Here, Have Some Socks To Reduce Your Energy Bill
This year, British people have been experiencing some massive spikes in their energy bills. The need to keep warm in the winter is only adding to the collective distress for UK citizens. Despite this, the nation’s leading energy suppliers are deciding to dish out some cheeky responses. With Ovo advising customers to keep warm by hugging their pets and doing jumping jacks, and This Morning featuring a Spin To Win prize including energy bill payments, the British are becoming understandably fed up.
On Top Of Everything: Socks
In January 2022, European based energy firm E.On faced major backlash for their most recent marketing campaign amid rising energy costs. 30,000 customers who completed a survey showing interest in saving money on their energy bills were mailed a pair of socks with a picture of the Sun hugging the Earth to encourage them to “leave lighter footprints.”
The ad was meant to be a playful suggestion to consume less energy, but came across massively tone deaf and insensitive. This was not the correct response to people panicking about keeping warm while not going completely broke from surging heating prices.
Customers who received the pair were outraged, as it seemed E.On was laughing at their struggles while not taking initiative to help in any substantial way. Naturally, people took to Twitter to express their frustrations. Major news outlets such as the BBC, The Guardian, and Bloomberg published stories about this marketing mishap.
Was This Even Necessary?
This whole awkward stunt could’ve been avoided, had they thought twice about the potential reception. If someone on their marketing team would’ve considered the context, that customers who want help in cutting their energy costs are reaching out, they wouldn’t have sent them socks instead of offering solutions. While E.On isn’t at fault for circumstances leading to energy costing more, even simply educating customers on why their bills are so high might’ve been better received.
Their Apology
If you recently received a pair of socks from us, we would like to say we are incredibly sorry for how we have made some people feel. In light of the seriousness of current challenges that many people are facing, this mailing should have been stopped and we are sorry.
This was their response to a truly embarrassing marketing mishap. I’m glad to see the tone matching the seriousness of the offense. The feeling of embarrassment is portrayed, which shows self awareness (although it’s a bit late for that now).
On the bright side, their response hit some of the key factors when responding to a PR disaster. They listened to the feedback they were receiving, then took accountability for the mistake made in their apology statement. In addition, they responded in a very timely fashion, within only a couple of days following the backlash.
It goes without saying that it’s imperative to listen to your customers in order to empathize and be tactical when reaching them. E.On even had the chance to learn from their competitors’ mistakes, but ultimately had to learn from their own.
