Welcome to your new campaign! IMCOOL is a fun and easy way to get your local community involved in making a difference to help stop climate change. We’ve got a lot of information to get you going with your new campaign — consider this document your top-level primer to IMCOOL. We’re guessing you’ve got a lot of questions, so we’ve structured this as a FAQ. And so, without further ado, here’s everything you’d ever want to know about how to launch your very own IMCOOL campaign:

Why IMCOOL?

Way before you found this toolkit, we did a ton of research into behavior change around climate change. And we found that a campaign like IMCOOL, which taps into normative social behavior in a playful, approachable, and non-judgmental way, is the most successful approach to the rather difficult task of getting people to change their behavior to address an environmental issue.

IMCOOL was designed to work as a “brand” — which is something bigger than just a campaign. Successful brands take on a life of their own in people’s hearts and minds, and can have a powerful impact on people’s actions. Brands are built through positive experiences and sheer exposure, so we’ve given you the tools to create both.

How do I get people to do this?

The most important thing to keep in mind here is that marketing is not magic. A campaign will not take hold unless you work it. A few signs and emails and wishful thinking will not get you anywhere. And for a campaign like this, which involves actual behavior change and not just awareness, you’re going to need to work the person-to-person element, starting with the people who are most connected and influential in your community.

The most successful campaigns work from two different directions at once. The grassroots level is where the behavior change happens. And the “top-down” level is where the high-level credibility is established and the brand is built — when people have seen ads or signs or t-shirts about something, they’ll be more likely to join when their friends ask them to, because they’ll feel like it’s an important and substantial thing to do.

So you’ll have great success if you think top-down and bottom-up all at once. It’s all about getting to the leaders and influencers in your community to push IMCOOL on the ground (see Target Audience Matrix for more on this). And it’s also all about getting the IMCOOL brand out and about as widely as you can, because the more times people have seen it, the more likely they’ll be to adopt it.

There are so many pieces here. Where do I start? How do I prioritize?

Everything that you do should be focused on two goals:

1. Get people to join.
2. Keep people engaged and active once you’ve got them.

Even if you don’t have the budget to implement everything on the list, there’s still a lot that you can do to have a big impact. Creating a marketing plan can help a lot. First, you’ll need to figure out your budget and the resources that you have to work with (including people who can help you). Once you know what you’re working with, you can begin to cost out the various pieces and see what fits into your program.

The most important pieces of this campaign are the website and the e-newsletter.

You can use the website template to design a site that lets people get info and sign up. If you have the budget, we’d strongly recommend that you install some software that allows people to see upcoming events and the number of people who have signed up for the campaign. If you can, it would be great to be able to track the cumulative impact of all the actions people have taken — being able to see and measure progress will have a huge impact on the success of the campaign.  (Other web bells and whistles would be great to implement too, as your budget permits.)

The e-newsletter is your primary ongoing engagement tool. You should send it out every month, each time with a new action (see the list) to focus upon. Choose an action that’s appropriate for your area, season, etc. By creating a new “challenge” every month, people will be engaged with the campaign on an ongoing basis, and they won’t be so overwhelmed by all the actions all at once. The more people who sign up for the newsletter, the more successful the campaign will be, so work every channel you can to get those sign-ups. (Your web person can help you set up a system to collect people’s names online.)

All of the items like window clings, t-shirts, yard signs, etc, should be given out as freely as possible. Similarly, the more posters you can distribute and display, the better. Be creative and generous, reward people for signing up and for taking action, and try to plaster your community with the IMCOOL logo as much as possible (use every “influencer” channel you can). The more top-level awareness you can generate, the more successful you’ll be.

Okay, but what do I do with all these pieces? How do I customize the campaign for my city and start implementing stuff?

First, you’re going to need a graphic designer and a web person. We’ve set things up so that it’ll be easy to build the visuals and the website, but you’ll still need the help of people with these skills.

Use Adobe Illustrator to customize the logo for your city. On every template where you see the city name “Spokane,” insert your own city name into the file exactly where you see “Spokane.” Refer to the Brand Guidelines for instruction on color, font, etc.

Turn the web template we’ve given you into an actual living page. The more fully-featured, the better. Your web person will be able to advise you about the level of functionality that’s right for you. And in order to put all these pieces to use, you’ll need to buy your city’s URL, www.IMCOOLYOURCITY.com.

Also, the web person will be able to help with the monthly newsletter. If you designate the copy you want inside, the web person will be able to help you put it into HTML.

Why is there no apostrophe? Why is there no space between the words? Won’t that confuse people?

Quite simply: branding is about getting people’s attention and being memorable. By creating something that’s a little unexpected, we’ve got the makings of a successful brand.

I notice you’re suggesting we produce lots of stuff, like signs and certificates and buttons. Doesn’t that just make climate change worse?

It’s always a delicate balance when trying to “market” for sustainability. We live in a world that’s mostly non-digital, and “stuff” can make a huge impact on a brand’s growth. Fortunately, there are vendors available who can create stuff in a more sustainable way; we encourage you to seek out eco-options for all items produced. Recycled paper, organic cotton, non-PVC window clings, etc. all represent better choices. Local choices are always best.

How can I get more information?