East Anglia ONE Offshore Wind Farm

ScottishPower Renewables

| PR and stakeholder relations

Brief

Raise the profile of ScottishPower Renewables and its £2.5billion investment in East Anglia ONE, an offshore windfarm off the coast of Suffolk

What Pier did

Elevated ScottishPower Renewables and East Anglia ONE into the public sphere and used our creativity, insight and experience to over deliver in every area

Impact

Pier secured an overwhelmingly positive amount of coverage in key media, positioning ScottishPower Renewables as a leader in offshore wind energy and one of the primary investors into the East Anglia region

Overview

ScottishPower Renewables (SPR) tasked Pier to promote the benefits and investment being brought to the region through East Anglia ONE. Renewables PR specialists, Pier devised an integrated, long-term campaign to ensure the project featured regularly in the local and national news agenda by maximising natural news opportunities from the project and managing press enquiries. We also arranged SPR’s stand at the Suffolk Show, managed a media trip to a German windfarm, launched SPR on Twitter and even secured global coverage for SPR’s discovery of an uncharted WWI German submarine.

Story

ScottishPower Renewables has played a major part in transforming East Anglia into a world leader in offshore wind energy through one of the biggest offshore windfarms in the UK, East Anglia ONE. Pier’s challenge was to bring the story to life, in impactful and creative ways, and engage with the public to demonstrate the benefits of East Anglia ONE.

Messaging and timing were the central pillars of our strategy. We knew we could maximise stories with clear, simple to understand messages, delivered at the right time and via the correct route. Windfarm development is contentious and can cause community tensions through opposing positions, so this had to be handled with tact, sensitivity and through the most engaging messaging on the positive outcomes associated with the project.

As a result our strategy included:

A strong focus on showcasing the local impact in terms of economic advantages through job creation and supply chain development
Addressing misinformation early with clear facts and positive news stories
Encouraging local pride for a nationally significant project to deliver renewable energy to the UK
Using distinct key messages that demonstrate tangible benefits to stakeholders, e.g. East Anglia ONE will power up to 630,000 homes annually, equivalent to the majority of houses in Suffolk and Norfolk, through clean, green energy

In terms of the results, simply put, we nailed it! We’re proud to have over delivered on our own high-reaching objectives, achieving:

Coverage for every key announcement
316 pieces of coverage, of which 97.57% were positive, in every one of the target media

It’s clear that our work has raised awareness of the benefits being delivered through the windfarm through repeated use of key messages designed to resonate with specific parts of the stakeholder network.

Through our work, the regional business sector knows that £70m has been committed in contracts to East Anglian businesses and members of the public have been repeatedly shown evidence of SPR’s commitment towards environmental protection and community engagement at every level.

We have quashed misinformation associated with the project through transparent communication of project milestones, and construction timeframes. For example, highlighting the project being on track by announcing the first turbine installation.

In addition, we have built positive relationships with media who have been given unique and exciting access to one of the country’s pioneering windfarms, with regular commentary and interview opportunities with the industry’s leaders. The 97% positive coverage is testament to the strength of these relationships, enabling greater information sharing and understanding of the issues which will be central to public narrative for years to come.

We’re chuffed to have been recognised for our work on East Anglia ONE, scooping a silver at the CIPR Pride Awards and winning a special recognition award from ScottishPower as one of the company’s leading SME suppliers.