Traditional power retailers seem to see their job as providing a commodity to unengaged consumers. But Powershop, ‘the world’s first online energy store’, flipped the script when it launched in New Zealand in 2009 and started selling electricity as a simple and exciting fast moving consumer good to highly engaged customers and using marketing to revolutionise the way Kiwis interact with their supplier.
Powershop put the power in the hands of the power consumers and, because the big retailers largely ignored the SME sector, it created a specialist team to focus on that area. It also let its passionate customers do the talking for the above the line component of its campaign, with positive feedback sourced from its call centre and social media channels.
As a result, it has smashed its sales targets and, based on switching figures, is the fastest growing electricity company in New Zealand, with a 330 percent increase on the previous year.
- Full case studies of all the winners are available in the latest edition of NZ Marketing and the first 20 humans from within NZ to subscribe here will receive a copy of James Hurman’s new book The Case For Creativity, valued at $40.
THE PEOPLE: Ari Sargent, Simon Coley, Hamish Wilkie
THE PARTNERS: DoubleFish, MBM, YouDo, DNA, Sputnik
FINALISTS:
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