Scottish Water has launched a national campaign called Generation H₂O, aiming to empower young people across Scotland to become ‘responsible water citizens.’

The campaign will encourage young people to protect water through a multi-faceted strategy that strengthens Scottish Water’s reputation as a guardian of the natural environment as well as Scotland’s publicly owned water supplier.

Generation H₂O

The initiative, created by brand and social impact agency We Are Futures will be rolled out in November and features an animated character called Droplet who guides young people to celebrate and protect the natural resource.

Over time, the campaign uses video, educational material, youth ambassadors and community events to inspire young people.

Scottish Water hopes to reach 25% of Scotland’s schools in year one with free teaching resources including a Mission H₂O competition with prizes for students who successfully complete a week’s challenge to save water.

The primary lesson materials are aimed at 5-11 year-olds and will be linked to the Scottish Curriculum for Excellence for use in lessons on sciences, social studies, wellbeing and technologies.

Schools will be able to access videos and materials through the National Schools Partnership, a portal that We Are Futures has run for 20 years with 100,000 registered teachers.

Plans are underway for young people to be encouraged to take part in the initiative outside schools with a recruitment drive to find youth ambassadors to inspire their communities.

There’s a particular interest in working with young people in deprived, rural or island communities as part of a drive by Scottish Water to increase diversity and opportunity to all.

Ambassadors will receive training to become project advocates and co-create community events encouraging peers to get involved.

Mark Fawcett, CEO of We Are Futures, said: We’re delighted to be helping Scottish Water support the next generation to shape their future.

“The campaign is co-created directly with young with people in a partnership with Scottish Water to protect our shared environment.

“All together, Generation H2O create a positive business and social impact, delivering a lasting legacy for Scottish communities.

Lorna Neilson, senior project manager at Scottish Water, said: ‘I’m proud that Scottish Water is investing in the future of young people across Scotland.

“Thanks to everyone for their support and input along the way to bring Generation H₂O to life and the expertise from We Are Futures, experts in their field and a joy to work with.’

A new curriculum-linked programme created by brand and social impact agency We Are Futures is helping companies to support careers development in the classroom.

We Are Futures – Careers Unwrapped

Careers Unwrapped is a podcast-led, multi-media initiative that HR professionals can use to deliver career and sector information to students.

It offers a library of careers podcasts with successful professionals, backed by free National Curriculum-linked educational material.

Lesson content is available through the National Schools Partnership (NSP), a portal that’s been in UK schools for 20 years, with 100,000 teachers registered.

The programme’s been developed by the company behind the NSP – brand and social impact agency We Are Futures.

It already works on employment strategies with clients including NatWest and Sky Arts.

Careers Unwrapped is part of its CSV commitment to improving social mobility and all materials are free to teachers.

However the agency is also developing opportunities for HR professionals to partner with them, either by providing podcast guests or by co-creating content.

Podcasts are available to students through Spotify and Apple Music, also free. After a soft launch, the series is already at number two in Apple’s careers podcast list.

Careers Unwrapped covers all industries but particularly hopes to inspire young people from diverse backgrounds into areas perceived as hard-to-access. These include finance, creative arts, entrepreneurship and STEM.

Podcast guests come from a diversity of backgrounds and ages to emphasise inclusivity.

Already in the bag are Nick Telson, co-founder of DesignMyNight and Camilla Hoklden-Ayala who is a rising star in PR.

They give raw, honest interviews about how they started in their careers and the advice they wish they had been given.

The Careers Unwrapped podcasts are hosted by We Are Futures CEO Mark Fawcett who said: “We hope Careers Unwrapped will help teachers and students as well as giving companies the chance to develop talent in schools.

“Our careers advice system has been cut and cut and teachers are too often asked to step in without proper support.

“At the same time, students are increasingly getting a subject-focussed education that doesn’t set them up for the reality of working life.

“Teachers need resources and young people starting their careers need inspiration, not lectures. That’s what we hope Careers Unwrapped delivers.’

By Mark Fawcett

It’s that time of year when any organisation involved with young people reflects on the end of one school year and the start of another. 

And with so much of our brand and social impact work disseminated with schools, We Are Futures is no exception.

Two interesting facts came out of our reflections. The first is that 80% of our client briefs last year had a strong social mobility or diversity element to them –up on the year before. The second is that the agency has brokered an enormous number of interactions between young people and brands through schools in the past twelve months; over 40,000 teacher and 2.6m+ young people interactions. We’ve done this by creating work for clients through our National School Partnership portal – 20 years old this year and the only one of its kind connecting companies and schools for social good.  

These facts may not seem immediately related but they underline a shift we’ve been seeing for some time. The most forward-thinking brands are already changing the way they talk to young people. Issues such as social mobility, diversity and fairness are new brand building blocks but sometimes it’s hard to communicate them through conventional marketing. Starting conversations in other ways, such as through educational material, however, allows companies to communicate in more nuanced ways.

 

Our 2023 Social Impact Barometer underlined this need. It analysed the social media comments of 85,000 16-24-year-olds around 100 leading brands and found that a company’s attitudes towards its staff, LGBTQ+ issues and mental health are increasingly seen as brand assets.

66% of Gen Z said they want brands to spend less money on TV, radio and digital campaigns and more on initiatives that have a ‘positive impact’. 57% said they hadn’t bought a product or service recently because of concerns about a brand’s sustainability. Young people see brands differently to older consumers and want different things from them.

So if it’s back to school time for brands as well as schools, what lessons can companies learn for the next year? Here are three things you can do to communicate better with young people in the next twelve months.

1. ‘Story-do’ rather than ‘story-tell’. Because we all know the companies that have been accused of greenwashing or raising a rainbow flag without supporting the LGBTQ+ community. This is the first stage of any conversation we have with a client. We get under the skin of why they want to do something, work out how to do it and help define the outcomes. But because any strategy should be a win-win for the brand and society, we also look at how what they want to do links to their business needs.
2. Don’t rely on advertising. The days when brands could guarantee ROI through TV commercials or social media influencers are waning. If young people want brands to make a ‘positive impact’ instead of just marketing to them, what does that mean for your company? Can you add brand value by becoming a better employer, supporting a community project or improving your sustainability? And if so, are you maximising the power of those things by communicating what you do?
3. Invest in education, work and life-skills. Perhaps it’s the disruption caused by Covid or the devaluation of exam grades or cuts to schools and careers services. But young people are incredibly receptive to brands supporting their personal development. In our Baromteter,  96% of Gen Z wanted brands to provide training programmes in workplace or life skills. Putting educational material at the heart of initiatives on issues such as social impact, sustainability, diversity and STEM also works well.

The HR Director

Linkedin, Nintendo and Sky are Gen Z’s top employers when it comes to social impact. They out-performed 100 companies in the ‘career maker’ category of the Social Impact Barometer 2023 of 16-24-year-olds, from leading brand and social impact agency We Are Futures. 

 Key to their success were forward-thinking attitudes around Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Diversity, Equity and Inclusion – identified in the survey as key drivers for hiring young talent. 

 93% of those questioned wanted an employer to ‘give them opportunities to drive positive environmental or social change’ such as corporate volunteering. While 82% believed it was important for companies to have inclusivity policies for the LGBTQ+ community. 

 LGBTQ+ issues were also the most talked-about topic online when it came to workplace initiatives. 

 Other recruitment incentives included working in the office, with 90% saying they wanted face-to-face time with colleagues rather than meeting online. 

 96% also said brands should offer training programmes in workplace and life skills – suggesting employers aren’t doing enough on their own. 

 Pre-pandemic perks such as free drinks and yoga sessions came bottom of a list of six things that made an employer attractive. 

 Mark Fawcett, CEO of We Are Futures, said: ‘We know young people consider a company’s social impact when thinking about working for them. But we were surprised that nearly all the young people we surveyed thought it was important for an employer to create opportunities for them to make a difference. 

 ‘HR policies and the way businesses look after their staff aren’t just an internal issues anymore. They’re discussed online and influence how people see a brand overall. HR and marketing should work together because both are impacting the other’s work. If you can state that your business has genuine social impact, you are more attractive to good and diverse talent.’ 

The Social Impact Barometer uniquely measures a company’s social impact across four categories: reputation as an employer, support for community, attitude towards the individual and sustainability record. It analyses the social media of 85,000 16-24-year-olds across 22 million data. 

Linkedin, Nintendo and Sky are Gen Z’s top employers

Tom West, Marketing Beat

Nintendo, Spotify and Amazon are Gen Z’s preferred brands for social impact, outperforming 100 companies for their reputation on crucial matters such as sustainability, community engagement and behaviour towards the individual.

The findings come from brand and social impact agency We Are Futures’ 2023 Social Impact Barometer, which analyses the social media language and traffic of 85,000 16-24-year-olds across 22 million data points.

Entertainment brand Nintendo has now registered its second year at number one, with Spotify moving ten places to second and Amazon eight places to third. Despite finishing second and third respectively last year, Google and Adidas have both dropped out of the top 15.

“This year’s findings confirm that young people perceive marketing in a much broader way than older consumers. More of their decision-making is led by social beliefs and they watch how brands behave in the round,” We Are Futures CEO Mark Fawcett said.

“The cost-of-living crisis has added a need for practical help. With so many support structures failing them – government funding, university lecturers on strike, older generations destroying the planet – they are looking for support from elsewhere. This survey tells us there is a gap that can be filled by brands.”

With young consumers increasingly judging brands on non-traditional marketing, the barometer surveyed 15,000 Gen Z-ers and found that 57% had backed out of a purchase due to sustainability concerns, and that 66% wanted brands to spend less money on ‘traditional’ marketing and more on initiatives that will have a ‘positive impact’ on their lives.

Nintendo and Spotify named as Gen Z’s favourite brands