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2012 YEAR-END SUMMARY REPORT

Water – Use It WiselyHow can a screwdriver save you thousands of gallons of water a year?

This is just one of the more than 100 unexpected, but highly-effective, water-saving devices featured in the Water - Use It Wisely conservation campaign. What began as a partnership between Mesa, Phoenix and Scottsdale in 1999 to create and launch Water - Use It Wisely, has grown to become the largest water conservation effort of its kind in the world, with more than 400 private and public entities throughout North America tapping into the program. 

At the heart of this international movement are the Arizona cities and private organizations that make up the local partnership. They continue to demonstrate their

leadership role in conservation through their commitment to this branded cause that has become ubiquitous with saving water. You can’t miss the 136-gallon water tower that travels from city to city reminding, and in many cases shocking, consumers with the fact that they use this much water every day. Campaign water partners are showcased on TV sharing water-saving tips. They offer xeriscape classes, work with students in the classroom, assume the voice of conservation at public events, and host the industry’s most visited website.

It is this unique camaraderie among the cities and utilities of metropolitan Phoenix, as well as

their novel approach to traditional advertising, nontraditional word-of-mouth marketing, and the internet, that ranks Water - Use It Wisely among the leading environmental campaigns in the world. Just Google “water conservation” and you’ll see what we mean.

The following outlines the campaign partnership’s top accomplishments over the past year, helping Arizonans appreciate and care for our most precious resource. After all, there are a number of ways to save water, and they all start with you. Water – Use It Wisely.

Fall & Spring Media BuysTelevisionTV Ads

The fall TV media buy placed 187 commercial airings on KTVK 3 and the Arizona News Channel over six weeks of morning, evening and weekend news programming. This schedule produced 9,496,800 total impressions (the number of times the commercial was viewed). The spring buy afforded 126 airings on KPNX 12 over six weeks on the Today Show, early and late news, and weekend programming. In addition, 300 airings were purchased on 12 News Weather Plus over six weeks, and live video of these commercials was streamed on the Weather Plus index page on azcentral.com. This combined spring schedule produced a total of 4,852,630 impressions with adults aged 25 to 54.

The animated outdoor water-use TV commercial has made a big splash, thanks to the colorful work of former Disney cartoonist Don Bluth. The ad was a fun wake up call for water users, reminding them that most water waste—up to 70%—doesn’t occur in the home, but outside.

65# About UsBy educating the public on simple, everyday water-saving habits through a variety of media, WUIW has grown to become the nation’s most comprehensive water conservation campaign. Fifteen partners drive Arizona’s WUIW coalition, sharing a commitment to sustaining our most precious resource by reducing our water use.

The Arizona Regional Campaign Partners are:

» Arizona Municipal Water Users Association

» EPCOR Water» Global Water » Salt River Project

...and the Cities of:

» Avondale » Chandler » Fountain Hills» Glendale » Mesa » Peoria

Water – Use It Wisely Mission:

Keep water conservation in the forefront of people’s minds by combining funds for better buying power and to maximize media exposure.

Join the Cause!

If you are interested in becoming a partner in the Regional Campaign Coalition, please email us at partner@wateruseitwisely.com.

» Phoenix » Queen Creek » Scottsdale » Surprise » Tempe

Use a screwdriver as a soil probe to monitor yard watering. SAVINGS = 2,000+ GAL/YR

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Live In-Studio Segments

Through our partnerships with Channel 3 and 12, our WUIW partners were featured on LIVE television in short interview segments that featured a different theme each week. For the fall season, six 3- to 5-minute in-studio interviews were aired on Your Life A to Z. Additionally, one “Look Live” remote broadcast was aired on a Saturday during this time.

For spring, WUIW partners participated in five 4-minute segments on Arizona Midday with Jan D’Atri & Destry Jetton over four weeks. These segments were also streamed online at arizonamidday.azcentral.com.

Weather Report Sponsorship

WUIW was the primary sponsor of KTVK 3 weather reports throughout the fall season. Elements of the sponsorship included a

“Brought to you by Water – Use It Wisely” opening graphic, as well as 30-second commercials aired during weather report broadcasts. The sponsorship produced a total of 35 commercials and 45 opening graphics.

Millions of Impressions by Media Type

Print

The spring print buy rotated six of our colorful ads in the Weather section of the Arizona Republic. These ads ran three days a week for six weeks for a total of 3,358,600 impressions among adult readers aged 25 to 54.

Web

WUIW had an expanded online presence on azfamily.com and azcentral.com for both fall and spring of this fiscal year. Among adults aged 25 to 54, online media delivered 1,025,000 impressions during the fall and 1,349,565 impressions throughout spring.

For fall, our “Water Drop” ad was featured on the Home page, while leaderboard, skyscraper and box banner ads were placed on azfamily.com’s Weather page. The Weather page also featured a WUIW sponsor logo and a “Quick Link” that opened to a water tips page. All of these ads, logos and quick links eventually led the viewers back to wateruseitwisely.com. Email blasts were also sent to 175,000 addresses in the azfamily.com database to promote the WUIW Home Water Challenge.

Our spring partnership with azcentral.com also offered us box ads, sponsorship logos and links on the Weather page. In addition, we shared 50,000 15-second video sponsorship messages throughout the website. These are short video pre-rolls that play before a viewer can watch their selected videos.

WUIW’s online exposure also benefited from our partnership with Yahoo! in the spring. A total of 269,565 banner impressions were generated by Yahoo! users as they searched for keywords related to green/environmental content in this popular search engine.

Radio

Like our TV commercial, the outdoor water-use radio commercial served as a fun way to wake people up to the fact that nearly 70% of their water use occurs in their yard. The spot uses a game show format to first point out the usual water-consumption suspects, like showers, toilets and washing machines, then to call out the real culprits, like hoses, sprinklers and other outdoor devices.

In addition to the outdoor game show WUIW radio spot, we launched station-read radio sponsorships that aired during morning and afternoon rush hour

70%OF YOUR WATER USE IS OUTDOORS.

wateruseitwisely.com/arizona

up to

Our bright, colorful ads (like this one with a big drain as a focal point) highlights one of WUIW’s main messages. Placed in the Arizona Republic’s popular Weather section, these small but mighty ads addressed water-wasting attitudes and lawn-watering mindfulness among a vast Valley readership.

Mary Lu Nunley from City of Phoenix is interviewed along with John Smith, The Green Plumber, during Channel 12’s Green Week.

tv

webprint

radio

tv

webprint

radio

14,349,430

2,694,130

3,358,600

5,058,158

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Radio Cont.

traffic reports, as well as another outdoor water-use spot comparing a neighbor’s over-watered yard to a water park.

Fall’s one-week radio schedule of traffic report sponsorships for the weekday morning and afternoon commuter hours produced 964,730 impressions or 113 spots among adults aged 24 to 54. The media buy was spread across eleven local stations, from Adult Contemporary to News/Talk to Smooth Jazz and everything in-between.

Spring’s radio schedule featured the game show radio spot and lasted one week. This accounted for 2,245,800 impressions or 252 spots among adults aged 24-54. Eight stations were included in the media buy, including Classic Rock, Modern Country and 80s/90s Hits.

During the summer one-week schedule, aptly featuring the water park radio spot, 1,847,628 impressions or 243 spots were garnered over eight stations, running the gamut from Oldies to Country and Christian.

Interactive

The heart of the WUIW campaign is its website. Topping search engine results for “water conservation,” the website boasts 100+ water saving tips, helpful links and resources, watering guides, “How-to” sections on landscape care, educational games and ways to join the cause. Banner space for either WUIW messaging or sponsorship ads is available for purchase

as well. These features helped to produce impressive traffic numbers over the last year:

» Over 47,094 page views on wateruseitwisely.com/arizona

» 84% of visitors to the site were new » Site traffic tripled in October 2011, thanks

to the fall media buy

The “Online Home Water Challenge” continues to be one of the most popular features of wateruseitwisely.com and an

important portal to the site. This page had 8,298 page views for the year, 76% of which were users who entered the

WUIW website through this page.

Featured

Water – Use It Wisely was featured as a case study in the book Good Works! by Philip Kotler, David Hessekiel and Nancy R. Lee for our partnership with Lowe’s.

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Social MediaOur social media strategy was given a boost when we set up a WUIW Twitter feed to send out three to four water saving tips each day.

Twitter followers, re-tweets and mentions are at an all-time high. On wateruseitwisely.com,

blog updates with both original and guest content keep the site fresh and buzzing with activity. This year, Guest Blogger Guidelines were developed to encourage greater participation and have included blogs from representatives from Green Plumbers, Hunter Irrigation Industries and Arcosanti. And Basecamp, a project collaboration tool, helps to keep the lines of communication open between partners.

Events In addition to the major media buys in fall and spring, the water partners also participate in a variety of tradeshows, conferences and a variety of promotional activities to spread the word about smart water use. Spring events included Fix-A-Leak Week, SRP’s Water Conservation Expo, Water Awareness Month, and Earth Day at the Phoenix Zoo.

Promotional items created for and handed out at local events add emphasis and longevity to the WUIW message.A total of 700 rubber ducks and 1,200 reusable grocery bags were handed out at a variety of events, and were big hits with attendees. We also created a WUIW lapel pin to promote the cause.

Water - Use It Wisely partners participate in a variety of expos and other events to help further the cause of water conservation and educate the public. Dave Mohan, from the City of Phoenix, shows off his prizes (a pipe wrench and medal) after running in the 4-mile Fix-A-Leak Week race.

Standing 16 feet tall and constructed with 136 one-gallon jugs, the water-use pyramid represents the average daily water consumption of every Arizona resident. Displayed at libraries, city halls and other municipal buildings, it never fails to arouse disbelief and a heightened urgency for water conservation.

Water Tower TourNo matter where it appears, the WUIW water-use pyramid never ceases to surprise. There’s simply no better way to make a lasting impression on people than to show them just how much water they use each day.

UpcomingWe have exciting goals as we move forward into 2012-2013, including:

» Optimizing both form and function of the WUIW regular and mobile website

» Partnering with the Arizona Science Center for Water – Use It Wisely Day on October 20

» Strengthening our social media integration through sharing tools such as Twitter and Facebook, while encouraging website visitors to subscribe to blog updates.

“We don’t have a choice on whether we do social media, the question is how well we do it.”

— Erik Qualman, Socialnomics