Water Use it Wisely - Fiscal Year End Summary Report 2020

FISCAL YEAR-END SUMMARY REPORT 2020 WUIW • FISCAL YEAR-END SUMMARY REPORT

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The Arizona Water Partners are: • • • • • •

ADWR AMWUA CAP / CAGRD EPCOR Water Global Water Resources Salt River Project

And the municipalities of: • • • • • • •

ABOUT US “Don’t tell us to save water. Show us how.” That was the sentiment of Arizona residents when local cities studied the best messages to use with water conservation outreach. Twenty-one years later, 20 partners drive Arizona’s Water – Use It Wisely coalition, sharing a commitment to sustaining our most precious resource by reducing our water use. Together, the partners orchestrate messaging, media interviews, public engagement promotions, classroom visits, and more to spread water awareness with a consistent and unified message throughout the Valley.

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FISCAL YEAR-END SUMMARY REPORT • WUIW

Avondale Buckeye Chandler El Mirage Fountain Hills Glendale Goodyear

• • • • • • •

Mesa Peoria Phoenix Queen Creek Scottsdale Surprise Tempe

We are excited to welcome CAGRD to the partnership for the fiscal year 2020-2021.

Our Mission: Keep water conservation at the forefront of people’s minds by combining funds for better buying power and to maximize media exposure.

Contact Us: If you are interested in becoming a partner, please email us at jointhecause@wateruseitwisely.com.

HOW CAN A PUSH BROOM SAVE YOU HUNDREDS OF GALLONS OF WATER? Since 1999, the Water – Use It Wisely conservation campaign has made smart water use fun, easy, and practical for everyone by sharing tips on highly effective water-saving devices like a wrench, a broom, and an irrigation timer. These, and 100+ other tips, remind consumers to think about the water they’re using when they come across the items in everyday life.

Water-saving device #1 is, of course, you! With a goal to keep water-saving ideas in the forefront of people’s minds, the campaign employs a variety of media outlets to promote our 100+ tips, information on water-efficient landscaping, proper irrigation, Xeriscape, WaterSense labeled products, and more!

This Year-End Summary Report is a reflection of the campaign partners’ top accomplishments over the past fiscal year. These achievements help Arizonans appreciate and conserve our most precious resource, water. After all, there are a number of ways to save water, and they all start with you.

Tip #135 Use a broom instead of a hose to clean patios, sidewalks and driveways, and save hundreds of gallons of water every time.

FISCAL YEAR 2019-2020 WILD RIDE

Yes! This past fiscal year was exciting. It was great! Well… maybe until March. Starting on July 1, HAPI joined the campaign as the brand-new advertising agency of record for Water – Use It Wisely (WUIW). HAPI (Hackett Advertising Public Relations Interactive) had so many plans and exciting ideas to share: qualitative and quantitative research, a social media campaign based on monsoon season activity, refreshing our favorite game – Tip Tank, and a Spring planting campaign. No one would

have guessed that the first Spring HAPI was with WUIW would have involved complete pausing and pivoting of campaigns, shut-downs of buildings, events, and no longer being able to meet in-person. This year has allowed us to dive deeper into how the residents of Arizona perceive our brand, how we accomplish tasks with new tools and resources, and how important human interaction is.

WUIW • FISCAL YEAR-END SUMMARY REPORT

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A “FOCUS” ON RESEARCH Everything we do and every decision we make should be based off of research and facts. We knew research needed to be a big part of pushing our brand forward. HAPI brought in the research experts at Brand Outlook to conduct qualitative and quantitative research.

On November 19 we observed two focus groups as they were discussing aspects of water conservation and their awareness of the Water – Use It Wisely brand. Top outcomes: • Water conservation is important to most residents, but it isn’t always on the top of their mind. More than half save water to save money on their water bill and for future generations.

• Our 100+ Tips were very appealing to every respondent.

“If there are over a hundred tips, there is definitely more I can be doing to save water.”

The focus group results helped inform our online survey that took place from March 4-18, 2020. Completed by 600 Valley residents, here are the top outcomes: • The survey reiterated most of what the focus group taught us but on a much larger scale.

• Half thought that Arizona would experience a significant water shortage within the next ten years.

• Two-thirds of the respondents believe that it is important to conserve water.

• Ensuring the water supply for future generations was most commonly mentioned as the primary motivation to conserve water.

TIP TANK – SAVE THE FISH! Not only has 2020 done away with handshakes, hugs, and in person meetings, it has been the end of using Adobe Flash (on Google Chrome, mobile devices and tablets). That was an issue for our fourth most visited page, Tip Tank.

After

From L-R, Amy Peterson (Surprise), Deina Burns (Chandler), and Donna DiFrancesco (Mesa) watched the guided focus group discussion through a two-way mirror.

This research project taught us that residents are concerned about water conservation but lack the why and motivation to do anything about it. We are now using this research to drive forward new branding and messaging.

Tip Tank went live with a fresh look and all-device compatibility in March of 2020. With stay-at-home orders in place, we could not have released Tip Tank at a better time.

We also made changes to the game play: The game now gets increasingly difficult as the levels progress. An incorrect match causes water to be lost from the fish tank. With each correct match, the player has a simple water-saving tip flash up and must interact to continue play.

Since updating Tip Tank there has been:

Before

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FISCAL YEAR-END SUMMARY REPORT • WUIW

+43%

+34%

02:52

page views

in average time on page

average time on page

Data comparison dates: 3/1/2020–6/30/2020 vs. 3/1/2019–6/30/2019

MONSOON CAMPAIGN 2019 WUIW embarked on our first paid social media campaign that was weather triggered.

Yes, weather triggered! With every monsoon storm that brought rain to the Valley, HAPI hit ‘start’ on paid social media ads that reminded residents to shut off their irrigation timers while it was raining. As we all know (and are again experiencing) 2019 brought us a ‘nonsoon’ season. While the campaign was only triggered four times from July 1 to October 31 due to the lack of significant storms, it yielded effective and significant results at a low cost.

RESULTS 69,000

1,122

IMPRESSIONS

CLICKS

FALL MEDIA BUY Brand awareness is paramount to any successful brand. To generate even more awareness of the WUIW website and all it has to offer, the fall awareness campaign took a two-pronged approach: Bring awareness and drive clicks to the website.

We utilized mass media tactics, like COX Cable and Google Pre-Roll, to generate awareness and keep water conservation at the forefront of residents’ minds. WUIW commercials could be seen on channels like ESPN, TLC, and Nat Geo. Google Pre-Roll allowed the campaign to reach across multiple devices and show WUIW commercials before YouTube videos and other video streaming services.

In order to educate residents and take them to the WUIW website, paid social media ads ran concurrently with our mass media tactics.

These ads included strong calls to action to encourage users to click thru to the WUIW website. Our end results surpassed our goals of 3.2 million impressions and 8,333 clicks to the website.

RESULTS 3,741,089

8,927

IMPRESSIONS

CLICKS

WUIW • FISCAL YEAR-END SUMMARY REPORT

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SPRING MEDIA BUY: WATER - PLANT IT WISELY The WUIW Spring 2020 Campaign was very well timed—it was all about spring landscape planting and all the resources WUIW offered. We brainstormed. We planned. We approved. On March 9, 2020 we started a great campaign. Little did we know, days later on March 12 we would have to pause the campaign due to the Coronavirus outbreak. Newsfeeds, radio and news stations were consumed with Coronavirus information, there was no place for us to be promoting spring planting. We waited a few weeks and eventually realized that it was time to pivot and rethink our messaging.

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FISCAL YEAR-END SUMMARY REPORT • WUIW

Spring planting was still incredibly relevant. While people were spending more time at home, they were doing more home renovations and more of their own yardwork. The messaging still made sense, but we knew we couldn’t promote going to a nursery to buy low water use plants. What about no-contact purchases from local nurseries? We reached out to local nurseries to see who was offering delivery or curbside pick-up and added it to our Water– Plant It Wisely site. Nailed it!

#BeASaguaro For a fun, social media and public engagement portion of the campaign we asked the public to pose like a saguaro (in any location) and to tag the photo with #BeASaguaro. We chose the emphasis on Saguaros since they are the desert’s most successful water conservationists. The winning photo won a $500-value landscape consultation from the AZ Plant Lady.

The success was incredible. Within four short weeks we had reached over 20 million impressions.

Radio Buys The campaign also included two radio buys. One on talk radio channel KTAR with our local home and garden show, Rosie on the House. The second included messages on National Public Radio station KJZZ.

RESULTS Rosie and Jennifer Romero from Rosie on the House and Donna DiFrancesco from Mesa pose for the #BeASaguaro promotion. The spring media buy included a full garden-hour interview and radio spot commercials for a four week period.

20,846,247 96,100 IMPRESSIONS

CLICKS

WUIW • FISCAL YEAR-END SUMMARY REPORT

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WATER BY NUMBERS The goal of the website is to educate and activate change. The objective of social media is to get users to engage with our social channels.

WEBSITE 15%

TOP 5 PAGES VISITED

29%

1,233,731

836,420

total page views

total sessions

34%

1 2 3 4 5

13%

8,561

19,135

sessions from email

sessions from social

29%

713,122 new users

10 Reasons Why Artificial Turf May Not Be What You’re Looking For 100 Ways to Conserve Water (100+ Tips)

Kids Games

Tip Tank

Is 24,000 Gallons of Water Per Month Too Much For a Family of Three?

All numbers in this report, unless indicated otherwise were pulled from July 2019–June 2020.

*

PAID CAMPAIGN EFFORTS

ORGANIC EFFORTS

Impressions

Link Clicks

CTR

20,846,247

96,100

0.46%

67,628

1,122

1.66%

Fall Campaign 2019

2,879,211

8,927

0.31%

Tip Tank

2,038,406

15,125

0.74%

129,159

4,103

3.18%

25,960,651

125,377

0.48%

Water - Plant it Wisely Monsoon Campaign 2019

Boosted Blog Posts Totals

See glossary on next page for definitions of impressions, link clicks, and CTR.

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FISCAL YEAR-END SUMMARY REPORT • WUIW

851

1,842,955

8,891

posts to social media platforms

persons reached via organic efforts

reactions/likes

337

1,579

14,854

comments

shares

link clicks

GEOGRAPHIC REACH BY CITY

DEMOGRAPHICS

55+z45+ 11+z27+2014

Gender Sample Male 45%

Female 55%

Age Sample 65+ 14% 55-64 14% 45-54 14%

18-24 11%

1

Phoenix

41,279

29%

6

Scottsdale

7,166

5%

2

Mesa

17,613

12%

7

Glendale

6,077

4%

3

Tucson

9,748

7%

8

Gilbert

5,007

4%

4

Tempe

8,792

6%

9

Peoria

2,844

2%

5

Chandler

8,487

6%

10 Surprise

2,619

2%

MONTHLY E-NEWSLETTER Our eNewsletter continues to drop in over 30,000 inboxes every month offering seasonably relevant and valuable information. The eNewsletter drives our readers to the WUIW website to educate and motivate them to conserve water around their homes.

25-34 27% 35-44 20%

After

Device Tablet 6%

Desktop 41%

53+z41+6

Mobile 53%

GLOSSARY Impression When a user sees an advertisement.

In practice, an impression occurs any time a user opens an app or website and an advertisement is visible.

CTR (Click-through rate) The ratio of users who click on a specific link to view a page, email, or advertisement. It is commonly used to measure the success of an online advertising campaign for a particular website.

Link clicks The number of clicks on links to select destinations or experiences.

Before

LOOKING FORWARD After 20 years we are excited to announce we are working with HAPI through a rebranding process! We will be updating and rejuvenating our brand with a new logo, look, website, and more based on the research that was conducted this past year.

Our refreshed brand will be dropped in March 2021. It’s been an exciting and tough process, but we can’t wait for everyone to see it!

WUIW • FISCAL YEAR-END SUMMARY REPORT

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EVENTS & PARTNER NEWS Our partners stayed busy promoting WUIW at events all across the Valley from summer 2019 until early spring 2020.

SHADE August 2019 – At the Southwest Horticulture Annual Day of Education Ron Whitler (Buckeye) and Rick Obenshain (EPCOR Water) spent the day educating attendees about everything WUIW has to offer and signing them up for our monthly “News Drops” e-newsletter.

IMAGINE A DAY WITHOUT WATER October 2019 – Zack Richards (ADWR) was interviewed to discuss his van-dwelling lifestyle and how he conserves water every day.

WATER TOWER The 16-foot water tower made its monthly rounds to many partner locations including Mesa Public Library (above), the AZ State Capitol (ADWR), and Queen Creek.

SRP WATER CONSERVATION EXPO LOCAL FIRST ARIZONA FALL FEST November 2019 – WUIW partners Leeann Yacuel (SRP) and Deina Burns (Chandler) represented as the “local” water conservation brand among 200 other local vendors. Attendees played trivia for branded swag items, brought their dogs by for pictures and collapsible dog bowls, and some even got WUIW tattoos!

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FISCAL YEAR-END SUMMARY REPORT • WUIW

March 2020 – WUIW participated once again at the SRP Expo.

Seen here showing off Wayne Emoji are Deina Burns (Chandler), Christian Delgado (Phoenix), and Sam Draper (AMWUA). An interactive display also promoted the Water – Plant It Wisely campaign. This young lady was thrilled to win a Wayne Drop beanie by answering a trivia question. Due to the pandemic, it was one of the last events to take place.

WAYNE DROP SIGHTINGS

City Hall Selfie - August 2019 How do you combine #CityHallSelfie day with Lemon Meringue Pie day? Simple! Take a selfie in front of a city facility having a pie picnic with your water conservation buddies, Glendale’s Victoria Caster (now with Peoria) & Joanne Toms.

Day of Play - October 2019 When Chandler turns Tumbleweed Park into a playground for all, you can bet that Wayne will turn up for some family fun and some high-fives (technically fours) with the kids.

Veteran’s Day Parade - November 2019 Wayne got to honor Veterans and check out this Victory motorcycle when he attended this Buckeye event. He got to show his American pride with his best display of red, white, and especially blue!

King Wayne - December 2019 Wayne got to play King for the Day at the 18th Annual Surprise Party hosted by… wait for it… the City of Surprise, of course.

ASU Homecoming - November 2019 The City of Tempe brought Wayne Drop by to hang out with Sparky for this time-honored tradition that brings together students, parents, alumni, and a favorite water drop to celebrate Sun Devil Spirit.

Proper Pruning Saves Water May 2020 When Scottsdale needed to promote their virtual pruning class, they figured Wayne Drop would be a cut above the rest for getting attention and likes on social media promotions.

Training Good Friend Loo Poo - June 2020 Phoenix Water Services decided it was time Wayne Drop had a sidekick to talk about the stinky side of things. Loo Poo is the go-to guy when it comes to wastewater and what shouldn’t go in your toilet.

WUIW • FISCAL YEAR-END SUMMARY REPORT

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WUIW PARTNERS

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FISCAL YEAR-END SUMMARY REPORT • WUIW