Client: Nicor Gas
Agency: Jacobs Agency
Objective: Create an emotional connection to the brand and generate participation in the Nicor Gas Energy Efficiency Program
The Back Story: You’d be hard-pressed to find a company whose leadership doesn’t think energy efficiency is important. Generally, green awareness is fairly high. But while this might seem like a good thing for a gas company looking to raise the profile of an energy efficiency program, it actually causes a differentiation problem.
That was the issue confronting Nicor Gas—which serves nearly 650 communities across Northern Illinois—and its recently launched energy efficiency program. Nicor’s program provides tips, tools, and incentives—like free energy-saving kits, rebates for high-efficiency furnaces, and custom savings options—to homeowners, renters, and business owners.
“The biggest challenge we face is standing out in a market inundated with ‘green’ messaging,” says Meena Beyers, director of marketing and communications for the Nicor Gas Energy Efficiency Program.
When Nicor decided in 2012 to find an integrated marketing partner to help it stand out, the utility at that point had done little in the way of marketing support for its program. It retained Jacobs Agency, which recommended that Nicor take a completely different approach than spotlighting its green programs.
“We have a lot of great messaging about savings and rebates, [but] for us it’s about forging an emotional connection,” says Natasha Kesaji, VP of client services at Jacobs Agency. “It’s easy to dismiss something like energy efficiency with ‘No kidding, we know green is good,’ which is why it can be a challenge to get people to take initiative.”
The Strategy: Jacobs Agency first developed consumer-focused messaging around a program designed to foster a personal relationship with Nicor’s B2B prospects. Messaging for the “Liberate” campaign centered on how saving energy isn’t just about saving money, but about liberating your money so it can be invested back into your life in a positive way.
To target businesses, Nicor worked with Jacobs Agency to create an integrated mix of radio, search campaigns, outdoor, and transit ads concentrating on the industrial sector and manufacturers looking to make operational improvements. Hotels, smelting factories, private and public universities, and retail outlets—including Multifilm Packaging, Metal-Matic, and Northwest Community Hospital—all of which use a great deal of energy, were all in Nicor’s crosshairs.
Print and highly targeted digital ads in relevant trade publications reached key commercial industries and business segments in Illinois. Nicor also pitched in to help its agency identify businesses with high energy-consumption levels—prospects that were ripe to learn about the efficiency program.
“We needed to make sure we were reaching the right industry titles,” Kesaji says. “When you’re reaching out to [B2B] customers, you need to make sure you have a clear sense of how to deliver the right creative visual or message so that it really resonates.”
Storytelling also had a part to play in the form of B2B case studies. Dominican University, for example, got rebates of several hundred thousand dollars by participating in the Nicor program. “Stories like that obviously carry a tremendous amount of weight for a business audience by seeing how other businesses in the community are able to make significant savings through efficiency and moving toward these kinds of growth initiatives,” Kesaji says.
On the social side, after Nicor identified targeted text ads within LinkedIn as a useful way to connect with operations professionals, it reached out to people with relevant job titles, like “head of operations” and “chief operating officer”—the executives directly responsible for keeping their business running as efficiently as possible.
Throughout the campaign Jacobs Agency responded in real time to continually optimize the program. “In the moment, if we see anything with flat performance or something that’s trending downward, we immediately look at ways to diversify the mix,” Kesaji says. “We constantly have a queue of other media outlets, partners, and tactics we set aside for when we need to reevaluate.”
The Results: After the first year Nicor Gas saw an 88% increase in unique Web traffic and a 19% jump in call center volume. In 2013 Jacobs Agency won a Gold Stevie Award for marketing campaign of the year in the utilities category, as well as a silver Davey Award for integrated marketing.
Based on this success, Nicor Gas plans to expand the integrated campaign in 2014 to include new TV spots, pre-roll, and more digital search and display.
The Takeaway: Just because a campaign is aimed at a B2B audience, doesn’t mean it can’t have a human face. Brands that make an effort to establish an emotional relationship with its customers can reap the loyalty benefits.
“Businesspeople are consumers, as well,” Kesaji says. “They’re human just like the consumer is and their decisions in this area are even more important to them because their job is hinging on their decision.”
