The Electricity-Smart Cooking campaign was run by Eskom from October 2014 to March 2015 to promote electricity conservation during periods of load shedding. It used a neutral "Energy Diet" branding to distance itself from Eskom's negative public image. The campaign targeted females aged 30+ earning over R8000 per month through social media, blogs, a microsite and ambassador Justin Bonello. It reached over 16 million people at low cost per impression and engaged nearly 100,000 people through competitions and content participation.

1. Eskom’s Electricity-Smart
Cooking Campaign
October 2014 – March 2015

2. Summary
The Electricity-Smart Cooking campaign successfully demonstrated how a targeted content marke7ng strategy posi7vely engaged
online communi7es on a much-maligned social cause.
Eskom is South Africa’s electricity supplier and due to supply constraints it entered into a period of load shedding whereby electricity
supply was interrupted at Emes when demand was too high to sustain. This caused much resentment towards Eskom and the public
was generally hosEle towards the uElity.
However, demand needed to be reduced and Eskom was compelled to run communicaEon campaigns to this effect.
To avoid the campaign’s appeal being compromised by negaEve associaEons towards the Eskom brand it was decided that a
personalised look and feel, devoid of Eskom branding, be designed. In addiEon, the agency felt that the credibility of the media
partnerships and ambassador was beMer served by a neutral campaign idenEty.
In addiEon, with public scruEny of Eskom at an all Eme high, campaigns could not be seen to be expensive or wasteful. Therefore a
narrowly defined target audience was idenEfied based on the likelihood of behaviour change in order to opEmise campaign spend and
impact.

3. Campaign logo
The creaEve umbrella concept of Energy Diet encapsulates the drive towards sustainable consumpEon; whereby
over-consumpEon or wasteful consumpEon is socially undesirable, especially when at the expense of others.
As the campaign was based on cooking, the logo established a nice link between the call to reduce our consumpEon
of energy and the campaign’s cooking moEf.
The logo also provided a compelling plaQorm to posiEon the cooking campaign and communicate its key messages:
• Cooking accounts for up to 8% of the electricity used in an average household due to electric ovens and stoves.
• AdopEng a smarter way of cooking will trim your electricity bills.
• Electricity smart dishes reduce costs, Eme and effort but retain the flavour.
• Put your kitchen on an energy diet this summer, it’s the smart thing to do!
The logo was designed to allow for further campaigns featuring other lifestyle choices while advocaEng smart
energy use.

4. Target audience
Based on the findings from research that was conducted in 2013 by global research company TNS, the
campaign’s target audience was females, 30+ years old, earning R 8000+ p/m.
Campaign imagery was created to represent and resonate with this group.

5. Campaign sElls & recipes
Recipes developed by Eskom for an earlier campaign (49M)
were re-created for sElls photography to represent, and
appeal to the target audience.

6. Campaign microsite
www.electricitysmart.co.za was developed as an online portal for access to
informaEon, to download recipe cards, host a blogsite, and faciliate parEcipaEon in a
compeEEon.

7. Microsite visitors & engagement
20,596 unique followers
20,596 repeat users
25,526 recorded sessions
OTS: 1 375 472/43 095 pageviews

8. Page views – first phase

9. Page views – second phase

10. Campaign ambassador
JusEn Bonello, a popular outdoors chef as well as a keen supporter of organic cooking
brought credibility to the campaign and drove parEcipaEon in the compeEEon by challenging
cooking enthusiasts to submit their own energy saving recipe which he would cook, taste and
judge – a shortlist was then opened up to public voEng.

11. CompeEEon
Total of 132 people submiMed their recipes and 600 people voted for their favourite recipes.
View the videos of JusEn cooking and tasEng the entries:
hMps://www.dropbox.com/sh/et8pgrn5uawse7v/
AADS7wXS0Nl1HGiKOShZPB2Wa?dl=0
The video of the winning entry – Shaun’s lamb shanks – is
also on YouTube: hMps://youtu.be/eQCFnpp2_so
Winning entry - 412 votes First runner up - 178 votes Second runner up - 15 votes

12. PromoEon & publicity
Awareness of the campaign was driven by paid for media placements as well as
media engagement.

13. Advertorials
Content was provided to food and lifestyle orientated
magazines who then designed the advertorials to
complement the publicaEon’s editorial and layout style.
Altogether ten advertorials were placed.

14. Digital campaign – first phase
2 044 000
3 459 648
0
1 000 000
2 000 000
3 000 000
4 000 000
Booked Units Delivered Impressions
Cadreon
7 200
34 736
0
10 000
20 000
30 000
40 000
Booked Units Clicks Delivered
AdClickAfrica Mobile DSP
3 459
648
14 102
Delivered
Impressions
Clicks Delivered
CTR
0.41%
Using Cadreon, the digital markeEng programme, rich media banners were placed on
relevant online sites to drive traffic to the microsite.
The mobile banner placements were
booked on a cost per click model.

15. 4 400 000
8 004 963
-
2 000 000
4 000 000
6 000 000
8 000 000
10 000 000
Booked units Delivered impressions
8 004 963
13 079
Delivered
impressions
Clicks
CTR
0.16%
Digital campaign – second phase
RetargeEng was applied to reach people who
parEcipated in phase 1 of the campaign.

16. Social media
Facebook, as compared to TwiMer, was the plaQorm with the most engagement in the form of likes,
posiEve comments and shares. Facebook users responded very well to the variety of posts by JusEn
Bonello resulEng in an average of 30 likes, 10 comments and 5 shares per post. TwiMer posts generated
28 retweets and 33 favourites.

17. Blogs
Independent bloggers were contracted to produce their own blog posts based on
messaging that was provided.

18. Blogs
The campaign microsite also hosted its own blogsite. Below are the top five blogs in terms of
comments:
hMp://electricity-smart.co.za/16-new-years-resoluEon-for-an-electricity-smart-2015-that-will-
help-to-keep-your-energy-bill-in-shape/
8 comments
hMp://electricity-smart.co.za/jusEn-bonello-has-selected-shauns-recipe/
5 comments
hMp://electricity-smart.co.za/keep-your-electricity-bill-in-shape-by-leading-an-electricity-
smart-lifestyle/
5 comments
hMp://electricity-smart.co.za/your-comprehensive-guide-to-the-south-african-craw-market-
scene/
3 comments
hMp://electricity-smart.co.za/give-your-summer-kitchen-a-break-with-this-magnificent-
mediterranean-inspired-braai-2/
2 comments

19. Blogs

20. Result
The campaign ensured that our target audience was reached via the most cost-
effecEve and relevant plaQorms. All-in-all, the campaign reached a populaEon of 16
667 290 people at a cost per point of R 0,24c.
The campaign performed well in generaEng interest and facilitaEng engagement with
the electricity smart cooking content within the framework of sustainability.
96 635 people at a cost per point of R 42 engaged with the content by either acEvely
accessing/downloading it, commenEng on it, and contribuEng ideas and soluEons.
The entry barrier to the compeEEon was relaEvely high in relaEon to the value of the
prize, which was a gas braai (including delivery and installaEon plus accessories) to the
total value of R 25 000 therefore the tally of 132 parEcipants and 600 voters is
considered a good result.