Nominator: Bryan Cohen
Julie is my business partner. Together we co-own C+C, a mission-driven communications agency headquartered in Seattle. Julie is a highly skilled strategic marketer, a committed community and environmental advocate and a person who inspires lasting loyalty among clients and employees.
Julie and I founded C+C in 2005 with two questions: Could we create a PR firm that positively impacts communities? And could we do great work for these clients while building a firm that people love to work for? That seemed a lofty goal in 2005, when it was just the two of us, first working at my kitchen table, then at an office in the back of a dress shop.
Today, we can resoundingly answer yes! I’m proud to say we no longer fit in the closet behind the dress shop . Today we employ 70 people, operate offices in three cities (Seattle, Portland and Boston), were named one of Washington’s Best Workplaces and recently were named PR Week’s Small Agency of the Year. C+C’s mission is simply Do Good Work, and Julie has helped build that mission into a daily reality.
I first met Julie in 1997 when she hired me to join her team at DDB Seattle. While at DDB, Julie created and managed the firm’s innovative Strategic Environmental Marketing group. She co-wrote a book, The Environmental Marketing Imperative, and ultimately rose to the rank of vice president at the agency. At DDB, Julie launched the Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star program, a voluntary labeling program for energy efficient products, homes and buildings. From its beginning in the early ‘90s, Energy Star reached a 41 percent national awareness level in just three years, and today is recognized by nearly 90 percent of all Americans as the symbol for energy efficiency. That’s a testament to Julie’s strategic marketing and brand-building skills. It’s also a testament to the loyalty that Julie inspires: Energy Star is still a client of Julie’s today, 25 years after she led the launch of the program. That’s just one example of the loyalty that Julie inspires.
At C+C, our clients and our staff stick with us. For instance, in 2016, 73% of our revenue came from five+ year clients, compared to 30 percent for other firms our size (according to PR Council). We enjoy very low staff turnover. In 2016, we had 9% turnover as compared to 19 percent for other firms our size (source: PR Council benchmarking survey). In 2015 we were at 6 percent as compared to 17% for other firms. And we even have a core group of staffers who have worked with us since our days at DDB – that’s nearly 20 years—a tenure unheard of in the agency world.
Julie is an avid outdoor enthusiast who is committed to environmental protection. For the past seven years, Julie has served on the board of Washington Conservation Voters, helping to elect candidates that will protect our climate and keep our air and waters clean. She is now Chair of the Board of Washington Conservation Voters, and also serves as Board Chair of the Washington Environmental Council, helping to solve the state’s toughest environmental problems. And she’s frequently called upon to speak nationally about community-based social marketing, the practice of changing consumer behavior around issues such as recycling, water conservation and public safety. In order to train others in the field and share her expertise, Julie founded the Pacific Northwest Social Marketing Association (PNSMA). She spearheads the yearly SPARKS conference, bringing together social marketing practitioners and public agency professionals from around the northwest to share best practices and build coalitions.
Julie has been involved in Seattle and King County’s recycling programs since nearly the beginning, creating strategic communications that have cemented Seattle’s leadership position on the issue. And she has led groundbreaking work on a variety of public health issues, from youth suicide, to HIV prevention and testing, to reducing rates of syphilis, to projects that teach multicultural communities about 9-1-1 and lead to lower rates of drunk and distracted driving in Washington and help build community safety through disaster preparedness.
Does she have any weaknesses? Well, yes. Name pronunciation isn’t her strong suit. And pop culture references post-1998 tend not to land with her, but even those traits are a little bit charming… and they’re small price to pay for being a strategic powerhouse and a weapons-grade force for good. Julie Colehour is a marketer who makes the world a better place by convincing people to lead healthier, safer happier lives. She proves that you can produce great work while helping the good guys. She deserves to be named MARKETING’s Marcomm Person of the Year, and I am proud to submit this nomination.