Making Conservation a Way of Life is a Win-Win

In the summer of 2023, Hunter|Johnsen and the Coachella Valley’s six water agencies that make up CV Water Counts set out to refresh their regional outreach campaign to encourage residents, businesses and government to conserve water. The agencies wanted to maintain the brand recognition of Splash, the CV Water Counts mascot, focus on the top tips that can make a difference in saving water, and relay the message that we all need to make conservation a way of life.

The Hunter|Johnsen team presented three different creative concepts, and the CV Water Counts team selected two to test in digital campaigns. The campaign that performed best was then developed into the new integrated campaign “Live Water Wise. Make Conservation a Way of Life.” It ran across all platforms: digital, television, radio, outdoor, and print. The campaign informed residents of (a) the need for everyone to conserve water, (b) the top water conservation tips, and (c) how many gallons each tip can help us save each day.

Thanks to the continued invaluable support of the media partners of the Coachella Valley – including Gulf-California Broadcast Company / KESQ, Spectrum, Entravision, Alpha Media Palm Springs, Marker Broadcasting, KGAY, Fuse Advertising, Lamar Advertising, The Desert Sun | LOCALiQ, CV Independent, CV Weekly, Desert Star Weekly, The Public Record, and El Informador Del Valle – the integrated campaign, created in English and in Spanish, continues to run in 2024, and was recently honored with a 2024 Telly Award for television, and an ADDY Award from the Inland Empire chapter of the American Advertising Federation for integrated cross-platform campaign.

Since the Hunter|Johnsen team began working with CV Water Counts, Coachella Valley residents and businesses have saved more than 80 billion gallons of water.

CV Water Counts is the nonprofit collaborative of the Coachella Valley’s six water agencies – City of Coachella’s Water Authority (CWA), Desert Water Agency (DWA), Indio Water Authority (IWA), Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD), Mission Springs Water District (MSWD), and Myoma Dunes Water Company (MDWC) – that have joined together for a common cause to create awareness and educate residents, businesses and government on how to be water-wise. For more information, visit CVWaterCounts.com.