Greening in Action by MOCAP

Organization Name:
Muskegon Oceana Community Action Partnership
City & State:
Describe your creative piece – what is it and what has it been used for, and why is it innovative?
This full page print piece features the Weatherization (WX) Program offered in Muskegon and Oceana Counties in Michigan. This piece is very eye catching, it consists of a young girl, holding an energy saving light bulb, standing in a large colorful field of flowers to reflect spring. The caption reads: Weatherization Works & Saves Green; we are experts in the field of WX for our service areas; so, it is plausible. There is a stack of money attached to the word green that appeals to the masses. The ad encourages readers to help the girl grow a more energy efficient world and save money. The ad reflects the program is free to those who qualify making it more attractive and virally spreadable. Tthe top half of the page is clear on the background as a subtle symbol – our skies will be clear once we reach the masses with home WX and other energy saving programs. It’s innovative because the average non-profit in our service area does not plan and distribute content in this fashion.
What issue or problem were you working to address with this piece?
There were several issues that we were looking to solve with this ad. First, we were working to address the issues concerning the condition of the environment locally and globally. Secondly, we were addressing the concern of local residents regarding the sky rocketing energy costs in our state. Our goal is to help our communities to achieve affordable day to day living by doing the most they can with what they’ve got. This is a resource that they’ve got at their disposal, if only they are informed about it and tap into it. It was used to encourage residence to take a look at this very valuable and free program that is useful to most by stretching client dollars. Thirdly, our desire was to take the message to the people while we have funding available. It is very difficult for clients to search out various human service resources à la carte. Consumers within our service areas are very thankful when we reach out to them rather than waiting for them to miraculously find us.
How has your submission successfully impacted your organization’s ability to solve this issue/problem?
We successfully negotiate discounted media buys, which was a success. Without the media buys as a non-profit we wouldn’t have afforded to take get on the back page sections of any high volume news outlets. As a result we were able to reach thousands. Americans know that CAP Agencies have received millions in stimulus dollars for home WX. Our efforts are to be fully transparent and let the community at large know that we reaching those in need with the funding we have. We’re reflecting that Stimulus funds are being put to good use right here. We’re rising to the challenge of solving our energy problems one house at a time. Making info available via mass media distribution of our Greening Campaign helped us to reach well beyond 100,000 residents. It helps them to keep more locally earned dollars in our local communities and homes. We are weatherizing more homes and keeping more people warm in the winter. This Greening Campaign has gained us great results and feedback.
Creative Submission - Files