2020 Brand Experience & Activation

THE ELECTRIC REVOLUTION

TitleTHE ELECTRIC REVOLUTION
BrandE.ON
Product/Service-
Category C07. Customer Acquisition & Retention
Entrant E.ON SVERIGE Malmö, SWEDEN
Idea Creation EHRENSTRAHLE Malmö, SWEDEN
PR EHRENSTRAHLE Malmö, SWEDEN
Production HOBBY FILM Stockholm, SWEDEN
Production 2 JEFF RICHT PHOTOGRAPHY Malmö, SWEDEN
Production 3 STUDIO MINT Gothenburg, SWEDEN
Production 4 MUSIC SUPER CIRCUS Stockholm, SWEDEN
Post Production HOBBY FILM Stockholm, SWEDEN
Post Production 2 JEFF RICHT PHOTOGRAPHY Malmö, SWEDEN
Additional Company GADE18 Malmö, SWEDEN
Credits
Name Company Position
Christoffer Petersson Ehrenstråhle Account Director
Christian Godden Ehrenstråhle Strategy Lead
Lisen Axelsson Ehrenstrahle Account Manager
Simona Karlsson Ehrenstråhle Account Manager
Karl Arildsson Ehrenstråhle Creative Lead
Mikael Noaksson Ehrenstråhle Copywriter
Mathias Svensson Ehrenstråhle Copywriter
Markus Bjurman Ehrenstråhle Creative Director
Allex Olsson Ehrenstråhle PR & Growth Planner
John Schulish Ehrenstråhle Designer
Charlotte Harbäck Ehrenstråhle Designer
Linn Persson Ehrenstråhle Designer

Why is this work relevant for Brand Experience & Activation?

By showing how easy (and fun!) it is with e-mobility, we created a new movement amongst current and new customers, positioning E.ON as the obvious choice in the new e-mobility/charging box category. The campaign opened people's minds on a broad level, and shifted the perception of a charging box from being an anonymous technology gadget that I might need in the future, to becoming something that I actually want and need right now. We took our target groups on an electric journey, showing that charging boxes and electric cars aren’t just for car and technology enthusiasts. It’s for everyone!

Background

"Green transition" and "sustainable future" have been on the agenda for many years. Yet for many people, climate-smart electrification, including e-mobility, is just a vague promise of the future. Consumers' perception of E.ON was no exception – few people saw E.ON as a company that makes things happen (YouGov, 2019). In addition, many people felt insecure around electric cars and charging boxes: ”How, and from whom, do I buy the charging box?”; ”Are there enough charging stations?”; ”Is it difficult to use the charging box?” Brief: An idea that differentiates E.ON from the competitors, builds the brand in both existing and new audiences, views E.ON as a driving force within e-mobility and last but not least, sells charging boxes. Goals: • Drive growth in the Charging box segment (Sales+Top of Mind) • Increase liking for the E.ON brand

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

To succeed in the transition to e-mobility, we all must contribute. Therefore, we gave power to the people by launching a completely new service that allowed anyone to share their charging box directly in the E.ON app. Suddenly, in practice, anyone could open their own electric gas station (“elmack” in Swedish – a word that didn’t exist prior to our campaign). We started off by letting an ordinary Swedish family, The Olssons, open up the world's first private full-service electric gas station. The station was equipped with a classic neon sign, tailor-made uniforms, an associated coffee house and of course – a brand new charging box from E.ON. To demonstrate that ANYONE can open an electric gas station, we created a large number of fictitious electric gas station brands with a wide range of tonality and look & feel. The brands even got their own ad campaigns!

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Many people opt out of electric cars because of the concern about range, access to charging points and insecurity about how to buy and use their own charging box at home. At the same time, the transition from fossil fuels is in fact already happening and the many petrol stations might not even be here in the future. With these insights, we saw the opportunity to do something that could accelerate the transition and at the same time prove how far we have come. The overall strategy was to significantly increase the mental and actual access to charging boxes. By blurring the boundaries between communication, product development and sustainability work, E.ON exchanged words for action. With the new electric gas stations, we could go from talking about the future, to leading with concrete actions and evidence – here and now. Target audience: Current and potential customers within the general public.

Describe the execution (30% of vote)

We started off by launching our completely new service, allowing anyone to share their charging box directly in the E.ON Drive app. Then, we let an ordinary family – The Olsson’s – open up the world’s first full service electric gas station on their private farm outside of Malmö, Sweden. After getting The Olsson electric gas station published in local and national earned media, we started the second phase of the campaign, letting E.ON capitalize on the buzz in paid channels (TV commercials, Outdoor, Radio, Print ads and SoMe). The campaign mainly consisted of a large number of fictitious electric gas station brands, demonstrating the fact that ANYONE can join the e-mobility movement! In order to not only build the E.ON brand, but also drive charging box sales, we made sure to push the customers to our campaign site in as many touchpoints as possible.

List the results (30% of vote)

- Top of mind in segment +133% (from 3% to 7%). Clear market leader for the first time - Brand perception +81% (from 2,7 to 4,9, YouGov Brand Index) - Beat the sales goals by 54% (charging boxes) - Awareness, retailer of charging boxes + 45% (from 22% to 32%) - 9+ million earned media impressions (the population in Sweden is 10 million) - Olssons Electric Gas Station managed to get an over 3 minute long interview in the two biggest channels in public radio (P3 & P4), and trended on Reddit. - During the campaign period, E.ON became the most searched brand on google with the keywords ”laddbox” (charging box) and ”skaffa laddbox” (buy charging box). We even managed to launch a new word – "Elmack" – which received as many searches as "charging box" during the campaign period. 100% of these searches ended up at to E.ON’s webbsite.