Marketing for Good
California was experiencing a drought state of emergency and a group of M-School-ers (we) were tasked with finding a simple solution to conserve water.
After much deliberation, we came to the insight that: People think it’s hard to save water and find it difficult to change their routine.
So we needed to change the perception that saving water is easily achievable through a one time call to action.
The task ahead was certainly not easy, our group was full of amazing individuals but each of us had completely different personalities and ideas and had no sense of clear direction at first. Once we did reach an agreement on the idea that we would work on, things did not get any better.
In fact, they only got worse when we learned that our initial idea wasn’t going to work due to logistical barriers just a day before our pitch at Dollar Shave Club and as a result, we didn’t have a workable idea to present just 24 hours before the actual pitch - all of us were spread out in different cities so close to the presentation (in Los Angeles, Washington, Bay Area and Canada) which made it even worse. It was nerve wracking.
But as all great ideas that come to you when you’re in the absolute clench of hopelessness, the light finally shined through...
Giving rise to Jar Drop: Every Drop Counts. A solution that combines creativity and simplicity to have an aggregating effect on saving water.
WHAT IS IT?
Step 1: Take a mason jar of an appropriate size considering your toilet tank and fill it with absolutely anything you may find around you – sand, stones, gravel, shells….
Step 2: Open that toilet tank and place it in.
And you’re done.
HOW IT WORKS?
Water is saved every time you flush your toilet as the volume of the mason jar dispenses the water in your tank – so, you flush less water.
Basically, its water saving 101 for the post-brick generation.
Here's a video to show you how to works! Courtesy: Tim Enad of SpacecraftVideo.com
So we had the perfect idea. But were people ready to embrace it? We had to find out. And so we decided to camp out at the Farmer’s Market at Playa Vista.
Once we set up shop, it didn’t take too long to start drawing people’s attention. The jars were attractive enough that people started gathering around us, and once that happened more and more people were curious. Soon enough, people saw others carrying around jars and came in search of our booth.
The majority of the people could completely resonate with our message and shared our passion to help the truly breathtaking state we call home – California – to cope with the ongoing drought. Some even offered to make their own jars for friends and family to gift during Thanksgiving and Christmas– the engagement was one on one and the level of interest was truly impressive and endearing.
We gave away around 125 jars at the Farmer’s Market. Furthermore, we made a few contacts who led us to two more events. One was a DIY event called ‘Club Momme’ where we educated parents about Jar Drop and then let their kids fill in and decorate the jars. The other event was a Lunch ‘n’ Learn event at the ad agency, Steelhouse, where we educated the employees about our campaign and handed out 60 jars.
The great thing about the Steelhouse event was that we were reimbursed for all 60 jars which gave us a little more budget to work with which we used for promoting our campaign on social media! Overall, we managed to hand out 200 mason jars.
We then had to measure the actual impact – surely, not all 200 jars were dropped in the tank. So, we made a survey and sent it to the emails of the people who participated in our campaign. The feedback we received suggested that around 80% of the individuals who had taken the jars had placed them in their tanks.
So what does that really mean?
We estimate that we save 36800 gallons a year using 160 16oz mason jars! To put that into perspective, imagine 294,400 pints of beer!
UPDATE:
Thank the universe! The rain gods have been good. As of March 2017, California is no longer in a drought.However, in Fall 2016, the situation in California was so bleak that every drop saved was a drop that counted towards the future. As someone who is passionate about sustainability, environmental protection and conservation, this cause resonated with me.
I am proud of this project because I believe that it continues to be relevant – just because we have finally come out of the drought doesn’t mean that we should go back to having a wasteful disposition towards our resources. Sustainability comes not only through improvements in technology, but also through inculcating a degree of conservation into everyday routine.
Through this campaign, I’ve learnt that sustainability can be just a jar drop away. Easily achievable through the simplest of actions.