equiwatt brings residential demand side response (rDSR) to householders across the UK. Its free and easy-to-use app incentivises consumers with vouchers and other rewards to save energy during periods of peak demand. By establishing a collective community of users engaged in energy reduction at the same time, equiwatt aims to restore balance in the national energy supply and reduce carbon footprint.
Geoff Phillips, Marketing Director, equiwatt
equiwatt approached Resonates with plans to build its base of users by reaching the millions of homes across the UK equipped with smart meters and other smart technology, that have the potential to help build the UK’s biggest virtual power plant.
As a start-up and new to the press, equiwatt wanted to utilise our press expertise to build its profile in the media and reach consumers in the titles they read, driving user registrations and active engagement.
With the news dominated by the energy crisis, rising cost of living and the net zero agenda, equiwatt felt October 2022 was the perfect opportunity to launch its app in the press.
As rDSR is a technically complicated concept and difficult for many consumers to understand, we started with an audit to review and finetune equiwatt’s messaging. We simplified equiwatt’s offering into key meaningful and focused messages that would resonate with its consumer and industry target audiences. This provided us with a foundation to plan and develop content and identify opportunities for press for equiwatt’s tactical plan of activity.
To warm up press contacts, we produced four media alerts adapted to equiwatt’s target sectors, introducing equiwatt and Johnson Fernandes, equiwatt’s CEO, as a spokesperson. We built an extensive media list targeting national, regional, environmental, EV, tech, home, lifestyle, personal finance and energy trade media titles to ensure we were reaching equiwatt’s different audiences.
In three months, we delivered two nationwide consumer press releases and two byline feature articles from Johnson, building equiwatt’s profile and Johnson’s thought leadership.
Our press activity has secured far-reaching and national coverage across consumer audiences in a short timescale.
equiwatt’s first release, launching its app in the press, resulted in coverage in major titles including the Daily Express, Daily Record and This Is Money. equiwatt’s second press release secured wider exposure, with coverage in widely-read consumer national and regional titles including: The Sun, The Daily Mirror, The Daily Record, Daily Star, Nottingham Live, North Wales Live and Liverpool Echo, among others.
With considerable readership across the UK, equiwatt saw a direct and significant impact with over 5x uplift to downloads and registrations in the period directly following the releases.
Johnson’s byline articles have featured in OX Magazine, a leading lifestyle glossy in Oxfordshire and Utility Week, the leading publication read by decision makers in the retail energy sector.
In just 3 months and with a moderate budget, we have helped equiwatt secure 23 pieces of national, regional and key trade media coverage and reach an audience of over 7 million people.
