganizen in San Francisco, California. The city of San Francisco has a bylaw that requires events of a certain sire to offer a bicycle valet, so their event organiuern had a lot of experience providing efficient senvice. However, BEST needed their equipment to be more customizable than that in San Francisco in onder to accommodak events that varied in kerms of sire and space. Their equipment also had to he light and compact in ofder to reduce the burden on staff and voluntees meving and setting up the equipment in different beations. After carefully researching portatik valet vervices. BEST concluded that they needed to fabricate custim-builit racks and fencing. Their custom equipment alkows them to fit enough racks and equigment to park 1000 bikes into cone cargo van. Target Audience BEST chose two target audiences for their efforts. The prognam's primary target audience is the event organiren in the region. This program focused on event organizers for two reasons, First, event organizers are the decision maken that choose how their event will be accessible to their patrons. In order to nun a bicycle valet, event organizens have to book the service and allocate enough space for cquipment and racks. Second, event patrons we the event's communications materials for information abcut traveling to the event. Event patrom were not targeted by demognaphics, but nather by lifestyle. Individuals who ride bicycles were the target. This group tends to lead an active lifestyle. Event organizen are the messengers that deliver the valet's communication strategy to potential usen. Each event organizer, such as small community organizers, corporate clients, or event management companies, has different goals and chalkenges for each event that need to be targeted with a pernonalized marketing stnategy. However, event organirers do have some mutual values that BEST needs to address for every event These values are that BEST perates effectively in the background. Clientele are treated well and are happy. The valet facilitates cross-promotion. The valet operates professionally. The valet is a practical solution for traffe management. The program's secondary target aulience consisted of men and women in the region committed to living a healthy lifestyle. In view of the high demand for a well-executed valet servie, many event patrons want to use the service, but still need information about its availability and accesibility. For that reason, it was essential to build their knowledge of the valet prior to each event. Target markets can be understood according to their proximity to and role in the ukimately desired behavior change. Lee and Kotler (2016, pp. 142-143) discuss downstream, midstream, and upstream targets. A downstream target is the group wought to actually adopt the behavior. In this case, these are the event patrons who valet their beycles. Midstream targets are those who have close and mfluenbal relationships with the downstream group. In this case, no midstream goteps were targeted, but a hypothetical example might be if employers in the local area had BEST, nather than driving cans, to reduce traffic congection. Upstream targets facilsate adoption of the core desired behavior by creating infrastructure and environments that promote the desired bchavior change. In that sense, event organizers can be seen as an upstream goup targeted by BEST. In this case, it is actually the event organizers who conpose the focal target group, because without adogtion of the services of BEST, the infrastructure which makes it converient to bicycle to events would be lacking. Target Audience Barriers and Benefits Through a market analysik, HEST identified that the main barrier preventing event organirers frum offering the valet vervice was cost. Event organizen were uneasy about the idea of paying for a service that competed with one of their sources of revenue - motor tranyortation was of ten a scurce of revenue because they could employ a pay and park service. However, organivers also rocogni ined that some patroms may avoid events if parking is perceived to be difficult. The valet service would enhance the attractiveness of bicycling as an altemative transportation mode for patrons, thus increasing potential event attendance. Motor tranyportation was seen as a competing behavior for event patrons because of its convenience. However, parking at events around the city is often limited and costly. Patrons would be more likely to ride their bikes if they knew that parking their car was going to be a hassle. The valet service would provide a safe place to keep their bicycle, making bicycling an attractive option. Positioning The bicycle valet is positioned as an environmentally friendly altemative to driving and parking, for event in the Vancouver area. The service is positioned as offeringenhanced transportation convenience for those attending events, which appeals to both event patrons and event organizers. Since concern over traffic can disccurage people from attending events, the valet service is positioned as a way for organizers to increase event attendance while being environmentally responsible. Campaign Objectives and Goals Behavior Objectives For the event organizers, the program's overarching behavio goal was to provide no only the valet service at all main events held during the bike season, but also place the service in a visible location near the event's entrance. Event organizes had to understind that if they want the valet to nun succecsfully, then they have to make it a priority in terms of location. For event patrons, the behaviot goal was fint of course to bicycle to the event (rather than taking amother coode of transpertation) and to use their bicyde valet service. Beyond that, the goal for patrons was to encounage their coperation to facilitate quid service by valet workers. Specifically, patroms must remove their belmet and other biking accessories before they get to the front of the line in order to minimize processing time. Knowledge Objectives BEST sought to increase knowledge of the following key facts among event organizers: The valet invites repeat exposure: 44% of patrons said they used the valet more than once; 37% use the valet service regularly. The valet adds value to the event: 99% of patrons said it contributes to a positive experience at the event. The valet connects event organizers directly to their patrons: 66% of patrons said they used the resources provided at the valet's booth. For event patrons, BEST wanted them to know that the valet was froe and safe. They also wanted event patrons to know that they can leave all their gear, including bike accessories and trailens, with their bike in the valet. Belief Objectives The belief objective for event organizers was to promote the idea that the value of providing the valet at their event would be worth the cost. Specifically, organizers should believe that the valet is in high demand from event patrons, reduces traffic congestion at the event, and adds value to the overall event experience and brand. An additional belief objective for event organizers was to promote the idea that the bicycle valet was hakde free. BEST sets up the valet, provides the service, and then takes down the valet without leaving a mess. They are also flexible on how sponsors are seen and interacted with. Campaign Strategies Product Strategies Since 2006 , the bicycle valet has heen providing profexsional, secure, coat-check style bicycle parking at a variety of events in and around Metro Vancouver. With over 80,900 bicycles (and counting) retumed safely to happy owners, BEST is confident that their product stnitegy meets the needs of both event organizen and patroms. Given the varying aftendance rates for each event, BEST made sure that valet staff could easily change the size of the valet corral to fit the needs of the evert. A key product strategy was to make the valet highly efficient to set up and take down. This ensures that the valet is extremely mobile, with set up taking less than an hour. The valet is so efficient that they are able to compact a valet with a i(ix) tike capacity ints one van. The valet's efficiency also ensures that no x. C Latrencere and D. Z. Aladi permanent damage nesults from their wervice parking lits book the same afer the valet kaves an event with no permanent damage. For patrons, the product is afe and convanient bike storage during major events. This alkws them to Veycle to events, thus avoiling traffic and the hassle and cost of purking. Pricing Strategies In orda to offer the valet service free of charge to event petrom, event orginizen are repponsible for paying for the valet. BEST does not charge a fixed price for each event. Phicing depends on service factors, such as the bike capacity required, the kngth of the event, expecied tumover rates, and stafling requirements. However, event orgarizers can mitigate the cont of the vald by partnering with thind-party sponsors and selling ad space. In addition to the actual charge for BEST services that event arganivers muat pay, there is the potential of losing revenuc that would have otherwise flowed into their parking services. BEST encourages event organizers to rocognize that this loss is offset by adtitional patrons drawn to the event through the promise of the convenience offered by bicycling rather than facing the hassle of driving and parking. For patrons, the service should be a net benefic, by eliminuting the hassle of driving and parking at a crowded event. However, if they are not confident in the service, they may be faced with concern for the safety of their bike and riding equipment. Additionally, they may be anxious about the potential inconvenience and wait time for checking in and checking out. Place Strategies A key place stratcgy was to establish a regular, high-exposure location for the bicycle valet at each event venue. It was therefore essential that BEST managens developed relationships with venue managen and event organizen. One way they managed these relationships was to jrovide preferred supplicr agreements with key verues. Such agreements ensured that BEST has a regular and accessible locabion at many venues, thercby significantly increasing the valet's exposure to all forms of traffic. Promotion Strategies Given that event patrom often we the event's website for transportabion opxions, it was imporiant that BEST got the event organizen on board in promoting the service. BEST developed a promotional information guide to help event organizen permote the vaket prior to their event. The guide gives advice on how to promote 20 Uvive Sodin Mathebng to increase Bock Fiderthip to Major nearby bike routes and how to link the kcation to orline maps so patrons can map their own rouks. The gride further explains that patrons need to know where the bike racks will be located and how they can he accessed. It was also important for the crganizers to negatively frame motor parking by nctifying patron that parking b. limited and comes at a cont. BEST maintains an online presence on social networking sites, such as Facebook and Twitter, in order is promote their exact keation, enourage event atendees to rade their bikes, and provide a fonam for feedback. BEST provides updates on their website and in their newsletter with a shert description of all events that are offering the valet service in the coming weeks. Online presence is alvo a factor in attracting event organizen, as it allows patrons to request the service to evert organirers who might not be aware of the service or have decided not to offer it. Peronal recommendations from Noggen have alwo attracted new patrns. Message Design At each event, clear signage is critical to promote the valet service and its benefits. BEST wanted patrons to know that valet service was "free and ofe bicycle parking." "Therefore, they created banners promoting this message that could be casily attached to their fencing for maximum exposure (Fig. 20.1). The banners also doubled as advertising for third-party sponsors A clear and concise logo was ereated to brand the service in all their promotional material (Fig. 20.2). Traneprotation Fig. 20. Bicycle valet logo Other Important Strategies Volunteer Engagement Reliable volunteers are essental for smocth qperations of The Bicycle Valet. In 2012. over 115 volunteers signed up for shifts at various events throughout the season. An increased reliance on voluntects is necessayy, particularly as the bicycle valet became more popular at events and its operations became increasingly Labor-inkensive. In onder to develop volunteer engagement and recognition, BEST focused on incentives such as volunteer partics, free entry to ticketed events, flexible scheduling, onsite training. discount at local bike shops, and a complimentary T-shirt. Strategic Third-Party Sponsors In order to offset the costs of the valet, BEST sought out strategic partnerships with travel companies, such as TravelSmart, in the form of a cause-related marketing campaign, Companies, such as Lululemon, could financially sponsor the service at high-profile events like the UBC Grand Prix. Sponson alwo increased the valet's marketing reach by enswing that the service could be offered at events that could no afford if otherwise. To atract potential partnen, BEST hired a tranding professional to revise sponsorship documents, saks scripts, and language surrounding the servise. Presenting sponson were awarded a strong presence at the valet during the event. Promotion included the sponsor's banner on valet fencing, their logo on valet ticket stubs and tags patrons often left their tigs on their bicycles after the evea and their logs on flags ushering patrons through the valet line. Sponsors were also featured in monthly and special newsketers (which had over 7000 subwhiben in 2013), on BEST's sacial networking pages, and on the valet's website. BEST was also flexible about taking on other promotional opportunities for sponsons on a case-by case hasis. For example, wolunteers handed out Trand ink transit maps as well as infomation cards promoting a sponsor's product or service. Evaluation Given the tremendous growth of cycling and the rampant thef of bicycles in Vancouver, the bicycle valet is in a great position to continually increase its popularity, while providing a valuable service for events and a highly vis ble, feel-good story for ponsors. Performance and Growth Measure BEST keeps track of the number of events attended and the number of nidens using their valet service. Annual growth in these measurements is one way to evaluate their success. Using figures provided for 2013 and 2017. we are able to conpare their performance over a five-year span. These figures show positive growth for the organization. In 2013, the vicycle valet was present at 130 events from March io October, parking over 22000 bikes ln2017, the number of events was quite a bit bwer, at 89. reflecting a decline of 32% in number of events. Despite attending fewer events, the overall number of bikes parked in 2017 increased by 33%, to 29,150 . Volunteer Engagement Measures BEST kept track of active volunteen, and their number of hours logged each year. In 2013, there were 140 volunteen and staff, and volunteers logged in over I000 hours. By 2017, BEST had 442 volunteens, who logged a botal of 2267 hour. This reflects an increase in volunteer houn of about 127%. Other Performance Highlights The bicycle valet has parked a total of 182.310 bicycles as of Aprit 2018, since their inception in 2006 . BEST regularly receives inquines for advice on starting and operating bicycle valets from other organizations in Canadian and inkmational communities, some even as far away as Australie. In 2017, they received 849 Intagnam "likes." Lessons Learned and Future Direction With the growing sicces of the valet service. BEST is loaking to expand its service into ather regions by investing in a second set of valet equipment and transporta: tion. Feedhack from ukers and event organizers ako suggests that BEST would berefit by expanding their nange of products in order to serve people that would not benefit from a full valet service. Some potential products include rental racks, pop-up valets, or perhaps in some conditions, a fec-for-service operation. By providing a safe and free bicycle valet service, BEST increased self-efficacy beliefs associated with cycling to community events and motivated event patrons to keep their cars at home. Segmenting and targeting event organizers ensured that BEST provided the depth of communication necessary for debunking myths regarding the valet's costhenefit ratio for event organizers, its demand by event patrons, and its ease of operations. Similarly, promotional material at each event, in the form of clear and visible banners that the valet was free and safe, encouraged event patrons to frequently use the valet and to request the service from event organizers that did not offer it. The bicycle valet's winning marketing and operations strategy has attracted intemational admiration, with organizations all over the world now approaching BEST for start-up tips and advice