Switching to LED lighting can be one of the easiest steps consumers can take to adopt a more energy efficient lifestyle. However, convincing people to make the change isn’t quite so simple. For all of the benefits LED lighting offers–longer lifespan, reduced environmental impact, increased energy efficiency, and more–the category still grapples with perception issues and slow adoption.
And then there is the cost. LED bulbs cost more on average than incandescent bulbs, and although the gap has narrowed as technology and manufacturing improve, a difference remains. It has taken consistent retail incentives to encourage consumers to make the switch and invest.
But incentives rarely last forever, and utilities faced a stern test when it was announced that LED lighting incentives were going to be dramatically reduced for customers in Pennsylvania. Before the market was forced to stand on its own without retail assistance, PECO needed to drive savings numbers significantly across both commercial and residential audiences. While the incentives remained, there was a real need to find new channels and creative methods to raise immediate demand.
Doer/Maker was ready for the challenge. We knew from experience that most LED campaigns leaned into product benefits, trusting that the retail incentives at the point of sale would be enough to motivate purchase. But to be successful, we knew this campaign would have to focus instead on the urgency of acting before incentives were gone.
We had a number of ‘light bulb’ moments. The first was that not a lot of people knew what LED stands for. The second was that it didn’t really matter, as long as they knew it stood for something good. And the third was that we needed to find ways for the digital world to inspire an in person action.
Of all the tools the internet has provided marketers in the energy world, we have a particular favorite which is a proven way of selling EE interventions: the online flash sale. When we make consumers feel like they’re getting a special deal on a special thing at a special moment in time, they are highly likely to act. So, for us, the question was simple: could an online flash sale come to life the same way in a physical retail environment? The more we explored the idea, the more convinced we were that not only could it work, that it would.
One comprehensive strategy and hundreds of creative assets later, we were ready for launch. But we still needed to engage retailers and create excitement around the implementation of the promotion. We partnered with PECO’s implementation partner to present retailers with special incentive pricing, program-specific consumer offers, and a contest for store owners that rewarded staff for creating the most creative point-of-sale display.
When the campaign went live, retailers were enthusiastic. More importantly, consumers were highly motivated. On flash sale days, customers showed up with their smartphones and printed PECO emails in hand, eager to purchase discounted LEDs. In fact, the sales rate during the 4-week promotion showed a lift of 700% when compared to the same time period in the 60 days prior, with the year-over-year story showing equally staggering results. And it wasn’t just LED bulb sales that spiked – PECO far exceeded their energy savings goals when the campaign was in-market.
The campaign was so effective, it ran its full course despite pandemic-related disruptions and at a time when most utilities were pulling their marketing spend. We even got to deploy some cool strategies like wrap a bucket truck in LED holiday lights, among other things. The financial savings for consumers, sales results for retailers, and energy savings for the utility helped a campaign about loss become a win-win-win for everyone involved. And we had fun in the process.