Keep America Beautiful launches interactive anti-littering pilot in Cincinnati before going national

"Don't Trash the 'Nati" is soooo 2000. But that successful Keep Cincinnati Beautiful anti-littering awareness slogan and campaign did play a role in Cincinnati playing host to Keep America Beautiful's next generation campaign, Littering Is Wrong Too. The new multi-media campaign, which relies on both traditional (radio spots and billboards) and web 2.0 outreach, seeks to engage 18- to 34-year-olds by asking them to submit, short witty slogans summing up their pet peeves, or "wrongs," that are as socially unacceptable as littering.

Littering is Wrong Too.org
launched July 15 and will test in the Cincinnati area for three months, said Keep Cincinnati Beautiful Executive Director Linda Holterhoff.

"We are a strong affiliate (and Keep America Beautiful) was really impressed with Don't Trash the 'Nati. They knew we had the strength and the marketing expertise to help them pull off this pilot," Holterhoff said. Also, I got a sneak peak of the new campaign and it provided that interactive part that we were missing in Don't Trash the 'Nati. I just fell in love with it."

Among some of the "wrongs" users have submitted are "wearing socks with sandals," "Liking the Hills" and the Facebook game "Farmville." Other users can vote on the submissions and each week the top vote getter will win T-shirts, Frisbees and drink koozies as well as concert and event tickets. (If you'd like to donate a prize email: [email protected]).

Keep Cincinnati Beautiful is also promoting the campaign on its twitter and Facebook pages.

Along with the fun, there are also some serious facts and figures about litter in Cincinnati. Users can take a pledge to not litter, to share the site with five or more friends, to ask Facebook friends to take the pledge and more.

"We want our recruits to get the word out, once we start getting people engaged then the dialogue starts. It's fun and we're having a great time with it," Holterhoff said.

Keep America Beautiful will assess the sites success in the fall and work to roll it out with its other national affiliates by December, Holterhoff said.

Writer: Feoshia Henderson
Source: Keep Cincinnati Beautiful Executive Director Linda Holterhoff

You can follow Feoshia on twitter @feoshiasoapbox

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