The Ontario Sustainable Energy Association (OSEA)
Communication Need #1.: In late 2008, the Ontario
Government was preparing to unveil the most ambitious renewable energy
strategy in North America, the Green Energy Act. The Ontario
Sustainable Energy Association (OSEA), in partnership with regional
organizations throughout the province, set out to educate individual
communities about the environmental benefits of clean energy sources,
such as wind, solar and biogas, as well as the economic growth potential
of the renewable energy sector. The association needed to stretch a
modest communications budget into a media plan that would penetrate deep
into rural Ontario to rally grassroots and political support for
renewable energy, despite persistent and unmoving opposition.
What Up Marketing did: OSEA
and their partners organized workshops and lectures in strategically
important communities across the province, encouraging groups and
individuals to become involved in the discussion of renewable energy
solutions in Ontario. Up Marketing assisted OSEA in developing
messaging and placing a series of ads in each community that OSEA
visited.
Result #1: Ontario’s Green Energy Act was passed passed into law on May 14, 2009 with widespread support across the province, including the rural communities that would be most affected by this groundbreaking legislation. In a telephone poll, eighty seven per cent (87%) of respondents said they supported the proposed Green Energy Act. OSEA was invited to join the inner circle in the electricity industry and invited to run a parallel conference and combined tradeshow with the Association of Power Producers of Ontario in the fall of 2009.
Comunications Challenge #2:
With OSEA scheduled to hold the first annual Community Power
Conference in Toronto on Nov. 15th and 16th, 2009, it was essential
that all the potential players in this groundbreaking new market could
be reached and inspired to join the green energy community at this
event.
What Up Marketing Did: With a very small budget to work with, Up Marketing used our deep
relationships within the industry, business and news media to leverage
selectively, contextually placed print and online advertising buys
with media sponsorships, which provided OSEA with extended and upgraded
ad space, website and online promotion and sponsor participation at
the conference. By
narrowcasting to a variety of markets, Up Marketing gained OSEA's
Community Power Conference significant visibility in the industrial,
commercial, municipal, agricultural and energy markets at a minimal
cost. When the conference opened, Up Marketing had turned OSEA's small
budget into a big campaign.
Result #2: The Community Power Conference attracted 450 delegates and over 2,500 trade show attendees.
"We're thrilled with how everything went," said Kristopher Stevens, executive director of OSEA. "Industry
leaders from around the world came to share their expertise with the
leaders in Community Power in Ontario and the standing room only
sessions shows, there's a real appetite for this information."
"The first annual Community Power Conference was a fantastic success," said wind expert Paul Gipe. "It will be hard for OSEA to top it in 2010, but seeing their track record, OSEA will deliver".
