Usual market, unlikely product...

Challenge:

With years of experience in helping UK businesses of all sizes and sectors to become more energy-efficient and reduce their energy costs, British Gas Business was perfectly placed to enter the growing energy management market. The challenge to Base One was to develop a product identity that would work alongside their existing brand.

This would be the first time that an energy provider had seriously entered the consultancy market, so we not only had to build a brand, but also had to deal with preconceptions about what British Gas Business did and how that was changing. In short, we were breaking new ground and needed a campaign that would get the new business off to a flying start.

Approach:

Base One worked with British Gas Business to develop the entire identity and launch campaign. We began by exploring and developing the name and strapline, then created an entire visual identity for the new energy management offering. And so was born Energy360® - a complete suite of products and services to help organisations of all sizes improve their overall energy efficiency and management.

We needed to communicate to energy managers at large organisations that this was a different kind of offering in two ways. Not only did the service go far beyond what was usually expected from consultancies working in this area, but it was also highly unusual for this kind of service to be available from a supplier.

The strapline said it all. Energy360®: "a new perspective on energy management" – and this idea of a new perspective was reinforced with a bold and distinctive brand identity that underpinned the launch campaign.

The campaign itself centred on the brand promise of ‘unexpected’, and featured messaging that underlined the surprising breadth and depth of services offered.  The campaign featured online advertising, email and other activities, aiming both to increase awareness of the new offering and to generate the first round of sales leads.

Outcome:

Energy360 made a huge impact on the market, with a launch campaign that achieved some staggering results.

Awareness amongst large businesses within 6 months of launch had risen from zero to 19% (14% above the original objective of 5%). In addition to the 19% who were able to name Energy360 specifically, a further 10% of the target audience were aware that British Gas Business now offered energy management services.

There were 58,000 unique visits to the Energy360 site (232% more than target), while the response rate of the online campaign was almost three times higher than expected at 0.29%.

The business generation statistics are even more impressive. The amount of business won in the first full year of business exceeded expectations by 200%, while the total value of leads generated was almost four times that in the original objective.