British Gas: Biggest ever price drop promotion
Supported by an integrated digital marketing campaign
from STEAK
Background
When the UK's largest energy provider changes its prices,
the whole country takes notice - consumers, competitors and
commentators alike.
Amidst huge media interest and debate, British Gas
announced a price drop in February 2010 and made the headlines. A
multi-million pound above-the-line advertising campaign was
launched to promote the price drop and make the most of British
Gas's position as the first gas provider to slash prices, making
it, on average, the cheapest standard gas and electricity
supplier.
Having worked with British Gas for two years, STEAK was
briefed to plan a significant online campaign to support the price
drop announcement and attract new customers, with three main
objectives:
- To broadcast up to date information to the public in the
wake of the announcement
- To provide the best customer experience possible for
existing and potential customers
- To drive sales on the British Gas website
Work
STEAK negotiated, bought and executed seventeen separate
display advertising homepage takeover placements across various
standard and mobile websites, plus additional display and mobile
activity.
Paid search played a pivotal role in broadcasting the
message and providing information on the day of the announcement.
New ad copy and redirects were live minutes after the 7am
announcement to the stock market, and before the CEO gave
interviews on the national news.
Results
All objectives for the campaign were successfully met and
the following specific metrics achieved:
- 5,000 sales generated from display activity
- Brand metric scores fell within the excellent range,
meaning performance was as good as it could have possibly
been
- High levels of interest and engagement with display ads
in both standard and mobile environments - over 280,000 standard
display and 56,000 mobile clicks generated
- 5,040 sales delivered from paid search at a cost per sale
60% under target