Energy Upgrade California – Advertising Campaign

The Challenge 

WSC partner Amber Bieg, along with her team of designers were hired to assess the effectiveness of various media tactics in engaging San Francisco single-family homeowners in participating in either Energy Upgrade California Home Upgrade or Advanced Home Upgrade.

The Solution

The methods used for comparison were click-through rates and leads. The campaign objective was to generate at least 100 leads. The media tactics chosen for comparison were 1) Direct Mail, 2) Facebook Ads, 3) Twitter Ads, 4) Google AdWords, and 5) Social Media Posts (via Facebook and Twitter).

Amber’s overall campaign strategy was to play on media hype around El Niño and the human need to “be prepared.”  The core message was: “Is your home ready for winter? or EL NIÑO?” The tactics were a combination of online advertising, social media, and direct mail.

The design team developed some early messaging and design concepts focusing on the overall strategy of preparing for winter. The design concepts relied on stock photos available for purchase or generated from scratch by our graphic designers. The primary limitation was the budget for assets in creating new art. After five revisions, the final ad copy and creative were based on the initial concepts. In total 12 distinct ads were created (some to be used in paid ads and some to be used in social media posts).

The campaign met its stated goals of generating over 100 leads (126 leads were generated) and gathering intelligence on the relative effectiveness of various media tactics.