For the Second Year in a Row

JT Plays Integral Role in Chicago’s Participation in Earth Hour

In 2008 and 2009, JT was retained by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) to manage and coordinate Chicago’s participation in Earth Hour, a global campaign to raise awareness about climate change and demonstrate that each small action taken can collectively make an impact.

Chicago joined more than 3,900 cities around the world - including 300 U.S. cities and 35 municipalities across Illinois - in turning off the lights for Earth Hour 2009.

Following a successful 2008 campaign, JT returned as overall campaign manager for Earth Hour 2009, once again developing and implementing the campaign strategy, coordinating outreach and media relations, adapting and maintaining the Earth Hour US Web site (EarthHourUS.org), and providing event logistics management to ensure broad participation and success.

Direct Outreach

To help with education and participation among Chicago residents and businesses, JT assembled an Earth Hour Steering Committee comprised of 40 Chicago area civic, business and academic leaders. The group met on a bi-weekly basis to share ideas for engaging the community and generating awareness within their personal and professional networks.

Working closely with steering committee members and the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) of Chicago, JT recruited more than 230 skyline buildings to participate in Earth Hour 2009. JT also worked closely with ComEd, presenting sponsor of the 2009 Chicago campaign, to encourage their employees and 3.8 million customers to turn of their lights for Earth Hour. ComEd spoke on behalf of Earth Hour at community meetings and school assemblies, and also worked with the Chicago Bulls, Bears and Blackhawks to promote the event during home sporting events.

JT collaborated with the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) to excite students about participating in Earth Hour by coordinating school assemblies and distributing lesson plans and materials to schools. JT worked directly with student government and faculty members at Chicago area universities to engage their campuses in the Earth Hour campaign. More than 20 local universities and colleges pledged their participation, with three universities committing to serve as Earth Hour US flagship campuses.

In addition, JT managed outreach to elected officials, including Mayor Richard M. Daley, Illinois Governor Pat Quinn, local alderman, state legislators and congressional members. JT worked with the Metropolitan Mayors Caucus to reach out to suburban mayors, resulting in more than 35 suburban communities taking the online pledge to participate. The Illinois Secretary of State’s office turned off the lights on the State Capitol Dome in support of Earth Hour, and dozens of Chicago aldermen promoted the event through newsletters, emails and on their ward Web sites.

Media Relations

JT’s media campaign began with outreach to general managers at Chicago’s top broadcast outlets and newspapers to establish partnerships that included editorial support, donated advertising space and other promotional opportunities including Web sites, major public events, studio electronic signage and news alerts to further raise public awareness of Earth Hour 2009.

Earth Hour Chicago 2009 was officially launched at a news conference at the Merchandise Mart attended by City of Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, U.S. Equities Realty Chairman Bob Wislow, ComEd President Anne Pramaggiore, Merchandise Mart Properties CEO Chris Kennedy, BOMA Executive Vice President Michael Cornicelli and local business and civic leaders.

To build momentum, JT distributed periodic news releases highlighting new participants, carefully packaging a variety of story angles to ensure diverse and unique voices were represented in coverage. Throughout the campaign, JT engaged online audiences through Earth Hour Facebook and MySpace pages and built a strong following on Twitter.

On the day of Earth Hour, JT organized and staffed a morning media briefing with Mayor Daley and steering committee members at the Hancock Observatory. That evening, JT’s logistics and media team coordinated a high-impact media moment on Michigan Avenue. Governor Pat Quinn joined representatives from ComEd, WWF and the City of Chicago for a news conference that was followed by a countdown to Earth Hour. At 8:30 p.m., the Governor, WWF, City of Chicago and ComEd representatives turned out a giant light switch to “power down” the floodlights illuminating the exterior of the Wrigley Building.

Event Logistics Management

In 2008 and 2009, JT managed all Earth Hour event planning and logistics, coordinating with hundreds of building and business managers to develop contingency plans and ensure a smooth event. Throughout the course of the project, JT worked closely with the Chicago Police Department, the Chicago Fire Department, BOMA’s safety committee and ComEd to ensure all communications regarding Earth Hour emphasized safe ways to participate.

Web site Management

The JT team managed the U.S. Earth Hour Web site, working with the WWF team to regularly update content, including U.S. city information, participant lists, and distributed e-newsletters to thousands of registrants.

In 2009, Google’s homepage honored Earth Hour once again by encourage users to visit Earth Hour’s Web site, which registered hundreds of thousands unique visitors that day without any operational slowdown.

Results

Just as in 2008, JT’s 2009 communications campaign resulted in Chicago hosting one of the largest Earth Hour events in the world. Chicago participants included more than 1,400 businesses, retailers, restaurants, hotels and schools; more than 230 skyline buildings; 12 museums; 23 colleges and universities; and 125 federal government buildings in Illinois.

In 2009, JT organized a high-level Earth Hour Sustainability Committee to ensure the campaign would lead to year-round sustainable action. As an extension of their Earth Hour participation, many downtown buildings – including the Sears Tower, Hancock Building, Tribune Tower and the Merchandise Mart – voluntarily pledged to turn off non-essential, decorative lighting and lit signage in the late night hours every night of the year, following guidelines developed by the Building Owners and Managers Association of Chicago (BOMA).

Media Coverage

Earth Hour Chicago garnered multiple stories in every major print, broadcast and Web media outlet in the region, including Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times, RedEye, Daily Herald, WLS-TV (ABC), WMAQ-TV (NBC), WBBM-TV (CBS), WGN-TV, Fox News, CLTV, WBBM-AM Radio, Chicagoist.com, Chicago Examiner, and more. Chicago’s event was also featured in two Associated Press stories that ran nationwide. In addition, Earth Hour Chicago was featured in many statewide publications and broadcast outlets, including Joliet Herald News, Bloomington Pantagraph, Aurora Beacon News, WEEK-TV (NBC Peoria), WTVO-TV (ABC Rockford), WAND-TV (NBC Champaign) and more, many of which also ran stories on local participation and events.