THE CHALLENGE: Commercial buildings consume nearly half of our country’s available energy. Now that’s an energy crisis. To help get the word out and cut energy use (at least in the Northwest) BetterBricks turned to Coates Kokes.

THE APPROACH: The critical “ah-ha” insight came after talking with architects, owners and developers: it’s all about money. It was up to us to make the business case for energy efficiency. In the commercial sector, energy efficiency translates to money—realmoney. “Greener” buildings are a competitive advantage and better for the bottom line.

THE WORK: Decision makers in the commercial sector are still people. They learn visually and occasionally need to be inspired. So we developed advertising and collateral to be eye-catching, informative and positive. Eliciting action required laying out a “clear path” with alternative steps. Further, we used ck public relations to carry the momentum and turn marketing ideas into movements. Thus far, through strategically orchestrated events and media contacts, we’ve generated over a million dollars worth of print, radio and television coverage honoring firms and individuals pioneering new thinking on energy.

THE RESULTS: To date, consumers and businesses have benefited from 210 average megawatts of energy savings through neea initiatives and related efforts (enough electricity to power more than 145,000 homes a year). Studies show that “first cost” (the initial expense) as the major barrier to improving efficiency in buildings dropped from 77% to 48%. Better still, 40% of respondents to the recent survey said there was no barrier at all to increasing efficiency. Clearly owners and developers are seeing the value.