Bainbridge Island likes to boasts its sustainable culture. Now there’s an award to prove it.
Conservation Services Group, the organization that handles the campaign for RePower Bainbridge, recently won an international award for the effectiveness of their marketing efforts in Kitsap County.
The honor, a silver place for the 2012 Summit Marketing Effectiveness Award, is a world-wide pat on the back for their creative marketing that spread the sustainable word, not only for RePower Bainbridge, but also for RePower Kitsap and RePower Bremerton.
“It’s pretty well-known in the industry,” said Lisa Rinkus, spokeswoman Conservation Services Group.
“They are interested in which campaigns are motivating consumers,” she added.
The marketing effort that includes posters, graphics and more emerged from 732 entries world-wide, which yielded 58 winners. The campaigns were judged by advertising agencies and educational institutions across the globe.
RePower Bainbridge is a local campaign aimed to increase energy efficiency of island homes, and in turn, reduce the draw on the electrical grid. The program includes energy audits on homes. It also provides homeowners guidance through a variety of energy saving methods and incentives through the state and Puget Sound Energy.
While receiving a favorable nod for their work, Conservation Services Group found that islanders were the biggest help getting word around.
“What we’ve learned is that people are influenced by others,” Rinkus said. “If people hear about other people wanting to make their homes more energy efficient, it tends to influence behavior. If one community hears they are reducing their energy needs by 30 percent, for example, then the other community wants to.”
“That was what was great about this campaign, hearing from others,” she added.
Rinkus noted that the average energy savings on homes through the RePower program is 30 percent by doing simple upgrades such as insulation or air sealing.
The RePower Bainbridge program has less than a year left to offer islanders energy assessments and upgrade incentives. The program’s grant funding will run out on July 31.
