Digital Marketing Services For Power and Energy Companies
How do we Rebrand a Company going Through Energy Transition?
Many of the energy transition technologies are in the early stages. K&A conducted a detailed brand assessment of how these companies are positioning themselves in the nascent market. These companies ranged from those involved in grid software, grid modernization hardware, smart grids, CCUS, hydrogen, fuel cells, EVs, energy storage, ESG, renewable energy, and a range of other technologies. Many of these are early-stage technologies at TRL levels of 3-7 that do not have compelling use cases. Very often, the business case is not clearly determined, and capital and lifecycle costs are high. Here are some of the common approaches adopted by energy transition companies. We are not implying that there is a magic formula, but here are some interesting observations that any energy transition brand executive must be aware of. We surveyed more than 50 energy transition technology providers and companies and learned the following.
For example many of the energy transition technology providers:
Appeal to those companies that wish to be a “climate pioneer” or first adopter of some technology. The presentation of a particular technology comes second or third in their online presentations. The appeal is to one’s “feelings” rather than technologically or economically practical solutions. “Net zero is not a dream.” One website opens with, “The climate crisis is the greatest threat humankind has ever faced. No less than the fate of the planet and all the life it supports hang in the balance. The stakes could not be higher.” Yet that company did not even reference a single pilot project. Another writes, “Join the global decarbonization market economy.” Still another, “Time to address climate change initiative as a global community.”
Appeal to external sources that support their technology. Many rely on outside evaluations of their technology in the form of technical reports, assessments of economics, etc., to bolster the “science” and prove how their technology is the best. Several make that appeal by flashing the logo of various companies that are said to be supporters, such as Microsoft. However, the basis for that support was never clear.
Appeal to support because of experience. What is deemed a pilot plant and a commercial operation is blurred and defined by the individual company. What one company describes as a commercial-size plant is pilot plant size for another. Pilot plants play a dominant role in each company’s presentation (for those with pilot plants). The common thread is that pilot plants, often relatively small, demonstrate 50% or 90% carbon removal rates, often not operating very long (perhaps a year or two), are placed in a wide range of industries, and are spread across the globe.
Almost all of the surveyed websites begin with either an appeal to save the world and/or set an audacious goal. A sample of descriptive words includes “our mutual journey” or “save humanity.” The typical goal for their technology is to remove one gigaton of carbon by 2030 or 2050. Notably, through the K&A team’s review thus far, we didn’t see any instances of a company speaking about the economics of their technology.
Many companies tout their diversified product offering, meaning their technology is also linked to trading, 3rd party own-operate-maintain, etc. Many tout their horizontal corporate integration, with business segments such as technology, trading, etc. Others praise their vertical integration, with end-to-end offerings that include design, build, financing, maintenance, and operation.
Many companies link to existing environmental organizations and show their support, such as reforestation. The trend among these companies seems to be “The more relationships with other environmental organizations the better.”— establishing the company’s bona fides through mutual acceptance.
Most, if not all, link their technology offering to a promise of corporate economic growth. For many, a monetary value is placed on the produced residue from carbon capture (others merely discuss how the residue can be stored as rocks, etc.). They wish to decouple industry economic growth from a reliance on fossil fuels in the future. Thus remove the fossil fuel economic risk to product cost by recycling carbon instead of throwing it away at some cost (future carbon tax?). In other words, turn the “negative” of fossil fuels in their product cost into a positive by using the carbon residue economically. The proposition is to solve business and climate challenges, leverage decarbonization, and join the global decarbonization market economy. These companies provide a way to make everyday products that are less impactful and use keywords such as “low-carbon, zero-carbon, or carbon negative.”
Most companies (if not all) speak about the importance of their pilot plants. As noted above (3), the plant sizes are small. The best seem to have pilot plants located in multiple industries (cement, steel, etc.) across the globe to demonstrate the international aspects of carbon capture. Further, those with pilot plants routinely state that their technologies are “proven” by these pilot plants and can be “scaled” up to meet everyone’s needs. Key points raised include saying the technology will work across any industry, turn waste products into income streams, and so on. Companies with pilot plants leverage them broadly in their marketing, with claims such as “the largest of this type in the world” or “xxx tons of carbon removed.”
Many companies are very active in global organizations, trade shows, technical/ economic presentations of their products, etc. The most aggressive companies have a heavy social media presence, many press releases, leaders make lots of presentations at shows and international forums, and the company has a newsletter, an app, or some way to keep close contact with followers. And, of course, each has a very impressive (flashy in some cases) website.
Prominent references are made to company logos of the users of the pilot plants, where they are located, customer reports, external evaluation reports, the qualifications of the technology developers and the board, etc. The investors in the Energy Transition company are also prominently displayed. The role of government funding in technology development has not been addressed in our review so far.
Now comes the challenge how do you build narrative and thought leadership articles. K&A is a specialized marketing firm with thought leaders, energy industry content writers, energy economists, former business editors, energy industry branding specialists and digital marketers who can help you avoid common mistakes and build a powerful and compelling narrative.
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