The Client:
Current Energy provides energy-efficiency solutions to both residential and commercial customers designed to maximize energy cost savings while minimizing capital investment. Current Energy has a consumer-facing retail presence with its Current Energy Store located in the upscale Knox-Henderson shopping district of Dallas, Texas.

Situation:
When Current Energy opened its brick-and-mortar retail location in 2006, it lacked the awareness that neighboring retailers like Apple, Crate & Barrel and Restoration Hardware enjoyed. After a year, the situation had not improved. Farstar's task was to increase awareness of the CE store within the immediate surrounding area, with a secondary goal of driving foot traffic.

And do it all during the busy holiday season.

Obstacles:
Did we mention this was done during the holidays?

Approach:
Due to their location near one of Dallas's tonier neighborhoods, Current Energy wanted to target high-end consumers. To attract these customers, we focused on the difficulty of shopping for people who seem to have everything and incorporated this messaging into a Lead Machine.

To kick off the campaign, Farstar sent an intriguing, personalized direct mail piece to over 14 thousand homes in the surrounding area. The piece featured a personal URL that took the recipient to a variable-driven, personalized, Lead Machine sitelet. There they saw a preview of the types of unique, energy-efficient gift idea carried in the CE store.

To encourage foot traffic, a sweepstakes was included as part of the campaign, with the condition that a store visit was required for entry. Of course, the prize had to be alluring enough for our target, as well as energy efficient, as befitting the CE brand. Naturally, we elected to give away a Segway.

Results:
Although a sales increase was not the ultimate goal, Current Energy did see a significant spike. Most importantly, the campaign generated strong results in increased foot traffic and awareness:

• 29.58% of the 14,221 direct mail recipients visited the micro-site
• 27.70% of the 14,221 direct mail recipients visited the micro-site and viewed the entire value proposition
• 22.49% of the 14,221 direct mail recipients visited the micro-site, viewed the entire value proposition and took action

The client was very happy with these results, as were we. This integrated, curiosity-driven campaign increased awareness and foot traffic more effectively than a traditional advertising campaign could have -- and did so during the busiest marketing season of the year. It also proved that Lead Machine technology could work equally well in a B2C campaign.