Challenge
Create awareness and appreciation of Duquesne Light as a forward-looking and proactive company that is making sound business decisions in the best interest of customers and the communities it serves, reinforcing Duquesne Light’s role as a valued community partner.

SITUATION
In late 2005, Duquesne Light began an unprecedented $500 million investment in proactively replacing the area’s electrical infrastructure to maintain the level of reliability, safety and security that customers expect. It is a five year investment of time and money in the future of the Pittsburgh region that is creating several hundred new jobs.

STRATEGY

• Participate in focus groups in order to gain insight into customer reactions to key questions about both the investment and rate increase, which guided the approach to one of our primary target audiences.
• Provide communications planning services that included strategy development, identifying key messages, and forming an integrated communications campaign.
• Develop creative that would capture and hold the attention of our key audiences by crafting a non-traditional look for a utility, resulting in the rotating “Orb” and laser lit “Cityscape” techniques.
• Translate this TV creative to a host of other media from newspaper and magazine print to outdoor, a variety of signage, posters and postcards.
• Launch the campaign through a strategic media plan that integrated key elements of paid advertising, providing maximum reach and frequency.
• Continue to manage the campaign, changing and augmenting the creative and media placements based on proceedings related to the PUC’s rate process.

RESULTS
Customer awareness of Duquesne Light’s infrastructure investment grew from 36% to 55% during the first quarter of 2006. By all industry standards, this nearly 20% increase is highly significant.

Duquesne Light has committed to continued investment in the campaign through fall 2006 and into 2007.