Flex Alerts: Empowering Young Californians to Live with Efficiency
Intense heat waves have made California summers an energy nightmare as people crank the AC to stay cool. All that strain on the power grid threatens to cause state-wide blackouts that cost billions in economic losses, and endanger vulnerable lives. To prevent outages, the state asks Californians to conserve during ‘Flex Alert’ peak energy hours. Yet, after three years of PSAs, Gen Z Californians—a third of the state’s energy users—didn't get the assignment.
The Challenge
Young Californians see themselves as climate warriors, but there's a disconnect between their ideals and their actions.
We needed a campaign that would ignite them to act like the eco-heroes they think they are. By tapping into the truth that most Young Californians live with someone other than their spouse or child, we created relatable roommate archetypes: the responsible one, the nomad, the introvert–even the friend that’s always lingering on your couch. Our characters created social shorts; sharing energy saving tips on their platforms, in their commonly used mix of Spanish and English speak, and a hint of unhinged humor.
Click below to watch the case study.
Click below to watch the social videos.
Results
After just a few months in-market, our campaign successfully resonated with Young Californians, capturing their attention and motivating them to learn more. Our work exceeded video completion benchmarks by 13% on TikTok and 28% on Snapchat.
Though this work had just 9.3% of the total PSA campaign media budget, it drove more than 30% of site visits and ultimately, increased understanding of ‘Flex Alerts’ by 44%!