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Kohler has just launched a new water efficiency and sustainability effort called, “Save Water America.” The water conservation education promotion donates $1 worth of water-efficient products to Habitat for Humanity for every person who takes the short water quiz on their site. Their goal is to donate $1 million in water efficient products that will outfit about 600 Habitat for Humanity homes.

Kohler’s ultimate goal here is to sell water-efficient toilets.  Here are the six things they’re doing for their environmental promotion that are really smart.

1. Kohler is selling by educating: The quiz highlights the fact that nearly 50% of all toilets in America (about 100 million) are old school and waste at least two gallons of water with EVERY flush.
2. They found a fun way to talk about your toilet: How else do you engage customers about retrofitting their toilets than to literally have toilets rain down on you during the quiz. It’s kind of cool. Plus, they direct you to toilet rebate programs in your state where you can turn in your old toilet for a new, water-efficient one through your town or city.
3. They make water conservation interesting: Saving water isn’t always the most romantic subject. Kohler does a nice job here of engaging the visitor about the importance of water conservation throughout the home.
4. A tangible and relevant approach to cause marketing: Teaming with Habitat for Humanity is a natural extension of the promotion. Kohler started with $500,000 in seed money, and have had about 4,500 hits to their quiz.
5. Demonstrating industry leadership: Kohler products are inherently about water use, and now more than ever, water efficiency. By helping us all be greener (or bluer) through product demonstration, education, and cause marketing, Kohler is doing what an industry leader should: Providing the technology and education to make us all more environmentally sensitive consumers.
6. Singular focus on toilets: Too often, marketers try to accomplish too much with any one promotion.  Kohler could’ve also promoted low flow shower heads and faucet aerators as other important ways to save water in your bathroom, but that would’ve diluted their message. It’s all about toilets.

Please take the water conservation quiz. It takes about 30 seconds. You’ll help Habitat for Humanity in a small way, and you will learn how you can reduce your water use in a big way.

Water Facts from Kohler

• By 2013, 36 states anticpate water shortages
• More than 25% of your daily water use is flushed down the toilet
• 1.6 billions of water a day are wasted through flushing old toilets
• Equivalent of 25 billion glasses of drinking water can be saved, enough to fill 2,400 Olympic size swimming pools every day

Please retweet the quiz: Take the Kohler water conservation quiz and earn Habitat for Humanity $1 in water-efficient products: http://tinyurl.com/c4zd8t

If the Aussies were as good at moviemaking as they are at environmental innovation, the movie Australia might have actually been good. Saw it last night. Laughable.

So maybe I’m looking for something to brighten my sense of humor.  Then I come across this: The Hughie’s Removable Kitchen Sink. Hughie of Australia has created an innovative portable sink that won ‘Product of the Year 2008’ award from the ABC Gardening Show.

The Hughie’s Removable Kitchen Sink saves 80 percent of the gray water that can further be used for watering your garden plants or washing your car.  It is a green product that users may carry with them wherever they go; on boating, fishing or camping expeditions. The versatile sink is very light in weight and comes with a strong handle, an integrated plug and pourer. You may get the portable sink for just $25, which is available in a variety of stylish colors.

The best part is that the sink is dedicated to the memory of Hugh “Hugie” Alexander, who battled the elements for 60 years as a dairy farmer in Australia.  Their tagline: “Send it down Hughie.”

I just love green innovators that leave no stone unturned, right down to the kitchen sink.

Managing a scarce resource like water is serious business.  But come on, educating on how to use water wisely can and should be fun, especially if you want your message to resonate with kids.

Here are a few examples from the Water – Use It Wisely campaign, and other great programs around the world.  We invite you to play along and share these wonderful online games and activities freely.  And if you know of a fun, interactive way to learn about water, please send us a comment and link to this blog.

“Tip Tank” Water Conservation Concentration Game Can you match the water-saving devices before the water runs out on our happy little gold fish?  Try to beat all three levels.  Highly recommended by Fast Company magazine.

H20house Water Saver Home Tour the California Urban Water Conservation Council’s interactive H20House and see where you can save along the way.

Bert & Phil’s Water Busters Play along as Bert the Salmon helps Phil Dumpster save water in his home in this interactive game brought to you by Seattle Public Utilities.

Project WET’s Water Festival One of the country’s premier water education organizations, Project WET launched its new interactive water festival.  It’s tremendous fun as kids learn about the water cycle and conservation.  It takes the program a bit to load, but while you wait you can try to catch water drops in a bucket.  Frustratingly fun!

The Water Family Game Now let’s go overseas to the United Kingdom, where you get to build your own family and learn how to save water around the home.  This is kind of a goofy, but informative game with simple and colorful clip-art-like animation.

Finally, we’ll go down under to the remarkable Mission H20 game produce by the amazing students at Swinburne University in Melbourne, Australia.  The storytelling, animation, music, and Aussie wit is found throughout this terrific online conservation game.  You can even win an iPod nano if you “choose to accept the mission.”

Got a game?  Lets us know in the comment section below.

Conserving water is not just about not using water (double negative intended). It’s also about reclamation and reuse. That’s why we at Water – Use It Wisely are always intrigued about how items get recycled and re-purposed, sometimes in the most peculiar and inspirational ways.

Meet Nemo Gould.  He is a fascinating artist in San Francisco whose remarkable sculptures are mostly crafted from found materials. He’s the “Rodin of Rubbish” having spent the summer of ’07 as Artist-in-Residence at the San Francisco dump.

I came across Nemo at the Makers Fair in San Mateo and was immediately taken by his incredible sculptures.  Nemo inspired me with the ingenious beauty and flawless craftsmanship found in his work.  The Cyclopcycle, for instance, is made from the bottom of an outboard motor, an old blender, assorted parts from a vacuum cleaner, and reclaimed yellow flormica counter top.

So, what does this all have to do with bringing voice to water conservation?  We encourage you to seek out and share with the world those inspirational people who are making a difference with their words, actions, artwork, outreach and celebration of the world around us.  In our theme of unexpected, but highly-effective water-saving devices, Nemo Gould fits this description as an artist with the most remarkable portfolio that finds the beauty in the discarded.

Please comment to this post and let us and the water world know of others who are making a difference in the most exceptional and perhaps surprising way.

Let’s face it, none of us in conservation has the marketing budget of Budweiser.  Sure, beer is more fun than water.  But if you had your druthers on a desert island, which would you choose for survival?  Most of us would presumably choose water, unless of course you’re not long for this world and you want to go out like Homer Simpson.

In the “highly romantic,” and mostly underfunded, business of water conservation, we typically get one or two shots at our target markets with our messages.  All while competing in that mass shooting gallery of advertising.  So not only do we have to be great shots, we have to be smart.  That’s where environmental triggers come in.

Brothers Dan & Chip Heath, educators and “idea collectors,” wrote an incredible book on messaging called, “Made to Stick.”  This is an absolute must read for anyone in the business of persuasion – and let’s face it, we’re all in that business in one way or another.  The Heaths are also regular contributors to Fast Company magazine where I came across their article about environmental triggers.

It’s gratifying to note that, several years prior to their book, article and blog, the Water – Use It Wisely campaign was built solely on environmental triggers.  The creative came from an intuitive solution to how to make our message resonate in the every day habits of our water-using customers.  That means everyone.

The whole concept is based around unexpected, but highly effective water-saving devices. Like a toothbrush, for instance. It is a physical prompt that reminds you to turn off the water while you brush your teeth (a razor does the same for shaving). Another example is water-saving device #15, a broom. It begs the question, “How can a broom save me water?”  The answer, of course, is to use a broom instead of a hose to clean your driveway or sidewalk and save at least 80 gallons every time. We make your broom an environmental trigger; a tangible extension of our message that triggers conscious actions toward saving water every time you use it.

The campaign is all about presenting these “water-saving devices,” each with it’s own number to emphasize the main campaign theme: “There are a number of ways to save water, and they all start with you.” You, of course, being water-saving device #1.

In our on-going effort to give voice to water – YOUR voice, and to make your life easier in finding and activating relevant information on ways to produce effective messaging, we highly recommend the Made to Stick blog.

If you’re using triggers in your messaging, or you have seen a great example of them in another campaign, please share it with the water world by commenting below.

Richard Bach, author of 5 New York Times Bestsellers, just came out with his latest  “get rich quick” book.  In it he explains how to build wealth with a different kind of green.  Go Green, Live Rich is all about 50 simple things you can do to help save the plant, and BTW, a little money along the way.

Tip #17 in his book is to “Turn Off Your Tap,” and features the URL to the 100+ water-saving tips on the Water – Use It Wisely website.  The 49 other tips include:

#1 Calculate Your Carbon Footprint: www.earthlab.com
#4 Upgrade to a Hybrid: fueleconomy.gov
#16 Plant Trees: arborday.org
#22 Bring Your Bags: www.reusablebags.com
#24 Grow Your Own: backyardgardener.com
#31 Get Rid of Junk Mail: www.catalogchoice.org
#38 Green Your Computer: www.greenchoices.org
#44 Start a Green Business: greenlivingideas.com
#50: Vote Green: www.lcv.org

There are a number of ways to save water, AND the planet, and they all start with you.