Marketing & Advertising

West Michigan Environmental Action Council

Logo from: https://wmeac.org/

The West Michigan Environmental Action Council (WMEAC) is dedicated to serving and protecting West Michigan by working with communities to solve environmental problems. Their mission is to inform, engage and nurture an inclusive community acting together to protect natural resources, mitigate climate impacts, and build a resilient region. They provide a variety of programs such as environmental education programs, river cleanups, and rain barrel workshops.

Rain Barrel Workshops

WMEAC's rain barrel workshops give community members an opportunity to participate in managing stormwater and improving water quality. Collected water can be used for gardening, watering lawns, washing cars, and other needs. In addition to saving water, this will also save money! Rain barrel workshops provide a hands-on experience to build your own rain barrel system to implement at your home.

Visit https://wmeac.org/water/rainbarrels/ to stay up to date on upcoming workshops.

Water Preservation

Rain barrels are an effective way to manage stormwater within our communities. By capturing and storing rainwater runoff, they help to reduce the impacts of heavy rainfall and improve water quality. One of our most important resources that's needed to sustain all life forms is being threatened due to anthropogenic activity.

Along with increasing rates of scarcity, water preservation is becoming more of a priority to steward because of increased human populations who overuse and pollute this non-renewable resource. It’s vital that we protect our water sources by coming up with innovative methods to mitigate contaminants from entering water sources. Reusing it by first collecting it in rain barrels is a simple and effective way to contribute! Rain barrels could help ensure that future generations continue to have a safe water supply to sustain them.

Diagram from: https://water.phila.gov/gsi/tools/cistern/

Photos from: https://wmeac.org/water/rainbarrels/

The Project

Our site provides a few suggestions for WMEAC to increase their rain barrel programs awareness. We suggest incorporating more diversity and equity within marketing and advertising strategies to spread more awareness and reach a larger audience. Inclusion is a key factor. Understanding that everyone doesn't have the same opportunity to learn about rain barrels or resources to implement them is very important. Along with suggesting that WMEAC’s website be made more user-friendly, we have created a flyer and bus advertisement to market towards those without internet access.

It is important for WMEAC to have a strong communication appeal when advertising their programs. Being able to effectively communicate to the right audience is a key factor for success. This is why we have chosen to invest time into more traditional advertising tactics that will be able to reach people who may not have access to online advertisements. Our plan was also aimed at reaching all age ranges and income levels.

Our Prototypes

Environmental Sustainability is for everyone! One of the key goals when building our prototypes was inclusion and diversity. Using these concepts increases people’s openness and widens their perspective that this program is for everyone, not just one socioeconomic group. Everyone can benefit from the incorporation of a rain barrel system on their property.

As we aim to revamp West Michigan Environmental Action Council’s (WMEAC) rain barrel workshop, marketing, and advertising are key components to consider. Bringing awareness and fueling an understanding of its importance is crucial to rejuvenating the program. Advertising, through any variety of means, is necessary for a program to reach its' full potential.

Our plan is multifaceted; we plan to enhance WMEAC’s marketing both digitally and non-digitally. First, we suggest enhancing their website and implementing more use of social media platforms. Second, we have created a prototype of a bus advertisement that we suggest goes on The Rapid or Laker Line. As another form of traditional advertising, we've created a physical flyer that could be dispersed throughout the community. Expanding WMEAC's outreach through both of these mediums could exponentially increase the number of people who attend rain barrel workshops. We decided to focus our prototypes on the non-digital component of our advertising plan, as you'll see below.