It all starts with an idea. Every day, we get phone calls from clients that talk about their needs for conserving energy, promoting ideas, increasing quality or having an event. Together with these clients, we come up with new and invigorating ways to stimulate not only the initial goal but create a comprehensive plan that accomplishes the goal far better than one single piece.
It sounds intimidating, and it can be. We excel at making it easy and helping you create a plan that works for both your goal and your budget.
What we're going to do right now is take you through a case study that shows how one simple idea can grow into a cost-effective and money saving plan. AwarenessIdeas is a complete solution company, and we take pride and making our customers happy and efficient.
About three years ago, we were contacted by a University that merely asked us for stock light switch decals for the residence halls. They wanted to remind students to turn off the lights, a straightforward and inexpensive project.
The First Phone Call
When the university called us up, all they wanted was the decals.
At AwarenessIdeas, our conversations tend to run a little deeper. We know what most companies want is to create change and save money. Because of our decades in business, we have thousands of ideas of how to do both.
We start by learning more about what’s happening that they want to change. We began asking questions about the actions causing the problem, reason for the change, and what their final goal was. We want to know the ‘why’ so we can help with the ‘how.’
Our questions seek the details for a purpose.
Was it just the students leaving the lights on? Was there a targeted energy consumption decrease or a specific financial issue? Was this a desire to be eco-friendly?
As it turned out all of these questions were just what they wanted to do. We found out what they wanted to happen and we were able to put together a plan to make it happen.
They wanted to reduce spending on energy as the primary motivator. They knew they had a problem. It was a relief and comfort to the University that we understood their underlying request and could help them with more than just the decals.
Taking The Next Step
The university was very pleased that it took us only two business days to go from questions and brainstorming to the first steps in the master plan. We suggested using their team mascot along with their “Please turn off the lights” and they were enthusiastic about getting their team involved. We also suggested that with the decals that they let us design a few posters that would reinforce the same message. They liked that idea also. It took us 1 day to design the posters and since we print them ourselves they were shipped within 2 days
The energy decals and posters for the students hall was a good first step, and we able to produce them very quickly. We also explored with them the idea of creating a consistent message across the campus that promotes proactive behavior for energy consumption: turning off the lights.
The university agreed that there were many others places where there were energy losses that could be mitigated. The plan we created together covered those others places.
Creating Awareness
As we continue talking with University, we wanted to make sure that all members became involved. This included the administration, staff, teachers, and students. We worked closely with each group to create and institute a clear mission statement so that each could take responsibility and pride in their University.
This mission statement got distributed through multiple media outlets including television, email, and text messaging. It provided a consistent message for the type of behavior that the university wanted to see. The first step was just turning off the lights.
Change is difficult, however seeing a consistent message and having people called upon to take responsibility reinforces the desire to do good. Telling people what needs to occur is one thing. Getting them to embrace that change is another.
It became a source of pride and accomplishment for people to turn the lights off. The call to action resonated with the younger generation who is concerned with environmental conservation and social wellbeing.
The students became one of the chief advocates for turning off the lights. With our help, the source of the University’s concern became the leading taskforce for energy reduction. ?????
Once the students became proactive in monitoring their energy consumption, they took on a whole new element of caring for public areas, individual residence halls, and even classrooms.
Part of the plan included seeking out and observing the actual conduction systems for electric, water, and heat. All of these consume precious energy resources, however many of them were not monitored well.
The university then wanted to introduce a plan with the maintenance department to monitor and record problems with leaks and damage. This plan was then presented to the faculty and students, encouraging them to submit pictures and maintenance reports when they saw the leaks and waste. The maintenance team now had thousands of eyes watching for loss and could respond to leaks quickly.
Most of the solutions AwarenessIdeas provided had little cost output for the University. Certainly the savings in energy and campus enthusiasm more than offset the costs. For example, we recommended forming an environmental committee that would include faculty, staff, teachers, and students. They would monitor the initiates and create new plans. The University ordered from us badges, headwear, t-shirts and polo shirts with the words Energy Team printed on them and gave them to volunteers. Everyone was getting excited.
Another application we recommended was the implementation of contests to promote environmental awareness issues and energy conservation. Many of the students competed because they wanted to win the small mugs and magnets that we were able to produce for the University at a minimal cost.
The Final Result
Although the university did not provide us a dollar amount the program generated, they did tell us that what they were spending for the promotional items and the power saving decals was far less than the savings on their energy bill. They also noticed overall awareness and unity on the campus when it comes to energy conservation and working together.
They agreed it took work and cooperation, and the value went far beyond the savings. The University won by saving money and gaining cooperation.
AwarenessIdeas continues to work with this University on energy, water and recycling issues. We now also work with them on planned events and supply them with displays, table cloths, handouts and decorations. and we provide them many smaller awards & promotional items that promote energy conservation and cooperation within the student body and staff.
We won because we created the awareness to protect the environment and have a customer that is happy.
The students won because they are more aware of their actions, take pride in their campaigns for energy awareness, and many gained confidence being on the committees. Together, we created leaders and professionals for tomorrow.
It started with a decal. We asked the right questions to uncover the problem. Together, we formulated the plan of action. Finally, everyone is a winner by promoting conservation, saving money, and creating a united assembly.
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