In the latest edition of our video interviews from the Canadian Marketing Association National Convention in Toronto, Jeff Ginsberg interviews Ben Chin from the Ontario Power Authority on social marketing and going green.
Ben Chin is Vice President, Communications for the Ontario Power Authority. Ben has been in the public eye for decades as a reporter, anchor and political candidate.
According to Ben, almost all of the promotion of the OPA power pledge initiative has been via social media. There’s no great mystery to marketing. The best marketing is going into a room full of people to deliver your message. Today in the social media space, it’s a room full of people and that is why it’s a prudent thing to do.
Going green isn’t a hard sell according to Chin because he feels people are already motivated to go green. The hard part is that each one of us have our own little areas that we are working on to try to encourage people to live more sustainably and fight climate change. There are a lot of silo walls which need to be broken down so that we can all work more effectively together.
While there are a lot of hoops to jump through and rules to follow in government, Ben thinks that a good thing because accountability is important for tax payer dollars.
From Ben’s point of view it’s important to lead by example and encourage other countries to follow our example where moving to more sustainable power sources are concerned.
Online and social media initiatives have been important to promoting the OPA agenda. The “Power Pledge” program is a big part of that. PowerPledge.ca encourages people to pledge one or more of six simple actions which can reduce the demand for power. Those who do pledge can earn rewards such as Air Miles reward points.
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2y2iqV3nObo
Takeaway: The best marketing is going into a room full of people to deliver your message. Today in the social media space, it’s a room full of people and that is why it’s a prudent thing to do.
