MARKETING CHALLENGE
With the huge responsibility that Pepco has as a leader in the Washington, D.C. metro region and a supplier of one of the most important sources of energy, it is imperative that it operates in a forward-thinking posture. Pepco’s partnership with the District Department of Transportation, DC Powerline Undergrounding (DC PLUG) does just that. The multi-year project is designed to protect the District’s most vulnerable power lines by placing them underground and improving grid resiliency where people live, work and play for generations to come.

SRB Communications was tasked with creating and executing an awareness and education campaign for DC PLUG. The goal of the campaign was to educate and inform District of Columbia residential and commercial utility customers, businesses and other stakeholders on the implementation of the initiative and how it would improve the reliability and resiliency of the city’s energy grid, both now and in the future.

THE WORK
SRB Communications led and executed strategy, content and creative development, messaging, digital, out-of-home and print placement for the DC PLUG campaign, from August 2022 to January 2023.

In the creative development phase, the SRB team identified key messaging points and creative concepts that could best translate the important elements of the public education campaign to its intended audiences.

Our execution of the campaign included a multi-channel approach to reach multiple stakeholders and generate awareness of the DC PLUG initiative. We selected out-of-home bus shelters, print placements and radio spots in both general and multi-cultural markets, targeted Google ads and Meta in-feed digital ads. Additionally, we wrote the script, sourced talent and music and recorded English and Spanish radio cuts. The print and digital ads were also translated in the Spanish-language for a broader targeting efforts.

RESULTS
The education and awareness campaign delivered more than 216 million impressions across offline and digital placements. Digital and social tactics drove more than 13,000 clicks for an average CTR of 0.51%. Across digital tactics, Facebook and Instagram performed the best with the mix of animated creative to boost engagement. Print advertisements across nine different publications circulated to more than nine million readers. Terrestrial radio placements reached 174 million impressions across an impressive 982 spot run/flight. The significance of print and radio placements was magnified by the additional Spanish language content, reaching an entirely different subset of the population. This boost in inclusivity models after Pepco's continued initiatives to engage multicultural audiences across the operating region.

Lastly, through negotiated value, SRB over-delivered more than $12,000 in incremental media investment towards the campaign.