PERC – Environmental Thought Leadership Campaign
The Propane Education & Research Council (PERC) is a nonprofit that provides leading propane safety and training programs and invests in the research and development of new propane-powered technologies.
The Challenge: Elevating Propane’s Environmental Advantages
With more than 600 proposals (legislation, resolutions and ordinances) to limit or ban gas or force 100% electrification into future building code across the U.S., PERC saw an urgent need to communicate the environmental benefits of the fuel to an influential audience. This challenge was exacerbated by the fact that a majority of Americans have limited knowledge of propane’s diverse uses beyond the backyard grill.
PERC asked the Hahn Agency to develop and manage an environmental thought leadership campaign to:
- Position propane as a low-carbon energy source.
- Establish the PERC CEO as a credible thought leader and industry expert.
- Elevate propane’s environmental advantages into national level conversations about clean energy and a low-carbon future.
- Engage influencers, national media and social media users with propane’s low-carbon future thought leadership.
The Solution
Our team responded to the challenge and connected with the target audience through PERC’s first-ever thought leadership campaign.
Targeting An Influential Audience
Instead of targeting a broad demographic for this campaign, Hahn advocated focusing on a slice of the professional world that could truly make a difference for how propane is used. We call them the “Influential Insiders” and their choices will help shape our future energy mix.
Influential Insiders include architects, energy engineers, utility managers, facility managers, infrastructure consultants, commercial developers, city managers and construction executives. They are affiliated with groups like the American Architects Association, Chambers of Commerce, Congress on New Urbanism, Urban Land Institute and others.
They want to make the world a better place through their professional work and are interested in creating and sustaining thriving communities worldwide. They love the idea of designing physical spaces and structures that combine long-term value with sustainability and result in highly efficient, aesthetically pleasing and resilient places and spaces.
Our campaign is designed to educate these Influential Insiders on the role propane can play in their work and in creating a low-carbon future for our world.
Data-Driven Integrated Content
The Hahn creative and web team designed, coded and loaded a new digital newsroom with a mix of opinion and environmental science content about propane’s positive environmental attributes.
Launching a Podcast
Our team also produced and launched “Path to Zero,” a podcast about our world’s low-carbon future with the PERC CEO as its host.
Digital Campaign
The digital team planned and implemented a digital advertising campaign targeting Influential Insiders who can influence public discussions. The campaign launched in June 2020 with native, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and YouTube ads driving key audiences to the new digital newsroom on propane.com.
Engaging the Media
We established a national media relations strategy to engage with environmental and energy reporters through multiple touchpoints, including social media engagement, proactive pitching, rapid response communication and podcast invitations.
The Results
The campaign is effectively engaging the target audience and already changing behavior. One of the biggest metrics PERC hoped to see was more targeted users visiting the digital newsroom and engaging with content. Over the first few months since the launch, we’ve seen just that.
27,284
ENGAGED USERS
Users who have spent more than 90 seconds on the site, viewed 2+ pages, and watched a video or listened to a podcast.
4+
MINUTES
The average session duration is over 4 minutes and 2.68 pages per session.
50%+
TOP PODCASTS
Based on the industry benchmark of new episodes getting more than 136 downloads within the first 30 days of being published.