Seattle Public Utilities
Natural Soil Building Program
The Seattle Public Utilities Natural Soil Building Program encourages homeowners in Seattle to adopt natural lawn and gardening strategies through education, outreach and sale of deeply discounted, environmentally friendly products. The goal is to reduce solid waste and improve water quality.
On-Line Sales Application
Seattle Public Utilities promotes "backyard composting" as the best environmental choice for reducing solid waste and improving water quality. The Utility encourages residents to use rain barrels to harvest rainwater for water conservation. To support these behaviors, the Utility offers compost bins and rain barrels at reduced prices.
In the past, compost bins were sold at a one-day, outdoor truck sale. We felt this one-shot approach missed a major segment of Seattle residents most likely to adopt natural lawn care practices.
As an alternative, we developed a secure, on-line sales application linked to the Utility website: www.seattle.gov/binsandbarrels. We developed a database with administrative functions to support fulfillment and provide a variety of sales reports.
We promoted the bins and barrels sales application through the Utilities' seasonal newsletters, promotion on the Utility website homepage, bill stuffers and distribution of postcards and posters.
On-line sales of compost bins reached 27% of the annual sales goal in the first month.
View the SPU postcard front (PDF) »
View the SPU postcard back (PDF) »
Natural Lawn & Garden Hotline
Brand Identity Development
Seattle Public Utilities offers a phone and email hotline for customers who have questions about gardening, lawn care and pest management. Through the hotline, the Utility seeks to educate the public about natural ways to solve problems and enhance their lawns and gardens. Through these efforts, they are seeking behavioral changes that result in water conservation, improved water quality, reduced stormwater runoff and a reduction in the use of pesticides and other chemicals.
Seattle Public Utilities increased the goals for customer calls to the Hotline, but was not able to fund increased promotional campaigns. Developing a distinctive hotline brand and clarifying communication to customers offered the Utility a low-cost way to increase visibility and program recognition.
We developed a nickname—THE Garden Hotline, a tag line, brand assets, brand promise, key messages and a positioning statement. Work is underway on a graphic identity—including a new logo—and low-cost promotional strategies.
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