UMC + Hargis Engineers Win Best Marketing Campaign Award

UMC is proud to be the joint recipient of SMPS Seattle’s 2022 Best Marketing Campaign Award at the SMPS Seattle Reign Awards competition held on June 15th at the Sunset Bay Lodge at Ballard Elks Club. The Reign Awards recognize excellence in marketing communications and outstanding achievements of top marketing programs in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry. At last week's awards gala, UMC + Hargis Engineers won this award for the promotional campaign that led to a successful series of virtual forums sharing technical knowledge, timelines, and best practices for compliance on the Washington State Clean Buildings Standard (CBS).

Here’s the gist of the campaign...

Some people make miracles happen in the last minute: Tom Brady, college students submitting term papers… and definitely Amazon delivery drivers. But a Hail Mary won’t help building owners comply with the Clean Buildings Standard. Understanding the law, assessing the situation, making a plan, requesting funding, and getting the work done in time is more like a marathon. And sometimes marathoners need help with a training plan.

HB 1257, the Washington State Clean Buildings Act, was signed into law in mid-2019 and early awareness communications began. But then COVID shutdowns hit, buildings sat empty, and owners had more pressing distractions than years-away legislation. UMC and Hargis saw a need to untangle the complexities of the law and inspire engagement to help planning begin now to avoid a bottleneck of professional resources later. So, the teams at UMC and Hargis united to educate building owners regarding the CBS race set before them.

The two marketing teams became the technical team’s message crafters and audience gatherers. The teams took a unique approach that melded our expertise with the reach of a professional association to gain the most ears possible in the first two events, which ultimately warranted an encore presentation.

A monumental thank you goes to the participating UMC and Hargis team members, panelists, and Northwest Energy Efficiency Council (NEEC) for partnering with us on this one-of-a-kind marketing campaign. And thank you to the awards judges and to SMPS Seattle for hosting an incredible awards gala.