Summary
In 2016, the Southeast Ohio Public Energy Council (SOPEC) sought to rebrand their organization and its energy programming with a focus on community-wide sustainability benefits. SOPEC conducted several marketing campaigns under the new brand and tripled the size of its programming over the following years.
My Role
Brand design
Digital design
infographics
Logo design
Publication design
In 2016, the Southeast Ohio Public Energy Council (SOPEC) sought to rebrand their organization and its energy programming with a focus on community-wide sustainability benefits. SOPEC conducted several marketing campaigns under the new brand and tripled the size of its programming over the following years.
My Role
Brand design
Digital design
infographics
Logo design
Publication design
Background
The Southeast Ohio Public Energy Council (SOPEC) is a profit-neutral government entity that manages a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program serving the residential and small business customers across multiple communities in Ohio. CCA programs are designed to decrease electric utility expenses by procuring energy supply from wholesale energy markets and then providing community-wide energy supply rates that are cheaper than the utility company. However, shortly after SOPEC was established, electric utility companies in Ohio began divesting their power plants and switching to purchasing all of the energy required to serve their customers from the same wholesale markets from which CCA programs supplied their customers. The result was that CCA programs in Ohio could no longer achieve consistent savings for their customers compared to the electric utility company.
The Southeast Ohio Public Energy Council (SOPEC) is a profit-neutral government entity that manages a Community Choice Aggregation (CCA) program serving the residential and small business customers across multiple communities in Ohio. CCA programs are designed to decrease electric utility expenses by procuring energy supply from wholesale energy markets and then providing community-wide energy supply rates that are cheaper than the utility company. However, shortly after SOPEC was established, electric utility companies in Ohio began divesting their power plants and switching to purchasing all of the energy required to serve their customers from the same wholesale markets from which CCA programs supplied their customers. The result was that CCA programs in Ohio could no longer achieve consistent savings for their customers compared to the electric utility company.
Promotional Objective
In 2016, SOPEC decided to rebrand the organization, shifting the purpose, design, and messaging of its CCA program from a program that achieves individual utility bill savings to a program that achieves community-wide sustainability goals. Specifically, SOPEC had three promotional objectives that they wanted to achieve through the rebranding campaign:
1. Help community members understand the new purpose and public benefits that the new CCA program would deliver
2. Encourage community members to try the new program by not opting-out during the 21-day opt-out period
3. Encourage community members who are already enrolled in the program to continue participating in it and supporting public sustainability programs and projects
Media
Since CCA programs serve all residential and small business customers in a community by default (unless they opt-out of the program), SOPEC did not have unique consumer or business segments to target with traditional paid media. Instead, SOPEC communicated most of their promotional messages through owned and earned media. For owned media, SOPEC redeveloped their website and social media to emphasize the new brand and public benefits of SOPEC’s programs, and also sponsored community events where their staff would educate the public about their programs. And for earned media, SOPEC leveraged relationships with local journalists, elected leaders, and other public opinion leaders to promote SOPEC in the press as well as on city and county government websites.
Since CCA programs serve all residential and small business customers in a community by default (unless they opt-out of the program), SOPEC did not have unique consumer or business segments to target with traditional paid media. Instead, SOPEC communicated most of their promotional messages through owned and earned media. For owned media, SOPEC redeveloped their website and social media to emphasize the new brand and public benefits of SOPEC’s programs, and also sponsored community events where their staff would educate the public about their programs. And for earned media, SOPEC leveraged relationships with local journalists, elected leaders, and other public opinion leaders to promote SOPEC in the press as well as on city and county government websites.
Messaging
SOPEC wanted to focus its programming on public sustainability benefits. As such, its messaging continually reminded community members about climate change, the social cost of carbon emissions, the ability to leverage CCA programs to build local solar PV projects, and the relatively small price increases that SOPEC charged to supply the community with 100% renewable energy supply.
SOPEC wanted to focus its programming on public sustainability benefits. As such, its messaging continually reminded community members about climate change, the social cost of carbon emissions, the ability to leverage CCA programs to build local solar PV projects, and the relatively small price increases that SOPEC charged to supply the community with 100% renewable energy supply.
Results
The SOPEC rebranding campaign was an unqualified success. From 2016 to the present, SOPEC tripled the size of their CCA program. During that time, more than a dozen communities passed ballot measures authorizing SOPEC to bring the new CCA program to their community, including the City of Dayton. Additionally, in 2018, SOPEC passed the first voter-approved carbon fee in the City of Athens. With that ballot measure, over 75% of voters approved SOPEC to charge an additional carbon fee on their bills that would incentivize community-wide energy conservation and would use any funds collected from the fee to pay for solar PV systems on public buildings in the City of Athens.
The SOPEC rebranding campaign was an unqualified success. From 2016 to the present, SOPEC tripled the size of their CCA program. During that time, more than a dozen communities passed ballot measures authorizing SOPEC to bring the new CCA program to their community, including the City of Dayton. Additionally, in 2018, SOPEC passed the first voter-approved carbon fee in the City of Athens. With that ballot measure, over 75% of voters approved SOPEC to charge an additional carbon fee on their bills that would incentivize community-wide energy conservation and would use any funds collected from the fee to pay for solar PV systems on public buildings in the City of Athens.
* Note: Since this original rebranding campaign, SOPEC has changed their DBA name from the Southeast Ohio Public Energy Council to the Sustainable Ohio Public Energy Council; however, they have preserved all of the design collateral that was created for them through the rebranding campaign.
This webpage displays a sample of content created by Emily Smith for this campaign.