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Client: In Harmony Organic-Based Landscape Services

Situation: A sustainable landscape company was experienced and ready to grow. The company needed to move beyond focusing on details and tasks and develop strategies to attract more clients.

Strategy: Sage Environmental facilitated and guided development of a long-range marketing communications plan. Sage then managed implementation of strategies resulting from the plan, including writing and placing advertising, coordinating public relations, editing a customer newsletter, and developing and analyzing a customer survey.

Results: The first-year result was a 61% increase in leads and a 49% increase in sales over the previous year. Sage Environmental continues to help the company grow and develop.

"We have worked with Annette Frahm for many years. Her experience and expertise have allowed us to take our message and marketing to the next level. She cares about our company, and the well being of our business, but above all she cares about us and our people. She is a pleasure to work with and a valuable member of our team."

--Ladd Smith, co-owner, In Harmony Sustainable Landscapes

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Situation: Governments cannot change environmental behavior just by providing information to businesses and the public. They need a more effective way to develop objectives, understand their audiences, create strategies and evaluate their efforts.

Strategy: Annette Frahm has taught workshops locally and at state, regional and national conferences to educate state and local governments about social marketing and how to create more effective environmental programs. In addition to workshops, she has researched and analyzed theories of behavior change and their use in education and outreach efforts. A 1996 report, Changing Behavior: Insights and Applications, has been widely distributed.

Results: A number of governments and nonprofits around the US and Canada have improved their research, planning and evaluation of public education and outreach.

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Project: Green Gardening Program

Situation: The Green Gardening Program had been in existence for 10 years and needed a fresh approach to make it more effective, broaden its reach and achieve results.

Strategy: Sage Environmental is a key part of the team that is redesigning this educational program. Sage created and facilitated workshops for nurseries to explore natural products, methods and customer education. We also developed the first-ever Green Gardening workshop for professional landscapers, using long-term relationships with key members of the landscape industry. Other new strategies include garden parties and a recognition program for Natural Yard Care Nurseries.

Results: The program has expanded beyond its traditional audiences to include professional landscapers, a wider public audience and a larger number of nurseries. Workshops have been well received by nurseries and landscapers.

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Client: Thurston County

Situation: Retail hardware and home improvement stores sell a variety of hazardous garden products, such as pesticides. While some stores have increased their sales of environmentally friendly alternatives, bags of weed and feed, insecticides and other products are still piled high in the front aisles.

Strategy: Sage Environmental conducted a series of informal interviews with staff at Home Depot, Lowe’s, Fred Meyer, Ace Hardware, manufacturers and others to assess barriers to selling less-hazardous gardening products and opportunities to make changes. Sage analyzed interview results and provided a report.

Results: The project report discussed the retail market in garden chemicals, assessing decision making, product placement, product choices, vendor support, supply chain dynamics and customer barriers. It provided recommendations for a range of possible actions Thurston County could take to change the current situation.

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Project: Stop Before You Spray

Situation: Many people spray pesticides because they think all bugs are bad. But most insects in the garden are actually helpful.

Strategy: To help gardeners learn about the wide range of "good bugs" in the garden, Annette Frahm created Stop Before You Spray. This easy-to-use field guide features photos, descriptions and benefits of 27 common beneficial insects.

Results: Full-page articles in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and Seattle Times featured the guide, and it has been widely distributed and used. It won a Savvy award from 3CMA, the national City-County Communications and Marketing Association. It is changing the way Northwest gardeners think about insects.

From the Seattle Post-Intelligencer:

"With the help of a new bug field guide from King County, gardeners can begin to appreciate just how much good is going on in their gardens. Predators and pollinators abound."

   --Marty Wingate

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Employer: King County Hazardous Waste Management Program

Project: Show Garden, 2003 Northwest Flower & Garden Show

Situation: How do you educate gardeners about natural methods without preaching to them? How about using actors and humor to entertain them?

Strategy: Annette Frahm created an innovative educational show garden for the 2003 at the Northwest Flower & Garden Show as a collaborative public-private project. The garden used a humorous skit to educate about environmentally friendly gardening. Annette took an active role in developing the garden's concept, design and educational messages. She was primary author of the script; she also managed actors and media relations.

Results: The garden won a bronze medal, and has drawn praise from showgoers and garden writers for its creativity, appealing design and groundbreaking use of live theater.

From King County Journal's story about the show:

"Of special note is 'Changing the Garden Perspective: Living in Harmony with Nature.' This garden, presented by Bothell's In Harmony Organic-Based Landscape Services together with King County Hazardous Waste Management Program, features actors discussing and demonstrating natural and chemical-dependent gardening. Guess which one produces a more spectacular, less labor-intensive garden."

   --Carole Beers

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Employer: King County Hazardous Waste Management Program

Project: Natural Lawn Care Program

Situation: In 1999 80 million pounds of pesticides were used in and around US homes and gardens. Local agencies wanted to change the lawn care behavior of male urban and suburban homeowners.

Strategy: Annette was a lead in creating, designing and managing the Natural Lawn Care Program, a multi-year, multi-agency effort. The program encouraged the public to reduce pesticide and water use and practice natural lawn care. The collaborative program used radio and television advertising, media events, on-site education, web sites and printed materials. A variety of market research was used to identify and learn about target audiences, test approaches and evaluate results.

Results: Post-campaign surveys showed that people who say they don't use weed and feed increased from 47 to 61 percent and those who don't care about lawn weeds increased from 23 to 32 percent. The project won a Silver Anvil award from the Public Relations Society of America.

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Employer: King County Hazardous Waste Management Program

Project: Pesticides Postcards

Situation: While the Natural Lawn Care Program focused on men, research has found that women were more concerned about the impacts of pesticides and children and the environment. What will motivate women to turn their concern into changes in gardening behavior?

Strategy: Research on people's beliefs, perceptions and behavior related to pesticides was used to create striking photo postcards with messages on how and why to reduce pesticide use in gardening.

Results: The joint project with King County and several suburban cities reached more than one million people over two years. A post-campaign survey found that 31 percent recalled receiving the cards, and 55 percent of those recalled a specific message. People who recalled the cards were 20 percent more likely to select a pest-resistant plant, 14 percent more likely to amend soil with compost and 10 percent more likely to use a natural fertilizer.

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Employers: Puget Sound Water Quality Authority and Northwest Power Planning Council

Situation: Both the Puget Sound Water Quality Authority and Northwest Power Planning Council faced the challenge of explaining complex, unfamiliar issues. They also wanted to engage audiences to help produce innovative plans to improve the Northwest environment.

Strategy: Annette Frahm developed and managed the publications program for the Puget Sound Water Authority. She translated technical water quality planning documents into clear, understandable summaries for the general public and produced the Soundwaves newsletter. For the Northwest Power Planning Council, she planned, designed, edited and produced Northwest Energy News and managed other public information efforts.

Results: Both agencies set new regional standards for informative and appealing publications that explained issues and educated and informed the public, leading to more effective public involvement. These approaches have been widely copied by other government agencies.