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EPA's ENERGY STAR for New Homes Outreach Partnership — Updated Guidelines for 2009

Please note that the Outreach Partnership will not be offered in 2010, but may be available again in future years.

In today's challenging economic times, everyone is looking to make smart decisions about their marketing budgets. The ENERGY STAR Outreach Partnership allows participating organizations to reach a broad audience of new home buyers for a relatively low cost. Through the Outreach Partnership, ENERGY STAR partners can pool their resources to increase consumer demand for ENERGY STAR qualified homes and the builders who offer them in their market.

This cooperative advertising effort enables groups of ENERGY STAR partners to distinguish themselves as environmental and energy efficiency leaders. In turn, EPA provides a host of materials and support to help these partners implement a robust advertising campaign featuring all participating partners.

In 2008, Outreach Partnership activities were organized in nearly 40 markets, with over 1,000 participating partners — a record number! We hope you, too, will join us in 2009.

For partners who have participated in the Outreach Partnership in the past, here's what's changed for 2009:

Strategic Changes

For the first time, EPA has invited ENERGY STAR retail and product manufacturer partners to help sponsor the Outreach Partnership in local markets across the country. By doing so, EPA hopes to strengthen and build relationships among ENERGY STAR partners from many business sectors — all of whom are committed to energy efficiency and protecting the environment through ENERGY STAR. This sponsorship will help bring additional funds to the table and extend local market efforts. In addition to the builder names or logos, sponsor logos will appear on all print ads and will be incorporated, where appropriate, in non-print ads as well.
Online advertising has become a popular and cost-effective way to reach consumers. Rather than provide funds to further extend local partner campaigns, EPA funding will be used to conduct paid online search campaigns concurrent with the campaign being implemented by the local partners. More Information About EPA's Search Campaign
To support the online search effort, each participating market will need to have a web site and/or web pages devoted to ENERGY STAR qualified homes, providing information about the program and a list of all participating partners. Partners can choose to use the web site template created by EPA (2MB) or develop and maintain their own (subject to EPA approval).

Ad Template Changes

With consumers' increasing concerns about the economy, 2009 brings new headlines (24KB) that emphasize the cost-saving benefits associated with ENERGY STAR qualified homes. In addition, partners can select from headlines that focus on green building trends.
A new set of background images (750KB) for print, billboard, transit ads, and web banners.
Updated 15, 30, and 60 second radio scripts (14KB).
A customizable web site template (2MB) to connect potential home buyers with the local participating partners and their ENERGY STAR qualified homes.

Timing Changes

A Commitment Form (750KB) to participate in the 2009 Outreach Partnership must be submitted to EPA by February 27, 2009.
Draft media plans must be submitted to EPA by April 30, 2009 (or at least 3 weeks prior to the start of the local campaign).
All campaigns must begin their placements in media outlets by August 1, 2009.

Learn More About the 2009 Outreach Partnership:

Questions about the Outreach Partnership should be addressed to: passe.jonathan@epa.gov.