GUC’s Public Information Office (Pub Info) received an Excellence in Public Power Communications award from the American Public Power Association (APPA).  The award was in the print and digital category. 

Awards were given to those who showed ingenuity and creativity in telling their stories through outstanding copy, design, graphics, social media engagement, and video editing. This is the first time GUC has won an award for the print and digital campaign category.

“I am proud of our Public Information team for receiving this recognition,” said Public Information Officer / Communications Manager Steve Hawley. “We have a very talented group of people who work hard to clearly and creatively communicate with our customers and community, and this recognition is a testament to what they do every day for GUC.” 

Outage Text Notification Campaign
In 2022, GUC launched its first text notification system to inform customers about power outages around the clock. Rather than ask customers to go to the trouble of registering for the service, the decision was made to automatically opt-in customers who have already provided a mobile phone number to GUC.

Pub Info created a publicity campaign centered around two main goals: to motivate customers to update their information with a mobile number if they had not already, and to inform customers of the new system in an effort to keep opt-out numbers low once the outage texts began.

The team came up with a two-month campaign that included print and digital ads, video and digital signage graphics, kiosk graphics, customer newsletter stories and graphics, posters at the cashier windows, social media posts, and much more. 

APPA recognized Pub Info for the print and digital components of the campaign (see graphics below), which was successful in garnering approximately 11,000 additional customers signing up for the outage texts and only four customers opting out since the program was launched in the fall of 2022. 

The American Public Power Association is the voice of not-for-profit, community-owned utilities that power 2,000 towns and cities nationwide. They represent public power before the federal government to protect the interests of the more than 49 million people that public power utilities serve, and the 93,000 people they employ. The association advocates and advises on electricity policy, technology, trends, training, and operations.