Zoetrope
EDF Energy B2C - Thank yous rewards scheme
Issue 24 | September 2012
Agency
Archibald Ingall Stretton
Creative Team
Creative Director: Geoff Gower Deputy Creative Directors: Mark Urey, John Vinton Art Director: Ollie Agius Copywriter: Pete Ioulianou
Production Team
Producer: Hilary Bright Production Manager: Paul Tully Senior Front-end Developer: Will Davies Technical Lead: David Impey Head of Design: Jon Biggs Lead QA: Chris Byrne Digital Producer: Helen Sallnow, Jaromir Kaska
Other Credits
Client Services Director: Liz Barnsdale Account Director: Rebecca Heselton Account Manager: Bethan Thomas Account Executive: Kristina Tomes Digital Account Director: Alice Curtis Digital Senior Account Manager: Emma-Jane Lacey EDF Energy Marketing Director: Martin Stead Head of Marketing: Martin Aylward Head of Digital: Roberto Hortal 2012 Project Lead: Ed Varley Senior CRM Executive: Zara Chalcraft Technical Lead: Suikh Virk
Date
May 2012
Background
EDF Energy wanted to relaunch its Thank-yous rewards programme and get their customers more interested in it.
The idea had to incorporate Zingy, EDF Energy’s new brand character, at the heart of every execution.
Also, it had to work after the London 2012 games had ended. And, as if that wasn’t enough, it had to bring to life, somehow, the prizes on offer, from Olympics tickets and balloon rides at the Eden Project to discount vouchers.
Idea
People have transactional relationships with their energy companies. But a simple ‘thank you’ can go a long way towards building loyalty and preventing switching.
So the agency’s core proposition was that only EDF Energy’s rewards programme gave people a genuine thank you every month.
The solution was a fantastical, multi-coloured world inspired by the spectacle and scale of Olympic opening ceremonies combined with the beautiful symmetry of old-school Hollywood synchronized swimming.
And it was all delivered in a Zoetrope.
The EDF Energy Zoetrope was a machine that produced a kaleidoscopic display of all the prizes and experiences of Thank yous with brand character Zingy as prize-master general. It brought to life the fact that every customer received a thank you – month after month after month.
Seeing the Zoetrope in action for the first time surprised people to such an extent that they wanted to play it again, just to check. This encapsulated the Thank yous experience, leaving customers with a warm glow that made them feel better.
Results
510,000 householders who were EDF Energy customers engaged in the programme.
The Net Promoter Score in the group who played Thank yous was 15 points more positive than those that had not engaged. The agency’s target was an increase of 15 points in this score
EDF Energy became second in prompted sponsorship awareness for London 2012.
Our Thoughts
This is a complex idea from a complicated brief. It is the sort of task I used to dread as a creative director because I knew how hard it was going to be to do anything remotely interesting. The truth is, people don’t like the utility companies. The concept of being thanked by the people who do everything they can to avoid real contact with you through automated phone systems, automated payment arrangements and utterly de-humanised websites (sorry, Zingy lacks anything remotely approaching humanity) is ghastly. Yet Ollie Agius and Pete Ioulianou have managed it.
There are ideas in Directory 24 which came from strategists, others that came from technologists, but this one came from a creative team who are interested in the world around them. Bravo!