High-profile brand meets circular economy demands

Alder’s founder, Mel, led commercial marketing for 15 concurrent programs for an energy efficiency consulting firm. One of the most successful programs, the Energy Smart Jobs program, was administered through the California Energy Commission and funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. It included multiple partner organizations from government agencies to utilities. 

Because of the brand’s high profile and its requirement to co-brand with several organizations, we developed a strategy that allowed the brand to stand on its own while remaining versatile enough to complement partners in co-branding scenarios. The construct gave us a formula for dealing with more than one co-branding opportunity in a heavily bureaucratic environment. Mel led a structured branding process that reduced internal revisions by aligning stakeholders at the beginning of the process and streamlined design. The final result was a cleverly designed brand package with fast approvals and buy-in, saving time and money. 

The program partnered with the California Conservation Corps by training its participants to identify energy efficiency opportunities within SMB commercial buildings. Their mission aligned with our brand values, and it gave us the primary imagery we used to promote the brand. 

We met the marketing demands of an $18.8M statewide energy efficiency and jobs program in California that achieved more than 60MM kWh in energy savings within 18 months. The team and Mel garnered media attention as far south as San Diego through the central valley into Marin County in California and national press in the WSJ.