So what is the sound of one hand clapping? It’s the sound the sound that the Due Diligence Test Panel makes as they evaluate this lopsided environmental communications effort from the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ “Know Where it Goes” campaign.

This month, I’m conducting my first round of field trials for the Due Diligence Test Panel. To start, I pulled “Bon Appetit” and 9 other pieces from EPA’s Nonpoint Source Outreach Toolbox. These pieces are offered up as models for others to use or emulate, so they’re fair game for some public critique.

So why do I call “Bon Appetit” lopsided? Because it’s really strong in one way, and really weak in another.

The strength of the piece is obvious. It’s the crystal clear message that the fish conveys about why polluted runoff is a health threat. Among the board’s comments:

• “The picture of the fish marked with different pollutants is quite striking and ties in well with the facts in the paragraph below.”
• “I never really thought about drain water before, so it is good new information for my family.”
• “The visual imagery of the fish contaminated with stormwater pollutants. This is what we end up eating!”

And the weakness? The usual — it’s that misguided assumption that if we could just get through to people the storm drain goes to the creek, they would take it from there. Among the board’s comments:

• “The URL “KnowWhereItGoes.org”, suggesting that the website merely contains additional details about where wastewater pollutants go. While important, the gist of that information has already been conveyed by the advertisement.”
• “The quote “You’re the solution” was the weakest because there was no hint or suggestion on how anyone could stop natural stormwater pollutants. It was too cliche and unexplained.”
• “The weakest thing about the piece is that it does not give specific actions people can take to solve the problem even though it tells people that “you’re the solution”.

As you can see from the attached memo, the stengths and weaknesses of the piece offset each other, producing remarkably average results overall. In a nutshell, this piece is an attention grabber — but would be a lot more effective if the people who created it had remembered Step One: Begin with Behavior.

So how could we strengthen this piece? I see two areas that are essentially wasted space:

• Can we come up with a better URL than KnowWhereItGoes.org?
• What picture might be better than that dude in the silly fish suit?

Click the link below to see the complete feedback from the Do Diligence Test Panel:
Environmental Communications Evaluation

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