Using Nebraska’s Unique Pride to Power a Social Media Contest

We worked with Nebraska Public Power District (NPPD), in conjunction with Nebraska Power Association (NPA), to create an awareness campaign and social marketing toolkit for all partnering utilities across the state.

Insights

Nebraska is the only state in the U.S. that is 100% publicly powered. Unfortunately, the majority of Nebraskans don’t understand what that means or how that benefits them – both directly and indirectly. They don’t usually think about their utility unless their power goes off or they’re paying a bill. But there are so many benefits to Nebraska customers – lower rates, better reliability, community support, and the list goes on. So NPPD and Nebraska Power Association came to Bozell asking for an engaging (and newsworthy) way to educate customers during Public Power Month and encourage them to care about public power.

Execution

When approaching this campaign, we identified key traits about Nebraskans: They’re kind, they’re neighborly … and they’re really proud of the people, places and things that are unique to Nebraska – random “tidbits” that Nebraskans feel put the state on the map. So we wanted to develop a campaign that celebrated those little “wins” and lumped in the fact that Nebraska is also the only state that is 100% publicly powered.

From that thinking, the “Uniquely Nebraskan” Campaign was born—a social media contest that empowered (pun intended) partnering NPA utilities to participate and collectively highlight Nebraska’s top bragging spots, as well as share the reasons Nebraskans should be proud to be publicly powered.

In honor of all things that make Nebraska unique, customers were encouraged to participate in and engage with the social media campaign. Throughout Public Power Month, random customers would be selected to win Uniquely Nebraskan prizes, determined by each individual utility. Prizes could include a $50 gift card to Runza, entrance to the Omaha Henry Doorly Zoo & Aquarium, tickets to Pioneer Village, etc. Upon winning, the customer would select the prize of his/her choice.

For participating utilities, we provided Uniquely Nebraskan toolkits filled with everything needed to implement the campaign on their own social media channels and website. The toolkits included social graphics and copy for the giveaway, as well as additional social posts for later in the month that highlighted the top benefits of being 100% publicly powered. We also included a press release for local media outlets, graphics and copy for the website, tactical timeline, and contest rules. We even designed a “Uniquely Nebraskan” T-shirt they could print and give away throughout the month, as well.