Environmental & Sustainability Campaigns

Integrated Campaign for Water Conservation: Santa Fe Irrigation District and Cook & Schmid (2011)

Prolonged California drought and new restrictions on water deliveries had a profound effect on the San Diego region. Faced with an urgent need to reduce resident and business water consumption due to these conditions, Santa Fe Irrigation District and Cook + Schmid conducted an integrated community-based social marketing program to reduce district water use. The program included compelling branding, extensive community outreach, print collateral, micro website, social media, and outreach through community volunteers (Water Ambassadors). In the first six months of the campaign, water use within the district dropped 15 percent, exceeding the original goal of six percent.

Keep America Beautiful: Littering Is Wrong Too: Keep America Beautiful and Hill & Knowlton (2011)

Keep America Beautiful’s 1,200 affiliates were eager for a national campaign that would help them speak with one voice to educate the public about litter prevention. The nonprofit hired Hill & Knowlton to develop a pilot litter prevention, social marketing campaign that engaged Generation Y by getting them to write their own ad slogans around the theme, “Littering is Wrong Too.” The campaign measurably increased litter awareness, led to thousands of contributed slogans, and thousands more voted on the best “wrongs.” Keep America Beautiful affiliates are now preparing to implement the campaign in markets across the nation.

Starbucks Coffee Company Earth Month: Starbucks Coffee Company and Edelman (2011)

When a person replaces one paper cup with a reusable mug, the action saves seven trees each year. Now consider the 4 billion total hot and cold drink cups used by Starbucks customers each year and their impact. In a continuing effort to reduce its environmental impact, Starbucks saw this realization as a powerful way to engage consumers and stakeholders to spark change and measurably enhance Starbucks environmental leadership position. During April 2010, dubbed “Earth Month,” the team executed a multiphased integrated communications campaign focused on five key milestones that underscored Starbucks commitment to environmental responsibility and the customer experience. 

Grass Roots: Growing Our Green Agenda: Metroplan and Thoma Thoma (2011)

To help ensure public participation in the development of a Regional Green Agenda, Metroplan, a Metropolitan Planning Organization in central Arkansas, coordinated a public outreach campaign to engage the region – especially youth – to help identify and prioritize major themes/topics and areas of concern. The effort included a social network designed to support a dialogue on key issues while encouraging people to voice their opinions. An interactive online voting tool allowed participants to vote on the ideas of others as well as submit ideas and comments of their own. More than 22,000 votes and 200 ideas were received in six weeks.