PORTLAND PROPOSAL TO THE IMILicensing the Motor TradeJuly 2015

2

INTRODUCTION

It was a pleasure to meet you recently to discuss a potential lobbying campaign around the regulation of individuals working in the motoring industry. This slide deck sets out our suggestion for how you could take forward your campaign.

This is based on our experience of running successful campaigns for the likes of Heathrow, Nestlé and the energy efficiency sector, where we have deployed grassroots support, traditional media and online campaigning to bring about political or regulatory change.

We have also considered your issues in the light of our insights into the new Conservative Government and their priorities. It is our firm view that your ask is a difficult one in the current climate. We have therefore proposed a programme with intermediate as well as long term milestones, that will support your commercial priorities and engage your members, as well as influencing political audiences. This is designed so that even if it is not possible to secure regulation in the short term, the campaign can still make a significant difference relative to your broader objectives, driving consumers towards regulated garages and increasing the number of mechanics registering.

3

INTRODUCTION

The team we propose is drawn from the front lines of political campaigning and have significant insight into the key players you need to influence.

We look forward to discussing our proposal with you in the coming weeks.

BACKGROUND

5

BACKGROUNDIn 2005 National Consumer Council published “At the Crossroads”, a report on the car servicing sector. Found that 51% of garages surveyed were rated “poor or very poor”, with only 5% rated “very good”.1The industry introduced the Motor Industry Service and Repair Code of Practice, the PAS 80 and associated Kitemark Scheme. 2By 2011, the Service and Repair Code was awarded full Office of Fair Trading approval and now operates as a Chartered Trading Standards Institute approved code. 3BUT the Service & Repair Code does not need proof of technical ability, and therefore the IMI’s ATA scheme is the standard celebrated by the big independent operators such as Halfords and Kwik Fit. 4The IMI therefore wants to continue the journey that the industry has been on over the past 10 years, to increase the skills and professionalism of the industry.5While franchised dealers and the large independents are taking part in your voluntary registration scheme, a significant number are not, and there is little public understanding of this. 6

6

POLITICAL CONTEXT

The Conservatives won the General Election with the economic recovery at the centre of its manifesto

The Government has also made clear that they want a smaller public sector with a consequent reduction in government spending.

The key message during the campaign was one of continued economic stability and a recovery based on fairness. A core promise was to upgrade the nation’s infrastructure, with roads and railways being at the centre of their ‘long term economic plan’.

7

POLITICAL CONTEXT

Chancellor George Osborne, Chief Secretary Greg Hands and PPS Chris Skidmore are all free marketers who believe in reduced spending and de-regulation.

Business Secretary Sajid Javid is also in favour of less regulation, as recently as May 2015 he said ‘as long as you do one thing; make sure it is de-regulate’.

Andrew Jones MP who joined the DfT in 2015. A past member of the Regulatory Reform Committee, he will be well aware of the regulatory regime in the UK.

YOUR CHALLENGE

9

YOUR CHALLENGE

IMI’s view is that a compulsory licensing scheme backed by regulation is the only way to drive up standards and protect motorists

The Government’s priority is deregulation and see no immediate need for a licensing scheme for the motor trade

BUT

OBJECTIVE AND STRATEGY

11

Intermediate objectives

OBJECTIVE AND STRATEGYYou believe there is a clear need for regulation in this area and have made some progress in raising the issue up the political agenda. But your objective of regulation is at odds with the government’s instinct and agenda. We have therefore defined one long term objective, and several intermediate objectives, with a strategy to deliver them:

Overarching long term objective: To achieve a statutory basis for the ATA scheme

Our strategy: To create a political environment that leads to Government action.

To raise the profile of the issue in Parliament e.g. via a Select Committee

Inquiry.

To drive consumers towards regulated

garages and increase numbers of mechanics

registering.

To persuade Government to instigate a formal

review of the evidence before considering

regulation.

THE PROGRAMME IN DETAIL

13

HOW WILL WE CREATE THE POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT FOR ACTION? To create a political environment which makes Government more likely to act, we must build the campaign from the ground up, putting increasing pressure on political actors as the campaign progresses. Making the case for

action to officials and Special

Advisers

Building support for the campaign with MPs via Select Committees, All Party Groups

Raising awareness with consumers and equipping them to make good garage

choices

Taking our case direct

to Ministers

PRES

SURE

INCR

EASE

S

14

STAGE 1 - CAMPAIGN PLANNING AND PREP We want to work in partnership with you and your members from the outset, ensuring that the planning and execution of the campaign will achieve the objectives that are most important to you. So the planning stage is crucial…

PRES

SURE

INCR

EASE

S

We will begin with a 3 hour workshop with your senior team and ours, to agree: • Our target audiences and

how to reach them • Our campaign strategy • The defining arguments of

the campaign and a key message or slogan that sums up what we want to communicate

• The evidence we need to back up our arguments and what we need the IMI to provide us with

1And we’ll carry out opinion research and seek feedback on the creative elements and campaign tone: • Polling the public will

provide an essential benchmark to test the impact of the campaign in helping people to make good garage choices and will provide us with the media “hook” to support launch activity

• We also need to ensure the buy-in of your bigger members on the tone of the campaign so will seek their feedback before we go live.

3Then we will enter a creative development and campaign planning phase to: • Develop the components for

the campaign – ad concepts, campaign website, Tweet graphics, master narrative, press releases, MP briefings

• Build a detailed multi-channel campaign timeline, from launch moment to 6 months out

2