The first chartered waterworks opened in Spartanburg Country in 1887. Over the past 130 years, the company we now call Spartanburg Water has been a vibrant, progressive utility that goes above and beyond in providing water and sewer service.
Spartanburg Water is synonymous with community. The team offers a variety of educational and wellness initiatives, as well as valuable resources, on their website and social media. Recent initiatives include RX Cycle, a prescription drug disposal awareness campaign, as well as Choose Tap, a program that encourages drinking local tap water over costly bottled water. The positive impacts of Spartanburg Water’s efforts have included reducing landfill waste, increasing access to water bottle refill stations, and improving health and cost savings through higher-quality water consumption.
Spartanburg Water also has been recognized for a variety of awards over the years within their industry and the local community. In November 2014, the Design-Build Institute of America (DBIA) named two treatment plant improvements projects the “2014 Overall Best Design-Build Project in the Southeast.” And, most recently, CEO Sue Schneider won the Neville Holcombe Distinguished Citizenship Award through the Spartanburg Area Chamber of Commerce. With more than 30 years’ experience in environmental management and economic development, Sue’s thoughtful, dedicated, and steady leadership extends locally and globally.
We were thrilled when Spartanburg Water “tapped” our team to partner on a website that serves over 180,000 customers, homes and businesses right in our backyard.
In the complete overhaul of their corporate website, the utility wanted to make it easy for their different types of customers to find relevant information, as well as share in the organization’s community stewardship. We knew that the new website would need to be intuitively navigable for a large range of audiences, from citizens and business owners to developers, government officials and more.
Additionally, Spartanburg Water was ready for a completely fresh and modern look that would stand the test of time, allowing it to expand its web presence for years to come. Our graphic design team didn’t back down from the challenge, creating a vibrant, progressive yet relatable brand. Our programmers took things to another level, seamlessly feeding content streams from a multitude of sources, while keeping the maintenance of the site simple for everyone.
The overall result was a user- and search engine-friendly site that would serve and inform our hometown’s citizens well into the future. It was important for the new site to support enriched media, including high-definition video and audio components. The finished site was mobile-friendly with responsive design, and included a mini-site to feature a news blog for branded journalism.
Since the launch, we’ve continued to help Spartanburg Water tweak, update, and perfect their website, as well as provide on-going marketing services to help the utility remain a familiar partner in the community. We’ve worked on print material, signage, and other branding projects for the RX Cycle and Choose Tap initiatives.
Reflecting on the past few years, the word that comes to mind is “partnership.” A-LINE project manager Sterling Draper shares, “It’s been awesome being a partner with Spartanburg Water…being an agency that they can rely on, and reach out to for big projects with big impact, all the way down to the smallest details that make all the difference.”
She works closely with the organization’s Communications Manager, Chad Lawson. "We love working with A-LINE. They are professional, creative, and always willing to go above and beyond for their clients. We look forward to the next project we have at Spartanburg Water, and collaborating with the A-LINE team.” - Chad Lawson
In working with organizations like Spartanburg Water and other utility companies, we’ve discovered that content on their websites often needed to be combed through to figure out what is necessary, what can be combined, and who needs what information. Additional insights are shared on our blog about revenue-driving utility company marketing efforts.
Armed with a strategic approach, we believe vast amounts information and resources can be presented in an intuitively navigable way, while simultaneously creating a modern, visual brand with a widespread appeal.
Today we celebrate Spartanburg Water, which has spent the last several years defining its integral role in helping our community evolve and progress!
