Case Studies
Energy Northwest:
How a public utility convinced its audience to reevaluate their opinions about nuclear energy
Solution
Target audience research and marketing strategy.
Vertical
Public Utility
Research Tools
Focus groups
Surveys
Secondary research
“Getting the West side of the state to recognize the many benefits of nuclear energy has been a challenge. The work with Sonar Insights helped us hear directly from our audience. This allowed us to craft a message that we were confident would help us change the hearts and minds of our audience.”
Angela Smith
Public Affairs Manager & Chief Communications Officer
Company Story
Energy Northwest provides power to Washington via hydroelectric, wind, solar, and nuclear energy.
Goals
Understanding of the 25-40 year-old audience. Persuasive messaging that resonates with the target. Effective marketing
campaign for the Seattle area.
Methodology
Internal workshop generated ideas and messages to test with audience Focus groups for qualitative insight to understand which messages resonated with the audience Surveys with the target audience to quantitatively assess messaging, imagery, and platforms to use Strategy development for a campaign to get the audience to change their views.
Overview
In 2022, Energy Northwest wanted to create a marketing campaign for nuclear energy targeted at the west side of the state. In the past, getting this audience to see the benefits of nuclear energy and eliminate misconceptions has been difficult to do.
Sonar Insights was contracted to engage with the target audience to understand their perceptions of nuclear energy. We sought to understand what arguments would change the audience’s perspective on nuclear energy. This would lead to a marketing campaign highlighting the importance of nuclear power as part of a carbon-free energy portfolio.
Research
Research by Sonar Insights includes:
4
Virtual focus groups 25-40 year-olds in the Seattle area.
10+
Companies researched for competitive messaging.
500
Surveys to quantitatively test messaging.
Outcomes
Began qualitative research with messages to test with the target audience. Used personas to help the audience see the context of a message in others’ eyes. Focus groups helped to pick apart the messages with the audience and create better messages in real time that resonated with them. Identified the imagery and marketing channels to use to get the message across.
Honed the message to a narrower set to test with the audience through surveys. 500 surveys yielded a clear choice for the right message as well as the imagery, examples, and channels to connect with the audience.
5
Messages and personas tested with audience.
1 | 3
Primary message | Secondary messages
1
Focused campaign for public outreach.