Water Saving Heroes: San Francisco Public Utilities Commission

San Francisco Public Utilities Commission contracted with Underground to develop a comprehensive media strategy that included creative development and execution to achieve their goals of public education and behavior change around water use in San Francisco, Alameda, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties.

Underground crafted a brief that outlined the overall intention, audience, messaging, and goals of the campaign and developed an integrated advertising and marketing campaign that included the development of a brochure, a website, print, outdoor, transit and radio ads. Underground approached the campaign with the knowledge that Bay Area residents have a sense of pride about the quality of the water in their region. The campaign needed to honor and reflect this pride while at the same time instilling the sense of urgency needed to quell what was on the verge of becoming a serious water crisis in the Bay Area. 

Underground designed an engaging campaign that stressed the urgency of the issue, but also empowered individuals to make a difference with small personal actions. The headline concept honored “Water Saving Heroes,” the everyday individuals who are changing their habits and implementing easy, effective ways to save water. Underground developed a comprehensive media plan that included print, radio, digital, social and out of home advertising to raise awareness of the water crisis and its contributing factors—urging people to change their personal, outdoor, and household use of water. The campaign encouraged the public to reduce their use of water by following the tips that SFPUC’s ads suggest and by reading about other tips on the website Underground developed for the campaign. 

The water agencies set a goal of saving 10%. The campaign helped achieve a 14% reduction in water usage. Pretty heroic, right?