Copper abides by a fundamental principle: we build understanding before we act.

We’ve measured public attitudes to infrastructure for over five years, seeking to build a picture of the perception of infrastructure and development in the UK. We’ve looked at everything from what people think about net zero and solar energy, to the public’s understanding of freeports and attitudes to infrastructure in Brexit Britain.

We are constantly seeking to build an even deeper understanding of our industry and invest time and resources to understand our clients’ audiences because we care about the challenges people face and the legacy that projects wish to leave behind. Above all, we seek to understand what people think and feel about the infrastructure that serves them.

That’s why in the latest of our Attitudes series we’ve taken a different approach. We’ve taken a deep dive into the UK population to unearth the attributes, attitudes and willingness of people to engage with projects affecting the built environment. Using information derived from an in-depth research project into the UK population, we’re launching a report series that tests:

  • Hypothesis 1 – are people more likely to engage with projects if they are more knowledgeable about infrastructure and the built environment?
  • Hypothesis 2 – are older people more likely to engage with infrastructure projects?
  • Hypothesis 3 – does a person’s sense of connection to their local area impact how likely they are to engage with infrastructure projects?

In this three-part series of attitudes reports (released over the next two weeks), we’ll explore our hypotheses and identify some of the elements that lead to higher levels of engagement in our sector.

What is Audience Segmentation?

Alongside the reports, we’ve carried out a study on the UK population to develop a deeper insight into what people think and feel about the infrastructure that serves them. The purpose is to categorise the population into segments to identify people’s key drivers and behaviour patterns to help shape the best ways to communicate.

Marketing professionals have used audience segmentation since the 1950s and the concept is a simple one: people are different. We all have different wants, needs, attitudes and behaviours and, therefore, we should employ different approaches to move people to “action”.

Traditionally, “actions” might relate to consumer behaviours like buying a product, but audience segmentation is used increasingly across a wide range of sectors, from B2B marketing to election campaigns.

While no two people are the same, there are inevitable demographic, geographic, attitudinal and behavioural commonalities across the UK population. By collecting a large enough sample size, and employing advanced statistical analysis techniques, we’ve identified patterns in our data to group people based on shared characteristics and responses.

Grouping people in this way provides insights into how different people think and behave, and this approach provides us with layers of information that we can use to tailor our communication and engagement strategies around infrastructure and development projects, helping to differentiate content and messaging and select communication channels to better resonate with different audiences.

To find out how our data could help your project, get in touch with annabel.john@copperconsultancy.com or james.hillier@copperconsultancy.com