SolutionWind

THE CHALLENGE

In the lead-up to the United Nations Climate Change Conference, the European wind energy association WindEurope wanted to engage with business leaders, policymakers, and journalists to send a clear message that wind energy is clean, competitive, and ready to tackle the climate change challenge.

“Wind energy has become the favoured solution for large companies who need a reliable and consistent energy flow to power factories, operations, and data centers,” said Malgosia Bartosik, Deputy CEO of WindEurope.

Yet, to get people’s attention, WindEurope needed to create engaging content to tell a story that would go viral. They wanted the buzz to come directly from users of wind energy – the companies that are adopting wind to decrease their carbon emissions.

THE SOLUTION

Nicholas developed a campaign concept that would showcase the use of wind energy by well-known multinational companies. 

The objective was to encourage CEOs to tell a positive story about the use of wind energy and use video, social media and print advertising to amplify this message in time for the UN Conference. 

Thanks to a persistent outreach effort, Nicholas successfully interviewed high-profile C-level executives from well-known companies such as SAP, Unilever, BNP Paribas, Google, AVEDA, Dow Corning, and Bodegas Torres. Each CEO outlined how wind energy helped their company reach its environmental objectives and decrease carbon emissions. The interviews were hosted on a dynamic campaign micro-site designed by WindEurope.

THE RESULTS

The campaign helped to build an incredibly positive story around the use of wind energy. 

Twitter was used strategically to spread the news and take advantage of an increased interest in climate change before the UN conference. Promoted posts and cross-collaboration with participating companies helped to drive social media traffic to the SolutionWind website. High-profile interviewees like Bill McDermott, CEO of SAP, and Jean-Laurent Bonnafé, CEO of BNP Paribas, shared their interviews on social media, helping to increase the campaign reach.

Twitter activity shot up in the lead-up to the UN conference, achieving WindEurope’s objective of influencing online discussions before the event. PR efforts generated considerable publicity as well: the campaign press release was shared on international newswires, appearing on 282 news websites and being featured in The Guardian. 

A targeted advertising campaign helped reach delegates attending the UN Conference, with ads in print media distributed at the event, such as The Economist, The International New York Times and POLITICO.

The campaign also helped participating companies to get acquainted with WindEurope, and their experience was so positive that a few of them became full members of the association.

For more information visit solutionwind.com