Sparking some excellent news hijacking on the energy price cap rise

Over the past few months, the Spark team has managed to hijack some significant headlines for our client Sagacity – data experts across energy, telco, and financial services. Some serious planning and creative commentary led to national coverage in The Guardian, The Daily Express, Yahoo! News and AOL, as well as key business and trade titles like City AM and Energy Digital.

So how did we do it?

It started with thorough research into the Ofgem statistics calendar. The team noticed there were some stats to be published in October 2021 on the number of people struggling to pay energy bills and who were indebted to their provider. This is an area Sagacity is heavily involved with, helping energy companies identify vulnerable customers through data analysis.

Striking while the iron was hot, the team quickly drafted comment on the need for energy companies to identify their vulnerable customers, in anticipation of the stats going live. We then sent it to journalists that cover the cost of living, the energy sector, and personal finance. This first stage of the hijack secured national coverage in The Guardian and The Daily Express.

Learning from experience, the team used a similar approach with the price cap rise that was due to be announced in February of this year. After some intense investigation, we found out the rough date the news was due to be announced. We had also gathered enough evidence to feel confident in saying we knew it was going to be the biggest price hike ever. AKA, we knew it was going to be big news!

We got some fresh comment drafted on the extent of fuel poverty in the UK and got it approved by the client. But then at the last minute, one of the team spotted in a local paper that the announcement was due to be brought forward three days! Luckily, since we’d prepped and had our response ready to go, the team was able to react quickly and pitch it to relevant journalists. This generated yet more national coverage for Sagacity and helped us identify more creative campaigns that we can work on together – including some upcoming consumer research into public opinion on the energy crisis.

At Spark, we love to take our clients’ key messages and apply them to the latest news. Our team pride themselves on taking the best angle, and as regular newshounds, we’re always on top of all the breaking stories. Get in touch if you want to chat with Spark about how we can help you get your opinion out there on the biggest topics.