Background

Open Electricity Market is an initiative by the Energy Market Authority Singapore. The platform aims to inform and educate Singaporeans about the recent changes in the electricity market. Starting from 2018 Singaporeans were allowed to switch to a different electricity retailer and benefit from competitive price plans. The brief was to create an integrated campaign to educate Singaporeans on the Open Electricity Market platform, the benefits of having more retailers and the switching process. The objective was to deliver the information as clear and simple as possible, while making the campaign interesting and engaging.

Describe the creative idea

Having new retailers in the electricity market concerns anyone who is paying monthly electricity bills. But it is not something that interests everyone. We knew the subject was dull and complicated. So, we explored ways to make it interesting and simple. We needed someone who can narrate a heavy content in a fun way. Who can talk about electricity better than electronic appliances? In the end, they run on electricity. We decided to create unique characters from electronic appliances. Each of them represents a different type of consumer. A drama queen toaster, a smart microwave, laid back iron and many more. Each appliance became the voice of consumers’ concerns, questions and answers. From TVC to online films, outdoor to social media, using these talking appliances, we talked to our target audience on every possible touch point.

Describe the strategy

The target audience was, to put it simply, anyone who pays monthly electricity bills. So, it covers a very wide audience from 30s to 70s years old. After 53 years, this is the first-time Singaporeans get to choose their electricity retailer. They have zero knowledge about how to switch or why to switch. That’s why, from day one, we knew the approach must be straight forward, simple and engaging. No layers, no complicated stories was our motto while working on the campaign . But while delivering our message in the most direct way, we had to be entertaining and engaging to catch the entire nation’s attention.

Describe the execution

We started with selecting the right appliances for the campaign. They must have been commonly used appliances which can represent different levels of electricity consumption. But they also had to have a character and background story that matches different types of consumers. After selecting our heroes, we kick-started the campaign with two TVCs. Each of them featured different appliances talking about different topics to educate consumers. Then we carried our talking appliances to posters, brochure, outdoor, and digital platforms. While giving a voice to each appliance in the films, we used speech bubbles on the other materials. The ideation, execution and the implementation has been spread over a year. The campaign has been aired nationwide in Singapore.

List the results

The results had exceeded the expectations. The campaign has raised 92% of awareness nationwide. 34% of the country had switched to a new retailer in less than a year. All our online videos achieved accumulated 2 million unique views. 150 articles have been published about the campaign which equals to 1.3 mil advertising value.