Project
Efficient, Sustainable Marketing for the Green Building Industry’s Leading Organization
USGBC Maryland is a nonprofit membership association with a mission to transform the way buildings and communities are designed, built and operated to enable environmentally and socially responsible, healthy and prosperous living in Maryland. The association was seeking a way to communicate diverse messages while maintaining the integrity of its brand.
USGBC Maryland engaged Substance151 to develop the chapter’s new identity and translate it across a wide range of applications and media – both high-end materials and electronic templates – that would help maintain the integrity of the new design system but also would be easy to use for chapter volunteers. The goal was to create a professional, credible image and a design system that would allow for great flexibility and a long shelf life in this fast-changing industry.
Analytic Thinking
In analyzing USGBC Maryland’s objectives, Substance151 recognized that association’s marketing effort needed to be as sustainable as its mission in order to overcome the fact there were limited resources, but far-reaching communications goals.
Strategic Thinking
Rather than suggest that USGBC Maryland narrow its communications initiatives, Substance151 made certain strategic decisions from the onset that would ensure efficient and cost-effective marketing. Flexibility and sustainability would be the key guiding factors in developing the overall marketing program, as well as in creating individual communications pieces.
Creative Thinking
Working with the overall concept of buildings, environment and people and leveraging the national brand while creating a unique personality for the chapter, Substance151 developed a modular design system and a visual vocabulary of colors, imagery, and typographic and graphic elements that can be configured in numerous ways for a multitude of applications. This flexibility allows USGBC Maryland to address its diverse communications needs efficiently and cost-effectively while maintaining the integrity of its brand.
Sustained Thinking
The strategic decisions we made at the onset of the project allowed us to cut costs without cutting corners. USGBC Maryland now projects a consistent, professional image that appeals to its members, attracts sponsors and makes USGBC Maryland a sought-after strategic partner.
Inspiring Change
As a leader in Green Building, USGBC Maryland had to uphold its image of an organization committed to improving the health of our environment. Substance151 helped the chapter find local vendors for all of its marketing and printing needs. Our team also assisted in selecting economical but environmentally responsible papers and worked with the chapter on switching most of its communications to electronic formats.
“USGBC Baltimore Region engaged Substance151 to rebrand the organization as USGBC Maryland. They clearly understood our business objectives and translated them into a strategic redesign for our website and all forms of print collateral. Substance151 was very easy to work with. The team quickly grasped the essence of who we are. The end product Substance151 delivered undoubtedly positions USGBC Maryland as a leader in green building, with a professional, credible image and the perception of a large, well-established organization. The results have been extremely successful and have led to a long-term relationship between our organizations.”
—Pat Thomas, Executive Director, USGBC Maryland