Marketing and PR Guidelines for WELL Certification Projects

Are you looking to tell your building’s WELL Certification journey? Here are some ideas to help get you started.

Congratulations! Your project is joining a select group of buildings and spaces that are enhancing human health and well-being through the WELL Building Standard (WELL). If you are looking to tell your building’s story, here are some ideas to help get you started.

BEFORE YOU BEGIN

Mark your project public on the WELL digital platform

As outlined in the WELL Certification Guidebook, a project may opt out of the WELL project directory and publicity opportunities by electing to be a “private project.” Before making any public statements about your enrolled project, please confirm with the project administrator that the project is marked public. For so long as the project maintains its election as a private project, the project cannot market or represent itself to the general public as having applied for certification, or as being certified, and no IWBI intellectual property including IWBI trademarks or certification marks may be utilized or displayed in relation to the project. IWBI also will not be able to verify your registration to media and outside parties if your project is listed as private. Project owners may change the privacy setting for a project at any time through their project administrator using functionality in the WELL digital platform.

Link your project to your WELL community profile

Showcase your work by linking your WELL projects to your WELL community profile in the people directory. Get recognized for your expertise in designing spaces that help people thrive.

Distribute a press release (download these samples below)

Amplify your commitment on social media

There’s an active WELL community on social media! Promote your achievements and join IWBI’s conversation on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram, and be sure to tweet @WELLcertified with the hashtag #WeAreWELL to let us know about your work.

Profile your project on our website

IWBI welcomes you to showcase your project as a leader in advancing healthy buildings or communities on the WELL project directory. In order to be featured, the project admin can upload a project description and photos in WELL Online. Don’t forget to mark your project as “public.” There are several questions that can be used to guide you in promoting your project outlined in WELL Online.

AS YOUR PROJECT PROGRESSES, DON’T MISS OUT ON YOUR CHANCE TO CELEBRATE A MILESTONE ACHIEVEMENT AT PRECERTIFICATION

All WELL projects have an opportunity to earn an interim WELL Precertification designation that can help communicate your progress toward achieving WELL Certification and provide greater confidence that your project’s designs, operational intents, and/or existing conditions meet the requirements of WELL features.
Once your project earns the WELL Precertification designation, you can communicate the milestone achievement to your stakeholders through your marketing and communication platforms.

Distribute a press release (download a sample press release for your precertification.)

Amplify the news on social media
Communicate your interim achievement leveraging a visual mark. Order your certification here.

ONCE YOUR PROJECT IS WELL CERTIFIED (CONGRATS!)

Distribute a press release (download these samples below)

Hold a certification ceremony

Order a plaque
- Visit the link above to order your 10 complimentary printed certification certificates. You can also download the certificate digitally. The link also provides the list of certification plaques available for purchase. You can place an order for your plaque through the website - they take between three and six weeks to ship depending on the type of plaque ordered
Complete the speaker request form to invite a speaker from IWBI.
Download the Welcome to WELL Toolkit (WELL v1)
Help the people in your building get the maximum benefit from your WELL space by educating them around the WELL features you’ve put into place through signage, handy guidance documents and more.

Send us your photos and a testimonial

We’re always on the lookout for innovative projects to highlight on our social channels and to share with our community. Send us a message about your WELL experience or photos for IWBI to consider for use in marketing materials (content submissions will be reviewed and selected for use at IWBI’s discretion).

UPON ACHIEVING RECERTIFICATION

Congratulations for achieving recertification. It’s time to celebrate your three years of continuous effort and upkeeping.

Recertification signals that a project has maintained its commitment to the principles of and confirmed continued compliance with the WELL Building Standard, as certification is valid for three years. Projects are only eligible for recertification if all on-going monitoring, incremental progress and annual submission requirements have been met. Once recertified, a project’s certification status may continue and it will be permitted to continue to use IWBI materials and resources to promote its current certification status.
There are different options available depending on whether a project has achieved initial certification under WELL v1 or WELL v2. An organization may opt to recertify at WELL v1, transition from WELL v1 to WELL v2 if they fulfill the additional obligations required, or recertify at WELL v2. WELL Core & Shell as well as WELL Core projects can also achieve recertification if they fulfill all necessary requirements.

Distribute a press release (download a sample press release

Amplify your continuous achievement on social media

A NOTE ABOUT PROJECTS ENROLLED IN WELL OFFERINGS

An enrolled project has the intent of earning WELL Certification for their project once it is complete. A project that is enrolled can only be referred to as having enrolled in a WELL program or pursuing certification, and is not authorized to use the WELL Certified™ seals and/or mark. Enrolled projects may promote themselves in text (press releases, social posts, marketing brochures, etc.) as specified in these PR guidelines, and will be eligible to use the WELL Certification mark once they achieve WELL Certification.

HOW TO REFERENCE IWBI and WELL

Consult the WELL Branding Guidelines for logo and mark usage.

About IWBI

The official organization name is the International WELL Building Institute pbc. “IWBI” is the official acronym. Use the complete name on any first reference. Subsequent references in copy may use IWBI. NOTE: When using “IWBI” as a noun, do not precede with “the.” For example: Contact IWBI for more information.
The International WELL Building Institute (IWBI) is a public benefit corporation and the world’s leading organization focused on deploying people-first places to advance a global culture of health. IWBI mobilizes its community through the administration of the WELL Building Standard (WELL) and WELL ratings, management of the WELL AP credential, the pursuit of applicable research, the development of educational resources, and advocacy for policies that promote health and well-being everywhere. More information on WELL can be found at wellcertified.com.
International WELL Building Institute, IWBI, the WELL Building Standard, WELL v2, WELL Certified, WELL AP, WELL Score, The WELL Conference, We Are WELL, the WELL Community Standard, WELL Health-Safety Rating, WELL Health-Safety Rated, WELL Equity Rated, WELL Performance Rated, WELL Performance Rating, WELL and others, and their related logos are trademarks or certification marks of International WELL Building Institute pbc in the United States and other countries.

SPECIAL NOTES ON WORDING WHEN DESCRIBING YOUR WELL CERTIFICATION JOURNEY:

About Certification

There are four levels of WELL Certification: Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum. Projects that achieve certification should be referred to as WELL Certified™ projects. Project teams or those writing about the project may include supporting text to give additional detail about the specific rating system under which the project was certified.
- “WELL Certified” with a capital “C” and no hyphen is used to describe a project that has achieved certification.
- “WELL Certification” with a capital “C” and no hyphen is used to describe the certification process.

About Precertification

Under WELL v1, there are three levels of WELL Precertification: Silver, Gold and Platinum. Under WELL v2, projects achieve WELL Precertification at no particular level. When a project achieves precertification it should be referred to as a WELL Precertified™ project. If appropriate, supporting text may be written that gives additional detail about the specific rating system under which the project was precertified.
- “WELL Precertified” with a capital “P” and no hyphen is used to describe a project that has achieved precertification.
- “WELL Precertification” with a capital “P” and no hyphen is used to describe the precertification process.

When referencing WELL v1, WELL v2, WELL Core & Shell and WELL Core

Do say:
- Project name is enrolled to pursue [WELL Certification under WELL Building Standard v1, or WELL v2 – Pilot, WELL v2, or WELL Core& Shell, WELL Core].
- Upon completion, this project will apply to become [WELL Certified™, or WELL Certified™ – Pilot Program, or WELL CertifiedTM Core] at the [Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Platinum] level.
- This project is enrolled to pursue WELL v1 Certification, WELL v2 Certification – Pilot Program, WELL v2 Certification or WELL Core & Shell Certification, WELL Core Certification through the International WELL Building Institute™.
- [Project name] is [WELL Precertified™ Broze, [WELL Precertified™ Silver, WELL Precertified™ Gold, WELL Precertified™ Platinum]; or [project name] is WELL Precertified™ to the [Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum] level.
- [Project name] is [WELL Certified™ Bronze, [WELL Certified™ Silver, WELL Certified™ Gold, WELL Certified™ Platinum]; or Project name is WELL Certified™ to the [Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum] level.
- [Project name] is WELL Certified™ – Pilot Program

Don’t say:
- [Project name] is WELL Gold enrolled. Note: Projects cannot enroll to achieve a specific level of certification.
- This project is WELL Qualified, Compliant, Reviewed, Enrolled, Verified, Designed, Certifiable, etc.
- [Project name] is WELL Gold Certified.
- Project is WELL-ready or WELL-enabled, or any other term incorporating the WELL trademark that is not authorized by IWBI.
- Project name is WELL Gold Precertified.

About Recertification

The term recertified” should be in lowercase “r” and no hyphen is used to describe a project that has achieved recertification
The term “recertification” should be in lowercase “r” and no hyphen is used to describe the recertification process

Do say:
- [Project name] has achieved recertification under the WELL Building Standard.
- [Project name] is recertified.

Don’t say:
- [Project name] is WELL recertified, reaccredited, reapproved, rechartered, revalidated, etc.
- [Project name] is WELL-reengaged or WELL-reenabled, or any other term incorporating the WELL trademark that is not authorized by IWBI.
- [Company name] is WELL recertified, reaccredited, reapproved, rechartered, revalidated, etc.

Do not shorten or abbreviate team roles unless otherwise indicated.

WELL AP (Accredited Professional) (See Marketing and PR guidelines for WELL APs article)
Project administrator
WELL coaching support
WELL Reviewer (works for GBCI)
WELL Performance Testing Agent (works for a WELL Performance Testing Organization

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