what's with the shovel?CK client Avista on a Today Show blog!
Last week a few thrifty bloggers and Twitter folks picked up on Avista’s free energy saver kit and news traveled fast—all the way to a Today Show blog affiliate!
The Today Show is teamed up with www.hip2save.com, a coupon blog that runs about two dozen deal-focused posts each day and last Thursday Avista’s energy saver kit made the cut!
CK worked with Avista to create the “Don’t be a Powermonger” energy saving kit so that Avista customers who rent their home or apartment can be more efficient with their energy use. After being featured on the blog, Avista received 442 requests for kits in only 48 hours! They also got 795 Facebook “likes” in 36 hours.
The kit is part of Avista’s “Every Little Bit” initiative, which is an energy efficiency awareness program for the utility that provides natural gas and electricity to Eastern Washington, Northern Idaho and parts of Southern Oregon.
The ingenious little kit contains an energy savings guide, a power timer socket, switch and socket insulators, a savings tip booklet, a shower timer, window insulation film, and fridge reminder magnets.
More information about the kit and other ways to save energy can be found here: www.everylittlebit.com/powermonger
CK helps recognize leaders in the green building industry
Did you know that our buildings consume 40 percent of all the energy used in the U.S. each year? Fifty percent of those energy-guzzling buildings are commercial, so it’s crucial for business to innovate to create more energy efficient structures.
No good, green deed goes unnoticed
It’s important to recognize those who are ahead of the curve in creating a more sustainable built environment. The 2012 BetterBricks Awards for Oregon and SW Washington did just that by honoring those leading the way in designing, building and operating more energy efficient buildings.
The BetterBricks winners include owners, developers, engineers, facility managers and sustainability advocates who lead the region in forward-thinking business practices and technical innovations for energy efficient commercial buildings. The panel of judges comprised industry professionals, utility representatives and green building experts.
CK helped make it happen
Coates Kokes coordinated the awards for the past nine years in Portland and for the past seven in Seattle. We also facilitate award events in Helena, Mont., and Boise, Idaho.
At the Oregon and SW Washington event, CK assisted with planning, logistics and event promotion. We also brought in nationally known keynote speaker David Bragdon, who is the current director of Mayor Bloomberg’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability and the former Metro Council President.
He spoke to 300 attendees about the Bloomberg administration’s efforts to green New York City and reduce demand for energy.
Kevin Kampschroer, director of the Office of Federal High Performance Green Buildings for the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA), was the keynote speaker at the Puget Sound event. He spoke to over 150 attendees about his experience in overseeing the green building program for GSA with a focus on energy efficiency.
You can relive the awards (or just pretend like you were there) by watching video clips from both events at: http://www.youtube.com/betterbricks
Lovely event photos can be found here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/betterbricks/
What exactly is BetterBricks, you ask?
BetterBricks is a commercial building initiative of the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance (NEEA), which is supported by Northwest electric utilities. BetterBricks provides education, training, online resources and recognition of industry leaders to accelerate energy savings in commercial buildings throughout the Northwest.
And the winners are…
Oregon and SW Washington
- Owner/Decision Maker: Justin Hurley, Director of Real Estate and Sustainable Planning, Asante Health Systems
- Design Engineer Co-winners: John McMichael, Principal, Interface Engineering, and Steve Reidy, Principal PAE Engineers
- Facility Manager/Building Operations: Rob Beardon, Facility Director, Portland Art Museum, and Mac McMillan, Building Engineer, Portland Art Museum
- Service Contractor: Tom Konicke, Business Unit Manager – Oregon Energy & Facility Services Group, McKinstry
- Emerging Leader: Martin Tull, Executive Director, Green Sports Alliance
- Advocate: Ralph DiNola, Principal and Marketing Director , Green Building Services
- Special Judge's Award: Mitch Dec, Energy Department Manager, Glumac
Puget Sound
- Owner/Decision Maker: Robert Foster, Planning Administrator in Capital Projects, Northshore School District
- Architecture: Allyn Stellmacher, Partner, ZGF Architects LLP
- Facility Manager/Building Operations co-winners: Rick Mock, Director of Facilities, Washington Holdings and Cal Ihler, Director of Facilities Operations and Maintenance, Seattle University
- Advocate: Rod Kauffman, President, BOMA Seattle/King County
- Emerging Leader: Brian Geller, Executive Director, Seattle 2030 District
- Special Judge’s Award: Scott Dorough, Resource Conservation Manager, PeaceHealth St. Joseph Medical Center
Lifetime Achievement Award: Joel Loveland, director, Integrated Design Lab, University of Washington
193,000 visit ZooLights at the Oregon Zoo – setting all-time attendance record.
For more than 24 years, the Oregon Zoo has been transforming their grounds into a luminous winter wonderland for their premier holiday event – ZooLights. More than just a pretty scene, ZooLights represents a holiday tradition for many Oregonians and a boost to the Zoo’s attendance during the winter months. So this year the Oregon Zoo approached Coates Kokes to develop a marketing campaign to capture the magic of ZooLights and ultimately increase attendance over previous years.
We developed a fresh logo, print ad and TV spot that did just that. We incorporated the Zoo’s iconic steam train and resident elephant, Packy, into the logo, which complemented the line “Illuminate Your Holidays.” The television commercial focused on the transformation of the Zoo and the magic of 1.3 million lights that make up the ZooLights experience.
The rollout of the campaign, combined with a stretch of good weather, resulted in a record-setting year for ZooLights, drawing 193,000 visitors to the event – a 36% increase over the previous year. And at an average of almost $10 a ticket, the additional 50,000 visitors certainly helped the bottom line.
