Change Starts Here

By Ted Burton, Ad Fed Board Member
As Tuerff-Davis EnviroMedia Inc. prepared to celebrate its 10th anniversary February 10, agency principals Kevin Tuerff and Valerie Davis wanted more than just a great party. After all, any advertising firm can throw a party, but EnviroMedia is unlike any other agency in the country. So Kevin and Valerie began reflecting on both their history and their strategy for the future.

EnviroMedia began with the idea that most of the world’s environmental and public health problems could be addressed, if not solved, through better education and an emphasis on personal responsibility. EnviroMedia called it “Advertising and PR with a conscience.”

“Together with our clients, we’ve achieved remarkable results—probably even saved lives—working on issues like tobacco cessation and enrolling children in affordable health care coverage. Yet, here we are 10 years later, and many social problems remain to be solved: climate change, AIDS, the global water crisis, hunger and the education gap, to name a few,” said Valerie.

The EnviroMedia brand and tagline had served the agency well, but after 10 years, Kevin and Valerie decided it might be time for a change. The anniversary provided an opportunity to refresh the agency’s identity—something EnviroMedia has done many times for clients, including the Texas Department of Transportation’s “Don’t Mess with Texas” campaign.

“We’re branding experts, so why wouldn’t we put our expertise to work for ourselves?” asked Kevin. “We treated our agency like it was one of our clients, starting with research. We brought together an influential group of 26 friends we call our Board of Advisors. We wanted honest, objective feedback about our strengths and areas for improvement.”

The group helped Kevin and Valerie realize the agency’s strength in social marketing—creating campaigns that change attitudes and behaviors—is what sets EnviroMedia apart from other advertising or PR agencies. The branding process was a highly collaborative effort involving current and past employees, clients, friends of the agency and supporters.

Once the work began, Kevin, Valerie and their staff realized the old logo and colors felt dated and a bit too “homegrown” for a company of EnviroMedia’s size and growing client base. The agency needed something fresher, cleaner and more modern.

Today, the agency has a new name — EnviroMedia Social Marketing, and a new brand signature, “Change starts here.”

“The refreshed brand broadens our focus to other socially-responsible issues like voters’ rights and education without compromising our core principles,” said Valerie. The new logo is blue and green. While green clearly says “environment,” the blue signifies EnviroMedia’s commitment to health, water and leadership. “Our passion, formerly represented by purple, will always remain,” said Kevin. “But, it’s time for a change.”