The best utility ads are here.
Energy consulting and research firm E Source has announced the winners of its 2013 Utility Ad Awards Contest. The ads were rated based on "message, creativity, results, call to action or brand connection, and overall impression" by an independent group of judges, according to a press release.
"Utilities know they have to be innovative to get the attention of their residential and business customers [...] It's great that utilities are not only using humor and creativity to get their messages across but are also targeting and segmenting customers so effectively," Kym Wootton, senior manager of Marketing & Communications at E Source, said.
Take a look at the winners of the 2013 Utility Ads Awards Contest:
Best Overall Campaign
1. Reliant
NRG Energy's retail energy company Reliant "positioned itself as the company its customers can turn to when they move." Using the truly unbeatable Matthew McConaughey as its assured and smooth-voiced spokesman, Reliant's ad campaign is funny and memorable. Here are three TV ads part of the overall campaign:
2. Pepco Holdings Inc.
Striking an altogether different tone, Pepco used its Hurricane Sandy-themed ad campaign to great effect by identifying "the faces and voices of storm restoration efforts." And there's nothing better than a hero in America. The ads humanized the utility, making it harder for customers to blame Pepco for power outages and easier to empathize with restoration efforts. Here are two TV commercials from Pepco's campaign:
3. PECO
Hungry sockets and stressed-out circuit breakers that talk may make you laugh, but PECO's energy efficiency campaign is no joke. The ads tout energy and cost savings for consumers while boosting the utility's brand awareness and energy efficiency program. Here are two TV ads from the campaign:
Best Television Ad
1. Reliant
Reliant takes the tradition of Groundhog Day to a hilarious summer season extreme to tout its "Keep It Cool" plan.
2. San Diego Gas & Electric
You know the cliché scene where two women gossip enviously about how another woman lost weight, has a great boyfriend and is really happy? SDG&E tweaks the premise in this commercial:
To see (and hear) all the rest of the winning ads, click here.