Genesis Energy Tomorrow Street Case Study

Snapshot
- Innovative project to test future energy solutions
- Required creation of an online community for consultation and communications
- Ubiquity led development of solution
- Site is now a hub for participants, stakeholders and the public to share, connect and be inspired
“Our customers are trialling some of the most innovative energy-saving products available and it was important that their experience of participating in the project was equally future-forward.”

Bridget Lincoln
Marketing Communications Manager (Acting)
Genesis Energy
“Our customers are trialling some of the most innovative energy-saving products available and it was important that their experience of participating in the project was equally future-forward.”

Bridget Lincoln
Marketing Communications Manager (Acting)
Genesis Energy

Brief

Take 15 typical Kiwi households, an innovative energy company, a customer research project, and a vision for a more efficient future, and connect them into one community - online.

Genesis Energy's innovative Tomorrow Street project aims to create New Zealand's first advanced energy neighbourhood and give ordinary Kiwis the chance to trial - and report on - the latest energy-saving technology. The results of this 21st century consumer research could ultimately transform the way we all use energy in our homes.

Critical to the project's success is the ability to capture and collate - via a forum - the participants' experiences with the products and services they are trialling to steer the company's future innovations.

Solution

Working to a very tight deadline, we led development of the online solution from initial registration of interest through to development of the full solution which enables the participating households to connect and contribute to real-time online discussions about the cutting-edge energy technology that they are trialling in their homes.

We took care of:

Defining requirements for the microsite - including the need to manage and display both public-facing and secure content
Workshopping ideas with Genesis Energy and their advertising agency, DraftFCB
Developing wireframes and specs
Reviewing and implementing front-end look and feel
All web development
Testing
Collating and storing customer registrations, contact requests and email subscriptions via our Engage platform
On-going New Zealand-based on-call support for the life of the project.

Results

The Tomorrow Street website took the idea of a traditional one-way communication channel and turned it on its head to create a highly interactive consumer engagement portal.

While the team at Genesis Energy had no shortage of great ideas for its content and creation, we helped channel their energy and passion into a high-functioning microsite that not only meets the company's communication requirements, but also provides an engaging and stimulating experience for visitors and participants and brings the company's brand promise - "Hello tomorrow" - to life.

We are now providing ongoing support to the project and are already working with Genesis Energy to develop the online component for their next innovative campaign.