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EPA’s ENERGY STAR for New Homes Outreach Partnership – Updated Guidelines for 2008

For the past 7 years, ENERGY STAR partners, including home builders, Home Energy Raters, and utilities, as well as other local ENERGY STAR supporters, have pooled resources to increase consumer demand for ENERGY STAR qualified homes in their markets through the ENERGY STAR Outreach Partnership. In 2007, a record number of local partner groups participated. We hope you will join us in 2008.

More Americans than ever recognize ENERGY STAR as the national symbol for energy efficiency. So consider taking advantage of ENERGY STAR's name recognition and the nation's growing concern about global warming to promote your homes and your environmental leadership through the 2008 Outreach Partnership.

In today's tight market, EPA's ENERGY STAR can help homes stand out from the competition. And with home buyers increasingly interested in green building, ENERGY STAR provides a great selling point to drive consumer interest in qualified homes.

The 2008 ENERGY STAR Outreach Partnership offers:

  • New headlines that link ENERGY STAR qualified homes to today's green building trends,
  • The return of popular headlines from 2007 that focus on the builders who stepped up to the new, more rigorous ENERGY STAR requirements,
  • Shorter versions of the 2007 headlines that can be used in smaller ads, on Web banners, or on billboards and transit ads,
  • New ENERGY STAR 'blue box' language that responds to the public’s growing interest in global warming and echoes EPA’s new ENERGY STAR Public Service campaign that focuses on how everyday people and businesses are using ENERGY STAR to help fight global warming,
  • A new set of background images for print, billboard, and transit ads, and
  • 15 and 30 second radio scripts to complement the 60 second script from 2007.

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

Outreach Partnership Strategy

In markets where partners agree to use EPA-created advertising to cooperatively promote ENERGY STAR qualified homes in a major local newspaper, new homes guide, billboards, transit ads, radio advertisements, or other media, EPA will complement that commitment with a separate, equivalent outreach effort. EPA contributions are limited to a maximum of $20,000 in each participating market (subject to change based on available funding and number of participating markets).

Goals

The Outreach Partnership is designed to provide a sustained local presence for ENERGY STAR and help build consumer awareness of the benefits of ENERGY STAR qualified homes and the builders who offer them. Campaigns should last as long as possible, with a focus on reaching as many potential home buyers in the local market as possible. Ideally, the total campaign should be at least 26 weeks long - 13 weeks for partner placements, 13 weeks for EPA placements. EPA understands that in higher cost media markets, longer runs may not be feasible due to funding limits. In such cases, a shorter run is acceptable.

Timing: Written commitments to participate in the Outreach Partnership must be submitted to EPA by March 14, 2008.

Learn more about the 2008 Outreach Partnership:

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