People love their yards and want them to look good. Whether due to keeping up with the Joneses or simply enjoying the routine of yard care, people equate a lush green landscape with a healthy one. Unfortunately, many people dont know that a perfect yard often comes at a great price to the environment. In fact, households, parks and businesses in the Puget Sound basin use about 1.1 million pounds of pesticides each year, which are wreaking havoc on local streams and lakes. In addition, an average Puget Sound household generates nearly 1,000 pounds of grass clippings annually.

PRR was hired to design and implement a program to move the region's yard care ethic toward natural yard care. Through research, we determined the target audience would likely be motivated by cost incentives to try environmentally preferable yard care products. These included mulching lawn mowers, organic fertilizer, soaker hoses, weed pullers, insecticidal soap, and compost and rain barrels. We created a name for the program, "Northwest Natural Yard Days" and developed a simple message that could be reinforced in all mediums: 'When it comes to your yard, act naturally.' We designed a program that hinged on a partnership with local retailers to sell these products at discounted prices. In exchange for agreeing to offer the products at a discount for one month, the retailers were included in widespread promotion of the program. Point-of-purchase materials including shelf talkers and product stickers were designed and distributed to participating stores. In addition, we planned a one-day kick-off sales event at the Seattle Center to launch the program. The promotional strategy included media relations and events, direct mail, print and co-op advertising, point-of-purchase, radio promotions, internet marketing, and education at the retail locations. 34 stores participated in the program, including seven retail chains. The kick-off sales event was a great success, with 1,267 people making purchases. A total of 7,021 items including electric mowers, push mowers, compost, weed pullers, soaker hoses, insecticidal soap, water timers, and organic fertilizer were sold. In-store sales on these featured products increased by an average of 143 percent. Media relations efforts earned nine television, 11 print and five radio stories. Media coverage resulted in over 1.7 million impressions and $173,000 in media value.