CT Office of Policy & Management: Onething™

Submitted by ckwebacct on Tue, 2011-07-12 11:23
The Challenge: 

Late in 2006, Governor Rell introduced Connecticut’s Energy Vision for a Cleaner, Greener State. A key part of this vision was the creation of a statewide marketing campaign to increase awareness of available conservation programs and ideas for bringing about real change in how consumers and businesses use energy in Connecticut.

The Approach: 

From the beginning, we realized it would take more than a few well-meaning ads, websites and tip lists to get results. After all, saving the planet, preserving resources, cutting down our utility bills – these are big things. So big, in fact, it can be hard to get your head around, not to mention act upon. But that’s okay, because you can make a difference without doing everything. You just have to do onething. If we all do onething every day, that’d be more than a billion energy saving things done in Connecticut every year. That might just reshape our energy future, which is everything.

The onething™ movement was fueled by a comprehensive website, (Budget cut; RIP), unique environmental signage, aggressive public relations tactics, media and business partnerships, an educational curriculum, dozens of promotional items and an 18-month advertising campaign consisting of print, outdoor, radio and television ads. The campaign culminated in a remarkable public event at the Connecticut Convention Center in October 2008, the onething Expo – Home of a Million onethings. Touted as a “World’s Fair of Energy Conservation” the onething Expo was an engaging exploration of energy topics and an unforgettable celebration of conservation told in bright detail by hundreds of individuals and organizations across the state—and the country.

The Results: 

More than 200 exhibitors and 100 volunteers took part in the Expo and nearly 7,000 visitors attended the three-day show. “Education Day” saw 658 educators and teachers from more than 14 towns participating. “Business Day” saw more than 40 exhibitors and 600+ attendees.

As we all know, the economy took a turn for the worse in third quarter 2008. Widespread state budget cuts forced the Governor to make a tough decision and discontinue onething funding just after the EXPO. For reasons unknown the website was also dismantled. To this day we still question the wisdom of this. The site was completely CMS and was pretty much on autopilot at the time. Removing it from the internet removed two years of development and valuable conservation messaging out of the public eye and the ability to continue gathering consumption data away from the DPUC. Go figure.