BC Gas isn’t the first veteran player in the provincial energy sector forced to build a new brand identity in the face of oncoming deregulation. Onetime sister organization BC Hydro has been at it for more than a year now.
The utility launched its own brand image campaign back in the spring of 1998, with a two-minute television spot (later broken down into four 30-second spots) that aired during the Academy Awards.
With its emphasis on the Crown corporation’s reliability, proud history and environmental record, the creative spoke directly to the hearts and minds of customers, says Shawn Thomas, vice-president, corporate communications for BC Hydro.
It also introduced a new tagline for the company, replacing the somewhat tired ‘Proud of our service’ with the more energetic ‘The Power is Yours.’
High emotional appeal, Thomas says, is ultimately what builds brand loyalty among customers.
Like BC Gas, Hydro did a great deal of research on customer perceptions before embarking on its campaign.
Unlike BC Gas, however, the company already had plenty of image. Too bad it wasn’t actually the sort of image worth preserving.
‘[We were] seen as bureaucratic and ineffective – a monopoly,’ Thomas says.
Vancouver-based Lanyon Phillips Communications was chosen to handle the rebranding campaign – in part because of chairman and chief creative officer Peter Lanyon’s experience with deregulation in the cable television industry.
In addition to TV, print and radio ads, BC Hydro created a corporate video, to outline to the company’s 5,800-plus employees why the rebranding effort was necessary.
On the morning of the day that the television campaign first launched, Hydro ran a three-page insert in newspapers throughout the province. Employees, meanwhile, received special copies of the insert, with a fourth page that featured a memo from the company president.
As a Crown corporation, Thomas says, BC Hydro faces a particular challenge in mounting a brand campaign. The public, after all, doesn’t generally appreciate its tax dollars being spent on advertising.
Still, Hydro considers it important to build customer loyalty before other players hit the provincial energy market and reduce all arguments to price.
The company continues to run the original TV advertising, making major media buys in the spring and fall.
Because of price fluctuations in the industry (which make it difficult for new players to enter the market), the march toward deregulation has stalled for the moment.
Until things heat up again, BC Hydro will concentrate on reinforcing its new brand image through its various programs, such as Year 2000 (which promotes readiness for the millennium changeover), as well as its Web site.
Also in this report:
– BC Gas goes on the offensive: Launches pre-emptive branding campaign in anticipation of deregulation p.30
– Richmond Savings retires Humungous Bank: Campaign skewering advertising for non-existent big bank may be licensed to other credit unions p.32
– Vancouver market still hot, hot, hot: Buyers hope proposed new station will relieve shortage of inventory p.35
