Terminology
Individualised marketing campaigns to reduce car use are a targeted form of public awareness campaign. Public awareness campaigns are programmes designed to increase individuals' awareness of alternatives to car use. Campaigns can range from blanket advertising to individualised marketing projects. It is also possible to run both simultaneously, such that the advertising supports the individualised marketing.

There are a number of steps on the way to achieving a reduction in car use:

1. Making car users aware of the need to reduce car use,
2. Making drivers aware of the options available to them,
3. Facilitating change in travel habits, and
4. Encouraging the maintenance of new travel patterns.

It should also be noted that having taken on board the need to change and/or actually made a change, habitual drivers can relapse into old ways of thinking and behaving. Relapse may occur if individuals do not feel supported, they feel they are making changes in isolation, the alternatives they are using do not adequately meet their needs or involve too much effort, or they perceive that the need to use cars less has receded. Such relapses may not be permanent. Individuals can cycle through the stages of change several times. Often the change will be longer lasting each time until it becomes habitual.

Mechanisms that can be useful at each stage are outlined in mechanisms for change.

Mechanisms for Change

Stage of Change	Mechanisms
Raising awareness of need to reduce car use	Blanket advertising re negative impacts of car use. This could include television, radio, billboard advertising as well as space on the back of buses and leafleting.
Making drivers aware of the options available to them	More targeted advertising of alternatives available. This might include an advertising campaign for walking, or promoting bus services along a corridor for example. New alternatives, incentives and/or disincentives can be introduced and advertised at this stage.
Facilitating change	Highly targeted material, ideally at the individual level. New alternatives, incentives and/or disincentives if not already introduced.
Maintenance	Targeted at those who have already changed, ideally at the individual level. Letters of encouragement & reminder, progress reports to show how much change others have made and further incentives are ideal.

The first two stages are unlikely to result in substantial change in levels of car use, although one or two innovative and/or already environmentally conscious individuals may change at the first stage and a few more at stage two. To achieve more substantial change, more targeted marketing is needed to help those with no concept of using alternatives to the car make changes in their travel habits. The most effective way of doing this is to identify individuals who are willing to make changes to their travel habits, find out what journeys they make and provide information on specific alternatives available for those journeys. This process is known as individualised marketing to reduce car use. The individualised marketing can promote other measures, which provide alternatives to solo driving, e.g. ride sharing or introduction of a guided bus.

Individualised marketing campaigns to reduce car use can be the sole constituent of a travel awareness campaign and are often referred to as a travel awareness campaign in these situations. Other individualised campaigns are branded by those running the campaign, e.g. Travel Blending® run by Steer Davies Gleave consultancy and Travel Smart® co-ordinated by the Western Australia Metropolitan Transport Department. Travel Smart® also includes educational programmes in schools and work with employers and community groups to reclaim streets and improve the environment. Additionally, Travel Smart® has links into national programmes such as the Smogbusters environmental campaign. Similarly in the UK the term Travel Wise® is an umbrella title for work to reduce car use. Hence, a Travel Wise campaign could include an individualised marketing project, advertising of the negative impacts of car use and cycling promotion, for example.

Technology
An individualised marketing campaign is not dependent on technology. However, it can aid the collection and processing of an individual's travel data. Travel diaries are normally used to collect data on individuals journeys. In most examples, these are paper diaries, but it would be possible to use laptops, palm pilots or the internet. It may also be possible to use global satellite positioning (GPS), but there are no examples of this. Once data is collected, it is necessary to identify journeys an individual is making that it would be possible to undertake by public transport, walking or cycling. It is then necessary to check personal details such as mobility problems to ensure the recommended alternative is suitable and find the appropriate public transport journey itinerary. For monitoring purposes, it is necessary to record details (mode, distance and number of journeys) of journeys an individual is making before and after recommendations are made, for comparison. Clearly all of this is possible by hand, but it is extremely time consuming. Thus, use of a database is recommended.