DEFG Joins Forces with Students at New York University to Develop Creative Prepaid Energy Marketing Strategies

New Approaches Required to Engage Millennial Consumers

Washington, DC … DEFG, a management consulting firm specializing in energy, partnered with a diverse group of students from different colleges at New York University (NYU) to create strategies for marketing prepaid energy to millennial consumers. The project took place in a class offered within the Gallatin School, a small, experimental college within NYU that attracts students who think “outside the box” and pursue an inter-disciplinary approach to their education.

Young adults have fully embraced digital platforms, making them the ideal segment for new ‘smart’ service offerings from energy providers

Jamie Wimberly, DEFG CEO

Working with the professor, Peter Rajsingh, DEFG crafted a challenge for the NYU students – to develop a targeted and creative marketing approach promoting the benefits of prepaid energy service in a manner relevant to the millennial generation. Students were divided into small teams that brainstormed to craft a strategy, conducted industry and primary market research, and then developed campaigns focused on how to engage with and enroll millennial energy consumers (18-30 year olds) in a prepaid energy service option. The campaigns had to include an overarching concept, messaging and communications strategy, samples of marketing collateral (e.g., direct mail, public transit poster, social media outreach, short video, etc.), and projections or metrics regarding potential success.

The teams presented their campaigns via webcast to industry professionals active in DEFG’s Prepay Energy Working Group. Participants included utilities, regulators, consumer advocates, and metering and software vendors. All expressed excitement with the students’ fresh thinking and were impressed with their work product. Applying rigorous judging criteria that assessed the students’ work across a variety of key parameters, the participants selected a winner from the tight, competitive slate of four finalists. The winner was the Light the Night team of Diane Kang, Marissa Neiwirth and Sabrina Mercado.

Jamie Wimberly, DEFG’s CEO stated, “Young adults have fully embraced digital platforms, making them the ideal segment for new ‘smart’ service offerings from energy providers. Moreover, the students clearly showed the importance of segmenting the marketing approach and messaging specifically to their generation. Their marketing approaches were significantly different than anything seen to date in the utility sector, and as such, showed great promise.”

NYU student project: Download