Communications Research Call off Contract

We commission and undertake research to inform the development of communications activities and evaluate their impact. Research is vital in understanding our audiences and providing insight to increase the effectiveness of our communications, as well as to measure impact.
Our aim is to create a call-off contract through which we will commission suppliers to work as research partners and support us in the delivery of insight activity to inform and evaluate our communications – including low/no cost activity as well as paid-for marketing campaigns. This will span the following:
1. Generate a greater understanding of our target audiences, including most appropriate channels, language and tone when communicating with them on a wide range of Defra policies and announcements.
2. Understand awareness, understanding and perceptions of policies, announcements and activities amongst our target audiences.
3. Identify barriers and levers to behaviour change among relevant audiences.
4. Test messaging and visual assets with audiences to inform and improve communications strategies and targeting.
5. Evaluate the impact of communications strategies a wide range of policy areas.
We work with a wide range of audiences in the UK and internationally. We will require research suppliers who can conduct research with specific local and sector audiences in addition to the general public (for example, our key audiences include but are not limited to farmers and landowners, pet owners, veterinarians, local authorities and NGOs).