Actions in Barcelona, Berlin, Bucharest, Göteborg, Ploiesti and Rome will focus on bicycle communication through different marketing campaigns and improved cycling information. The overall goal is to encourage the use of cycling which will raise peoples' awareness, create a change in travel behavior and to raise the status of the bicycle to become an attractive mode of transport. At the same time, other beneficial aspects, such as health, environment and safety will be highlighted.
The work to be done is a useful and needed complement to the other work done in Spicycles in order to increase the model share of cycling.
In order to encourage the use of cycling, activities such as marketing campaigns and improved cycling information will be carried out for all of the cities. However, the activities carried out and how they are carried out differ for each city as the prerequisites for working with cycling are very different.
In order to facilitate the planning of the activities the cities have been asked to present a communication strategy, which includes the purpose and goals of the communication, the message that will be communicated, which groups that will be targeted and what methods that will be used to achieve this. The different stages in the behavioral chain will be taken into account while developing strategies, awareness raising, influencing attitudes and change in behavior.
The overall purpose and goals are the same for all of the cities; to raise peoples´ awareness and create a change in travel behavior by encouraging the use of cycling and raise the status of cycling. The cities have from this overall purpose formulated concrete goals from their particular situation.
The communication and awareness raising activities will target an audience as broad as possible, for example households, citizens, schools, company management and employees, tourists and visitors.
For some cities the situation is very clear and the strategies merely worked out, others are in the starting face of thinking strategically about communication. The cities which are in the starting face will either deepen the analysis of how to communicate and to whom or try out different actions or from the result form a strategy.
It is important to remember that the communication strategies presented are not complete as developing strategically thinking is one part of the project.
The communication strategies are more to be seen as a tool that can be used for the cities to strategically organise their activities within the workpackage. It is also to be seen as a source of inspiration and ideas for the cities ot actively exchange ideas about how to communicate cycling.