what's with the shovel?Back in the swing of things
As the beautiful weather of summer and Oregon’s Indian Summer comes to an end, we wanted to celebrate a recent bounty of work. The great weather noted we’ve actually been a little too busy to fully enjoy it. Some highlights from the last couple months:
Bringing new perspective to mental health: We launched a new suicide prevention campaign for the City. At the mayor’s request we developed a series of new signs for the bridges and streets in the City to help get the word out that suicide is preventable.
Making a difference in end of life care: We launched a new brand effort and website for the leading publisher in hospice care. A few weeks ago we went live with the new website for our client Barbara Karnes Books. An e-commerce site aimed to distinguish this authentic, original publisher from the slew of competitive knock-offs.
Bringing our skills to the Cloud: We launched the brand and website for a new cloud-based software client. Knowledge Vault helps clients with disparate locations collaborate and keep things running as smooth as if you were all in the same location. We helped them with the name, logo and the creation of the website.
Working to grow Oregon’s economy (and no we’re not just speaking about our personal economy): This past year we’ve been helping a client that works to keep Oregon on the positive side of the trend in manufacturing. They are the Oregon Manufacturing Extension Partnership. We didn’t name them, but we did help them with a new brand effort that culminated in a series of web videos and a new website to help purvey their wisdom and their services.
Keeping it happening at the Zoo: Way back in April we help the Zoo celebrate Packy’s 50th Birthday and were glad to see 12,000 people show up to share in his birthday cake. This summer we had the opportunity to adorn the City’s Max trains with the colors and spirit of the Zoo’s residents. Hope you enjoyed them as much as we did.
Oh yeah, and we won some new business: It’s always good for the soul, and we’re very glad to announce that we’re working with Willamette View, a fabulous and progressive senior living community that is out to transform the experience of aging. Stay tuned for more on this front.
Well, those are just a few of the highlights from our busy (Indian) Summer. Hope yours was good too.
All the best.
CK
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.
It’s 10 p.m. What's your building up to?
We work a lot in energy efficiency. In our experience, we’ve found the biggest challenge is making energy, and the waste of it, visible. So when NEEA’s BetterBricks asked us to develop a video series on building Night Walks, we saw an opportunity to put energy in plain sight and in relatable terms. Looking at buildings at night allows you to diagnose energy issues that would have gone unseen during occupied hours. With the Night Walk video series, our aim was to show how energy was being wasted and arm building engineers and property managers with the tools needed to fix these issues.
We enlisted the help of an energy engineer whose expertise and personality made him the perfect host for the video series. Over multiple Night Walks, we filmed our host as he uncovered hidden energy wasters using visual cues, such as a sheet of paper sucked into an elevator shaft to show air leaks in a building. Each video in the 7-part series focused on a single topic to keep the content bite-sized and relevant for management and technical audiences alike.
The final video series provides real-world examples of common issues found during a Night Walk. What’s more, we took an inherently complex topic like building engineering and made it fun, engaging and most importantly, educational.
Watch the video series here.
Portlanders will soon "Include the Food" at the curb.
We’ve been helping the City of Portland with the roll out of citywide curbside composting—a topic that’s right up our alley. We previously assisted the City with the pilot program for this initiative (which was a great success), as well as a number of other recycling efforts including citywide residential curbside recycling and office paper recycling initiatives.
Starting October 31, residents of Portland will be able to compost all food scraps such as meat, bones, dairy, grains and even pizza boxes at the curb. They will include these items along with their yard debris in the green roll cart, which will now be picked up every week—quite the change for many Portlanders, but a huge benefit to the environment.
We used an illustrative style in this campaign in order to demonstrate both the simplicity of composting and to serve up the information in a way that’s easy to digest and understand. The phrase, “Include the Food” has been leading the campaign so far in order communicate the most immediate change. If you live in Portland, look for our materials coming your way in October!
One surgery, but two hearts saved.
Sometimes good creative is simply a matter of helping the client find their voice. In this 30-second spot Coates Kokes recently concepted and produced for Adventist Health, we found a way to frame their cardiac services in the context of the emotional issues ultimately at play in something as serious as heart surgery. The key insight is that it’s not just one heart at risk with coronary disease, but rather also the hearts of their loved ones.
The spot, and corresponding print and outdoor executions, deliver on this insight in a soft-spoken tone appropriate for the subject and the client—it is their spot after all. Using the perspective of the spouse of the patient, rather than the patient himself, to tell the story makes for a more compassionate and interesting presentation.
While the medical science and technique of the matter are always of primary importance at Adventist Health—they’re in the top 10% nationwide for how quickly cardiac arrest is stopped and one of only two accredited Chest Pain Centers in the state—so is the delivery of services. Our client has always made it very clear to us that the compassionate side of the care was an equally important measure of success. We’re glad to know they think this spot goes a long way toward demonstrating why Adventist Health provides “care you can have faith in.”
Happy Earth Day!
1. A — March 21, 1970
Coates Kokes brands the country’s first carbon reduction challenge tailored to commercial office buildings.
Portland Metropolitan Association of Building Owners and Managers (BOMA)’s Carbon4Square challenge - the first of its kind in the country - has recruited 85 office buildings totaling over 14 million square feet to assess and improve environmental performance within their operations. Representing over 20 percent of the entire Portland metropolitan market, from downtown to surrounding cities, each building team will develop customized strategies to reduce their “carbon footprint” through the 4 “W’s” – watts, water, waste, and wheels.
Launched by Portland Metropolitan BOMA in partnership with the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance’s BetterBricks initiative, Coates Kokes designed the logo, web site and collateral materials and leads public relations for the program.
Carbon4Square provides a simple framework to understand and act on both the financial and environmental benefits in improving building operations. Participants will have access to local area experts, financial and technical resources, and educational opportunities to help them get started. Additionally, each building will be assigned their very own “4Square Coach” to guide them through the competition and assist in creating their “Sustainability Playbook” that outlines their environmental priorities for the next two-three years.
Participants will also have access to the Carbon4Square Status Board, which details the types of tracking that each property manager has completed and allows participants to track their individual performance and compete with their peers.
“We know it takes significant effort to achieve the benefits, both financial and environmental, realized by sustainable building operations,” said Susan Steward, BOMA Portland Executive Director, LEED Green Associate. “BOMA Portland’s priority is to demonstrate commitment to our members and the commercial real estate industry by launching the Carbon4Square challenge and recognizing the skill and expertise demonstrated by the facility teams that run these buildings on a day-to-day basis.”
“Sustainability is at the forefront of our current business plan and it is also a top priority for our owners and tenants,” says Kim Schoenfelder, Project Director, KG Investment Management and a Carbon4Square participant. “The expert support offered by Carbon4Square coaches helps us identify the key areas where we can reduce our energy consumption and carbon footprint and also creates the roadmap for us to achieve the goals of our current sustainability plan.”
In addition to BOMA Portland and the Northwest Energy Efficiency Alliance, Carbon4Square partners include the Energy Trust of Oregon, The City of Portland’s BEST Business Center, City of Portland Department of Transportation, City of Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, ENERGY STAR®, Metro, City of Gresham’s Great Businesses, and Business Smart Trips.
Ad League Adventures
This week's bowling in Ad League was quite an exciting one! Our final game of the night ended in a combined team score of 1100, and Heather bowled a new lifetime high of 200.
Please excuse the photo quality—the photographer was (understandably) excited!
