Supplementary memorandum submitted by
B&Q (CIT 19a)
During the session, I promised to provide you
with two further pieces of information relating to the response
to our energy efficiency initiative and the carbon involved in
the manufacture of wind turbines.
With regards to our energy efficiency campaign,
our TV advertising campaign reached over 73% of the population
and of the viewers watching on Sky Digital, 12,000 pressed the
"red button" to request further information. Our online
advertising reached 9.6 million people and resulted in a major
surge in visits to diy.com specifically looking for energy efficiency
information. Our PR reached over 32 million people. You may also
find it interesting to know that during the campaign, wind turbines
were the number one selling item across the company, demonstrating
that if you address the price barrier, educate consumers about
benefits and offer them choices they find attractive, they will
take up the gauntlet of energy efficiency.
Further evaluation of the campaign is underway
at the moment with a final report due in December. I will of course
send this information to you, along with the response from our
wind turbine manufacturers on the carbon footprint of the turbine,
to you once it becomes available. As you pointed out during our
discussion, some of this information will be commercially confidential
and I am grateful to you for your consideration in this.
I would also like to take this opportunity to
offer Committee members the chance to visit one of our stores
and meet with staff who can provide feedback on how customers
have responded to the campaign and to the new products in-store.
Ian Cheshire,
Chief Executive, B&Q
November 2006
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