Business Challenge
Like everything else in Texas, competition for residential electric service customers is BIG. Reliant Energy, the incumbent Houston provider, was challenged when one of its chief competitors signed multimillion-dollar deals to be the official energy provider for the state’s two most prominent universities. Reliant needed to maintain its presence among those universities’ fan bases — and continue to acquire new customers. And the company needed to launch a new campaign just 30 days from the moment they called aim.
Insight
Reliant sponsors numerous NFL teams, but the company couldn’t afford to ignore college football fans. Consumers are fiercely loyal to their alma maters, and college football in Texas borders on religion. We knew we could move people to sign up for service from Reliant if we could tap into their school spirit.
Strategy
We helped Reliant launch a collegiate affinity service plan, through which the company donated $25 to the college of the consumer’s choice when they signed up for power. We created Reliant Energy Collegiate Brand Ambassador teams, dressed as school cheerleaders, and staged guerrilla events at more than 20 college games throughout the state.
Bragging Rights
Our brand ambassadors chalked up more than 500,000 consumer intercepts throughout the fall and the number of new customers acquired was 130% above Reliant’s goal for the program.
