At 1 a.m. on February 10, 2009, Ryan Ferrero jolted awake to an idea he’d had in the back of his head for six months. An “a-ha moment” far too good to keep to himself, he phoned David Moll, CEO of Boulder-based investment firm Infield Capital, and the two later took to a white board to begin mapping out the framework for Green Garage, an eco-conscious, full-service auto-care center bent on filling what Ferrero believed to be a gaping hole in the category and changing how consumers approached car care and fuel efficiency. “All that we knew how to do with high gas prices was go buy a Prius,” says Ferrero, CEO of Green Garage. “It was nuts because there was this incapable culture–our population didn’t know what to do. We just flipped our finger at the gas pump, paid it, and got mad at politicians over it.”

In 2010 Ferrero launched Green Garage in Boulder. Now set to expand across the U.S., Green Garage provides a case study in innovation through cross pollination–where ideas from other business categories were brought in and applied in completely new ways. It also provides an illustration of a brand built in conjunction with an ad agency. The company’s creative partner, Crispin Porter + Bogusky wasn’t just recruited to communicate the Green Garage message via advertising. The agency has been involved from the outset in building the brand, and in orchestrating a marketing approach that incroporates everything from product design and in-store experience through ads.

With more than 19 years of experience as a car dealer, Ferrero was well aware of the general sentiment of drivers on the subject of getting their vehicles serviced–a sentiment that, for many, involves images of dated magazine issues littered across a dreary waiting room with a pot of stale coffee to keep them company as they ponder the motivations of the mechanic tinkering under their hood. “The whole experience sucks,” says Ferrero. “The industry is just so diseased and mismanaged that everybody has their own level of pain of distrust that you go in thinking, ‘How bad are you screwing me here?’ We wanted to be the exact opposite.”

Combining elements of an Apple store with a full-scale coffee shop, Green Garage has developed an environment in which transparency on the part of its certified mechanics, or “carhuggers” as they’re called, is just as fundamental to the business strategy as sustainable practices and educating customers on how to make the cars they already have run more efficiently. With CPB’s help, the company established a modern design in Green Garage locations in Denver and Boulder, but it’s the salespeople, or “greenskeepers,” who are the linchpin to the company’s MO. Ferrero says staff are trained to foster customer trust by ensuring they know from start to finish exactly what maintenance will be performed on their vehicle and why–an experience not unlike the Genius Bar in Apple stores. Brand experience touches big and small contribute to a more collaborative relationship with the customer–down to the way staff are physically oriented vis a vis new patrons. Instead of a face-to-face encounter with a counter in between them, staffers and customers have their initial exchange sitting at a table together with service menus accessible between them. Even the bathrooms are a departure from industry standard.

Ryan Ferrero (l) and Neil Riddell

As for the Green part of the equation, Ferrero acknowledges the green fatigue among consumers confronted with countless businesses and products claiming eco-friendliness, but he welcomes the skepticism.

“When we call ourselves Green Garage, we’re inviting a bit of a fight,” says Ferrero. “We did it intentionally, so when the green mafia wants to come check us out, they’ll see how sustainable we are.” From decor and furniture made from recycled Coke bottles and cartons, to its line of products including lead-free wheel weights and re-refined motor oil, Ferrero says the company name can stand up to stress-testing.

Back when the company was still an idea, Ferrero says he looked to rally the muscle of “a big, tall team” that could aid in building a brand that could challenge consumer assumptions–not to mention grab a share of an industry led by household names like Jiffy Lube and Midas and an aftermarket sector that’s valued at upwards of $300 billion, according to the Automotive Aftermarket Industry Association. As it turned out, creative agency Crispin Porter + Bogusky’s expansion to Boulder in 2006 provided Ferrero with a fortuitous bit of happenstance.