Npower invests pounds 20m in utilities battle

National Power is preparing to launch a pounds 20m year-long

campaign in a bid to transform its image from utility to a one-stop-shop

for home services.

The company is rebranding as Npower and introducing a campaign endline,

’Because you have a choice’, to take on the UK’s other utilities such as

Centrica and PowerGen.

It is also competing with new players, including Virgin, which are

bidding to establish themselves in the utilities and home services

market following the deregulation of the electricity and gas markets

over the past two years.

David Andrew, marketing director of Npower, said: ’We have initiatives

in e-commerce and green products and we are looking at water, telecoms

and financial services.’

The campaign will include TV, press and outdoor work. The initial pounds

6.5m launch burst will run from April 3 to June 1.

The TV campaign features two spots - ’Wife’ and ’Police’ - which take a

tongue-in-cheek look at people’s attitudes to the utilities market.

In the first, a wife finds her husband sitting in the kitchen and tries

to discover the reason for his dismay only to find that he is worrying

about their electricity and gas supplier.

In another, a policeman flags down a motorist to ask advice about the

utility market. Both end with a voiceover recognising that the utility

market isn’t the most important thing in people’s lives. Creative is by

TBWA GGT Simons Palmer, with media by Manning Gottlieb Media.

Npower’s push into the home services market forms part of the company’s

so-called ’four to five’ business strategy of selling four to five

different services to four to five million customers within four to five

years.

The company currently has around 2.5 million customers through its

acquisition of Calortex and MEB retail.

This article was first published on Marketing