Celebrating 50 Years of Powerful Connections

Platte River Power Authority was established as a collaborative effort by the communities of Fort Collins, Longmont, Loveland, and Estes Park, Colorado. For 50 years, the organization has been at the forefront of providing reliable, environmentally responsible, and financially sustainable energy solutions to its owner-communities. Despite its long history and significant contributions to enhancing power production in Northern Colorado, Platte River faced a challenge: a lack of public awareness about its identity and mission.

Insights

As Platte River Power Authority celebrated its 50th anniversary, it recognized an opportunity to reintroduce itself to the communities it serves. The primary challenge was overcoming the public’s limited awareness of Platte River’s role and achievements in providing reliable, affordable energy to its owner communities. They aimed to leverage this milestone to enhance visibility, educate the public about its strategic pillars of reliability, environmental responsibility, and financial sustainability, and foster a deeper connection with the community.

Using audience data for Platte River’s four communities, we developed a voice and tone that could effectively appeal to the unique demographics of each city. And to match with previous communications from the utility provider, we ensured this persona was friendly, authentic, and informative.

While Platte River works directly with the utilities of the owner communities, rather than the public themselves, they identified the following topics as being most important to consumers in their service area:

• Access to affordable power with limited rate hikes
• A supply of reliable power with minimal outages
• Retiring carbon-intensive sources of power (such as coal)
• Investments in renewable energy technologies such as wind and solar

Execution

To build an attention-grabbing campaign that could effectively educate consumers, we crafted collateral that reinforced the long-standing work Platte River has done in Northern Colorado, as well as their commitment to providing, affordable, reliable, environmentally conscious power for years to come.

Platte River Power Authority is overseen by a board of directors made of up the mayors and utility directors from each community. To emphasize the direct influence consumers have in the future of their power production, we crafted messaging that relied on the slogan, “Giving you the power.” This tagline also helped reinforce the owner relationship these communities have with the utility. The campaign’s execution spanned several months, utilizing a mix of digital and traditional media to maximize reach and engagement.

Our work consisted of the following deliverables:

• Landing page
• Digital ads
• Search ads
• Social media ads
• Radio ads
• A PR and content strategy
• Branded merchandise

Results

The campaign was well-received by community leadership in each municipality, as well as consumers, who flocked to the new landing page to learn how Platte River Power Authority has supported their energy needs over the last 50 years.

The campaign not only commemorated Platte River’s 50th anniversary but also increased public awareness of its mission and values. Through strategic messaging and a diverse media mix, we successfully reintroduced the power provider to its communities, laying the groundwork for ongoing engagement and support.

In total, the campaign achieved:

• From September 30 – January 31
  • 2 million impressions
  • 46,000 clicks
  • 38% click-thru rate