The energy category has suffered from negative perception by the public in recent years, due to energy inflation and the cost-of-living crisis. In 2023, energy had the lowest rate of approval by consumers of any sector regarding cost of living. In this environment, building or even maintaining brand affinity and brand power is a challenge. As a smaller brand, Energia’s lack of comms meant that awareness and affinity were falling faster than more established players. Given the crossover with its target, and being a world cup year, the IRFU sponsorship provided the perfect opportunity for the brand to connect with its customer base, but avoid the tricky subject of energy itself. In 2023 off the back of year of super performances, hope was never higher for Ireland in the rugby world cup. But based on previous outcomes, Irish fans wanted to imagine winning the world cup, but without having to mention it. How do you get people to imagine winning a world cup, without mentioning it? Fast forward to the year after.
Our campaign imagined the possibilities of a world cup win for Ireland, to playfully dream of this outcome, without ever mentioning it. We went out early with this message, when hope was highest and competitor sponsor with larger budgets were still quiet.
Ultimately the campaign grew awareness of Energia’s association with rugby, and positive opinion of the brand. It reversed the fall in brand scores, increased loyalty and resulted in the highest acquisition months of 2023.
