Accelerating Change for Energy Efficiency: New Thinking and New Directions in Marketing

Products, services, and programs don’t sell themselves. We take a strategic look at how marketing has evolved in recent years and then explore leading-edge applications of competitive marketing, advertising, relationship development, and branding that can support growing utility and energy programs.

Genesis Capunitan, Account Director, DDB Worldwide
Roger Woodworth, Vice President for Sustainable Energy Solutions, Avista Utilities

Consumer product companies have been using market segmentation to identify their key audiences, messages, and products for more than 30 years. Utilities are starting to segment their customers as well. We dig into the power of segmentation analysis, illuminate what it can tell you about your customers, and share the latest in market-segmentation research findings. Plus, we’ll share hot-off-the-presses research into what consumers think about utility energy-efficiency programs, which ones they’re likely to participate in, and how that breaks down by audience.

Amy Hebard, Chief Research Officer, Earthsense
Suzanne Shelton, CEO, Shelton Group
Eric Karlson, Senior Research Analyst, Sacramento Municipal Utility District

Do you have customers who tell you one thing and then do another? In this second residential breakout session, we focus on what’s really going on in the minds of utility customers. New market research approaches, including ethnography, are shedding light on how people actually interact with and think about energy. Get fresh insight on the previously misunderstood space between people’s self-perceptions and the social norms that actually motivate them to act.

Linda Dethman, Principal, Dethman & Associates
Brian Keane, President, Smart Power

We all know how difficult it is to reach small and midsize business customers, but there are “innovators” who can show us the way! Learn about the cutting-edge approaches some utilities are using to reach their small and midsize business customers. Find out what’s working and what’s headed back to the drawing board.

Christina Rathbun, Senior Program Manager, Commercial Rebate Program, San Diego Gas & Electric Company
Alan Shedd, Southern Regional Manager, C&I Business Development, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association

Now that we’ve covered the details of customer segmentation and talked about the psychology that motivates your customers, it’s time to take the research and analytics to the street. We look at how utilities leverage segmentation and market research data to pick effective messages, channels, and partnerships for connecting with customers through targeted campaigns. We also explain how to use the power of private partnerships to deliver programs with greater reach at lower costs.

Stephanie Cary, Senior Research Associate, E Source
Arien Korteland, Program Manager, British Columbia Hydro & Power Authority

Your utility can’t do it all. But it turns out that in many cases third-party implementers are a fantastic way to efficiently and effectively reach your business customers while keeping your demand-side management budget in check. In this exploration of how utilities are effectively utilizing third parties to better reach their business customers, we highlight potential plusses, possible pitfalls, and preferred processes.

Roseann Brusco, Program Manager, C&I Energy Efficiency, NSTAR Electric & Gas Corporation
Ed Carroll, Vice President Program Design & Development, Franklin Energy Services

Optional; preregistration required. Included in registration fee.

Your manager and maybe the CEO loved your last marketing campaign. But did your customers get it? Are they really motivated? In this residential session we look at how utilities can constantly improve their marketing through ongoing message-testing, gathering and analyzing performance metrics, and embracing a data-driven decision-making process.

John Rooks, President, The SOAP Group
Jan Moore, President, Direct Options

It seems like a lot of U.S. businesses are jumping on the “green” bandwagon. What does it mean to be green, and what’s causing this phenomenon? Could a green movement happen in your territory, and how can you better serve your business customers by feeding their need for green? Is too much emphasis on green likely to give rise to customer backlash or antipathy?

Ester Matthews, Director, Austin Climate Protection Plan, Austin Energy

New Media Marketing: Advanced Digital Touchpoints and Their Use in Today’s Marketing Environment

“OMG! My Facebook BFF twittered my iPhone, but I am L8 for my O political rally at the Starbucks in Second Life!” We’ll translate this to plain English and explain what this rapidly developing digital space means to you, your utility, your marketing, and your brand. IMHO, this could be the most important session you attend. IIRC, this is your next generation of customers, and they’ll be communicating about you in their digital space whether you’re out there or not! It’s time to understand the implications of this social revolution for your business.

Bruce Johnson, Director of Energy Efficiency Implementation, National Grid USA National Grid USA
Joe Pulizzi, Chief Content Officer, Junta 42

Join your utility peers in this highly interactive roundtable session where you will discuss and share ideas about the most pressing marketing issues you are facing today for reaching residential and business customers. Using the insights from the Utility Marketing Conference as a springboard, we’ll dive deeper into how you can take advanced marketing techniques and put them into practice. This meeting is open only to utilities and other regional energy efficiency organizations. There will be virtually no presentations in this session—just frank discussions.

In this session, we ask each attendee to describe and discuss (in two minutes), the most successful marketing approach or the most promising new approach being used at their utility or organization. This will provide all attendees with a quick, valuable snapshot of the variety of approaches others are taking to increase marketing success to their residential and business customers. As time allows, we will allow further questions and discussion of topics of interest.

The recession is affecting all of us. Marketers have new challenges as the approaches and messages of 2008 might not work in our new hunker-down economy. In this discussion we will address how utilities and other marketing organizations are using new techniques to reach their residential and business customers. Questions include:

• Is the green message dead in the ailing economy?
• What new, low cost techniques might gain some traction?
• Are some forms of marketing cheaper than they were before?
• What messages work during a recession?
• How are utility marketing budgets being affected?
• How are consumer and business spending being affected?

There is a great deal of buzz about social marketing. In fact, nearly 700 people recently attended the Behavior, Energy, and Climate Change Conference in Sacramento. So what’s the buzz all about?

• How can behavior-change marketing dovetail with traditional marketing?
• What types of programs are being implemented and what are the impacts?
• Are there efforts to get into the local communities?
• How are social-marketing campaigns being integrated with branding efforts?

Every utility structures its marketing department and functions a little differently. In this session, we will share stories about how our respective companies use the marketing function and gain insights on how we can improve in the future.

• Where does the marketing function sit today, and why? Has it been reorganized successfully?
• Are marketing functions split between multiple departments? How well does that work?
• Is marketing to business and residential customers done by the same person or the same team?
• Where does the market research function live? How does it feed into the programs and campaigns?
• Where does branding and corporate communications come into play? What are these relationships like?

E Source will take input from attendees on how the Utility Marketing Roundtable can turn into an ongoing peer group of marketing directors.

• Creating the right marketing organization at your company.
• Measuring marketing effectiveness
• Determining the right spending levels for promotion
• Creating specific program marketing that ties to corporate brand and image
• Marketing in a down economy
• Using behavior-change marketing in conjunction with traditional promotion

This meeting requires separate registration and participation is limited to utility professionals and regional DSM implementation administrators only.

Join us for an evening of great conversation, food, and networking. We'll continue our marketing dialog in a casual atmosphere at one of Phoenix's fine eating establishments.