washington business
“ When people saw the ad on Hulu and the Oscars, it brought up that conversation about‘ oh, your company is environmental; tell us more about your sustainability practices.’”
— Nicole Ledford, vice president and chief marketing officer, Schilling Cider except it was a big deal every time she saw it for three weeks.”
He added that even one of his friends in Germany saw the 30-second spot on Hulu.
enterprise and environment coexist
What could a cidery, a manufacturer of weather-resistant products and a steel mill possibly have in common? Employee-focus and built-in sustainability, for starters.
“ The reason it was so important and so great to have Schilling Cider be part of the AWB campaign is we’ re alcohol. People are not always concerned with what we do as a company and things that are fundamentally important to us. When people saw the ad on Hulu and the Oscars, it brought up that conversation about‘ oh, your company is environmental; tell us more about your sustainability practices,’” Ledford said.
During an interview for an AWB magazine article on Rite in the Rain’ s centennial anniversary, Kopriva said the pointed questions got him thinking about sustainability in his operation.
“ It is our 100-year anniversary, so we came into the year thinking that is the story we want to tell this year. But, AWB turned the light on by highlighting that our company, and the people who use it— military, scientists and adventure writers— truly do special things for the environment,” Kopriva said.
The panelists all agreed that Grow Here helped them better communicate with their customers and distributors about their company’ s commitment to built-in sustainability and the importance of family-wage jobs in every industry sector.
“ You can’ t make the argument that getting steel from Oregon, Utah, California, or China is going to be greener than getting it from your neighbor in West Seattle,” Lyles said.“ For us, sustainability is about maintaining living-wage jobs and it’ s about being good environmental stewards.”
2016 moved the needle, 2017 campaign underway
In all, Grow Here ran more than 2,000 television spots, 500 radio spots, and included ads on King County busses and online digital ads on Hulu and Pandora.
The positive sentiment to the ads ranged 91-96 percent. Poll results after the ads aired indicate that the more AWB highlights and tells the positive story of business, the higher the positive sentiments will go.
“ I think what this campaign is doing and why it had so much success is that it’ s humanizing us as a company,” Kopriva said.“ It was a very impressive campaign and we were happy to be involved.”
In 2017, the Grow Here campaign will continue to tell the good news about what employers do, how they enrich communities, create good-paying jobs and what they need from state leaders to remain vibrant and grow opportunity across Washington state.
Grow Here: https:// www. awb. org / growhere /
Grow Here Panel Video: https:// vimeo. com / 183037694
“ Our businesses are passionate about our customers. We care deeply about our employees and we choose to live in places that are beautiful, unique and speak to us,” Scott Morris, CEO of Avista and one of the initial contributors to Grow Here, told Policy Summit attendees.“ There are more stories to tell and each of you can help do that.”
To learn more about Grow Here or to contribute, contact Jason Hagey, Vice President, Communications, at JasonH @ awb. org or 360.943.1600.
28 association of washington business