76 CASE STUDY
marketingmag.com.auMARKETING 2019Background: When demand for
energy is at a high it puts a lot of
pressure on the grid because we can
only generate so much energy for
all that usage – think fourth day in a
row in the high 30s, when everyone
has the air-conditioning blasting.
That’s when you have the potential
for situations like blackouts.
Blackouts are defi nitely annoying
for most people, but for many it can
also have serious consequences –
blackouts can damage stock or hurt
trading if you’re a business and,
even worse, put people at risk if they
rely on power for their health and
well-being. There are a lot of issues
around blackouts that can be caused
by this high pressure on the grid.
To be able to avoid that, there
are two options: the government
could make very costly infrastructure
investments to manage those three
or four times a year when it is that
hot, or people could just take the
situation into their own hands. The
latter would be a simple matter of
using just a little bit less power at
those peak demand times – which
would avoid the need for excess
infrastructure investment and reduce
the risk of blackout incidences.
Powershop saw it as an opportunity
for the brand to get involved – it
knew it had very active customers.
Also a campaign addressing this
problem would align well with
Powershop’s brand and ambition- to change the energy industry
for good. This was particularly true
given data from 2017 showing
trust in the energy industry was
extremely low, to the point where
energy providers were trusted even
less than banks. This would serve
as an opportunity to remind people
why Powershop is a difference in an
industry riddled with trust issues.
Objectives: The campaign was
set to launch for the fi rst time in the
summer of 2017/2018. Powershop
was talking to its Victorian customers- households and businesses –
aiming to get 10,000 people to agree
to take part in a program that would
lower stress on the grid during peak
energy usage periods.
Though from a marketing
perspective this was an engagement
campaign, it would hopefully also be
a fantastic retention tool as well. Not
only would Powershop be doing a
service to the entirety of Australia’s
energy grid and the environment,
but it would also help develop a
channel to get the brand’s purpose
and mission out there.Strategy: This campaign was
just one of those things. It aligned
so well with its brand that
Powershop would have tried
it regardless. As it turned out,
however, there was an appetite for
a program like this in the market.
Powershop’s research of Australians- not just Powershop customers
- showed 78 percent think, given
the pressure on the environment,
it is very important that the energy
industry is constantly innovating,
while 85 percent of Australians
think energy companies need to
innovate to help release pressure
on prices. Those two facts are, in a
way, part of why Powershop seeks
to be a better power company –
better for customers, better for
their hip pockets and better for the
planet. Victoria was chosen to pilot
the campaign because the smart
meters are a standard, which means
Powershop is able to show its
Victorian customers their updated
power usage every 30 minutes.
People power
Campaign
Curb Your Power
Client
Powershop
Agency
Of Character