Baltic PR Awards 2012 Category: PUBLIC SECTOR & NGOs Organization: RP SIA "Rīgas satiksme" Country: Latvia Project name: Handwork… it shows

1. Category: PUBLIC SECTOR &NGOs
RP SIA “Rīgas satiksme”
Title of Campaign – Handwork… it shows
Summary
The objective of the campaign was to draw the attention of media and the public to and to raise the public awareness
of vandalism in Riga public transport, as every year Rīgas satiksme spends significant amounts of money on
eliminating the consequences of vandalism (LVL 132,000 in 2010).
We called the campaign Handwork… it shows, because daubing and demolishing public transport is a handwork seen
by both passengers and Rīgas satiksme staff. Cleaning, repainting and repairing public transport is also a handwork
done by Rīgas satiksme staff. As for cleanness and visual state of public, it is seen and appreciated by passengers
every day.
The campaign was launched on April 6 and initially was planned for just one month, but, given its success, it was
extended till the end of May. Already during the first month of the campaign the number of vandalism cases decreased
from 308 to 229. The campaign was introduced by the press conference held in tram depot No. 5, and during the
campaign posters were placed in trams to show what the carriages would look like if not renovated. Photos with
daubed and damaged public transport vehicles were also published in media and on web portals.
The budget of the campaign was rather small, LVL 1,588.72, yet the financial effect in the first six months exceeded
LVL 97,000. In the six months following the campaign, losses from vandalism decreased four times.
Situation
Every year vandalism in public transport causes significant damage to RP SIA Rīgas satiksme – in 2010, there were
2452 registered vandalism acts in public transport, including broken and scratched window and door glasses inside
public transport vehicles, drawings inside and outside vehicles, cut, broken or stolen seats, stolen emergency hammers
and other damage. In 2010 total losses from vandalism reached LVL 132,890. So far this problem was rather little
discussed in both the public and media and seemed not be very important.
Objectives
During a small-budget campaign, to inform the public and media about problems and losses caused to Riga public
transport by vandalism, as well as to reduce the number of vandalism acts and the scope of damage they cause.
Campaign Handwork… it shows had two main objectives:
 to inform the public and media about the scale of vandalism in public transport, emphasizing that it is not just
making innocent tricks, but a criminal act that causes serious damage to Rīgas satiksme;
 to change public attitude to vandalism in public transport by achieving a decrease in number of vandalism
acts.
Strategy
Given the campaign’s rather small budget, LVL 1588.75, we had to make a maximum use of our own resources.
Therefore we could not plan a large-scale advertising campaign, and have chosen our own resource, tram carriages,
for placing posters.
In the campaign, we decided to put stress on comparative visual information – what do public transport vehicles look
like before and after acts of vandalism (informing posters in trams and photos in media).
Baltic PR Awards 2012

2. Category: PUBLIC SECTOR &NGOs
Given the growing role of the Internet, particularly among the youth, it was necessary to involve web-based media in
the campaign as well. News portal TVNET agreed to co-operation during the campaign, they have published a photo
gallery of public transport vehicles damaged by vandals.
Assessment of results:
- increase of positive publicity in media on the problem of vandalism in public transport;
- decrease in number of vandalism acts (comparison: six month before and six month after the campaign);
- decrease in costs of eliminating damage from vandalism (comparison: six month before and six month after
the campaign).
Execution
1) Step 1 – collection of information and preparation of photos on vandalism in Riga public transport (March
2011).
2) Press conference (April 6) – the first step aimed at attracting public attention was the press conference held in
tram depot No. 5, which was attended by Riga Mayor Nils Ušakovs, representatives of Riga Municipal Police,
specialists of Rīgas satiksme and journalists.
3) Posters in trams (380 information posters) – initially, the posters were due to be placed for just one month
(April), but considering the positive results of the campaign, they remained in trams also in May.
4) Press releases – four press releases were prepared and circulated to media during the campaign: 1) On the
campaign launch (April 6), 2) On the first positive results of the campaign (April 18), 3) On decrease in
number of vandalism cases in April (May 5), 4) On passengers’ support to the introduction of video
surveillance system in public transport to fight against vandalism (May 5).
5) Website-based opinion poll – opinion poll of Rīgas satiskme website visitors about the fight against
vandalism in public transport (May 1 – 30). 3500 website visitors participated in the opinion poll, and its
results were presented in a press release (May 5).
6) Photo galleries on portal TVNET – photo galleries of daubed and damaged buses, trams and trolleybuses
with information on the damage caused to public transport by hooligans (April 2011).
Documented Results
1. Decrease in number of vandalism cases (comparison of number of vandalism cases six months before and
six months after the campaign):
 Number of vandalism cases dropped by 128% or 2.3 times.
 Total number of vandalism cases decreased by 816 cases.
 There were 245.5 cases of vandalism on the average per month before the campaign, and 106.5 cases after the
campaign.
2. Financial benefit (comparison of costs of eliminating the consequences of vandalism six months before and
six months after the campaign):
Costs of eliminating the consequences of vandalism decreased by 296% or almost 4 times.
Total costs of eliminating the consequences of vandalism decreased by LVL 97 095.89.
Average monthly costs before the campaign – LVL 21 647.5, but after the campaign – LVL 5 464.088.
Costs of campaign = LVL 1588.75
Financial benefit of the company from reducing the number of vandalism acts = LVL 97 095.89
Financial benefit is 61 times higher than the costs of the campaign!
3. Positive publicity in media – Rīgas satiksme presented as a responsible company that fights against hooligans
and seeks to reduce losses caused by vandalism to public transport.
Total number of publications – 52, including 9 episodes on TV, 17 on radio, 5 publications in printed press and 21
publications in web-based media.
Baltic PR Awards 2012