Energy Eye Inc.

Branding / Strategy / Messaging

SITUATION /CHALLENGES

Energy Eye has superior technology within the competitive arena and was experiencing rapid growth for a small business. This made the company very attractive for acquisition by Somfy—the global leader in automatic control of openings and closures in homes and buildings. Somfy has a 95% share in Europe in residential and was seeking to capture share in the hospitality market.

As a subsidiary of Somfy, Energy Eye would now have the corporate presence behind it to approach the high caliber nationally and internationally recognized hotel brands peer-to-peer at the conference table. This provides additional opportunities for system wide sell-in and mandates of Energy Eye / Somfy technology, in approximately 30% of the overall U.S. hospitality market.

Energy Eye had a number of brand marketing challenges:

  • Their visual brand was lackluster and did not reflect any relationship to Somfy
  • Their collateral and web site were extremely dated and poorly designed
  • They were marketing technical components rather than a bundled solution
  • Their brand message focused on technical aspects of the products, not unique benefits

The company had spent many weeks interviewing marketing agencies. Our Brand Excelerator® process helped Epicenter Marketing win the business. In eight weeks, a deadline for a key industry marketing event—the International Hotel / Motel Restaurant Show—was looming.

STRATEGY

In a two-day on-site branding strategy session with Epicenter and Energy Eye company decision-makers, we uncovered an unleveraged industry certification that led us to a revolutionary way of re-branding their company and solution, as well as re-designing their entire sales process. Both of these moves literally put every other competitor at a serious disadvantage and positioned Energy Eye in an industry category of ONE.

As a result of the branding session findings, we:

  • Named the bundled solution as EYEPOWER, focusing the messaging on quantifiable results and benefits rather than technology
  • Recommended that Energy Eye enter into discussions with AIG and ING as third parties to insure the savings that EE engineers specify for each client, based on the platinum certification from the UN-sanctioned Globally Green Energy Consortium (GGEC)
  • Created a savings guarantee that was unique in the industry and recommended that Energy Eye build the cost of the first year of insurance into the solution
  • Positioned EYEPOWER as the only platinum certified HVAC energy solution that was guaranteed and insured to deliver up to 35% savings—delivering the fastest, highest ROI
  • Reduced the sales cycle from over two months to less than a week with the guarantee, because a system installation for testing was no longer required for EYEPOWER, but still was for all other competitors
  • Aligned Energy Eye with Somfy, so that Energy Eye could be a major player and engage with large internationally recognized hotel chains.

SOLUTION

Moving quickly over the next six weeks, the team created an entirely new brand and brand marketing campaign, including:

  • A new name for the bundled solution
  • A new logo for the company with full corporate identity design and printing
  • A full website re-design, with an e-brochure, CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software integration and SEO
  • Print ads – industry and tradeshow
  • Printed folder, brochure, plus insert spec sheets
  • Production of a full custom trade show booth for the International Hotel / Motel Restaurant Show (IHMRS)

RESULTS:

  • Energy Eye won the IHMRS Editors’ Choice award for “Outstanding Technology Product” at the show, beating out every competitor in their category.
  • They experienced more traffic at the show than any other year.
  • Major hotel chains approached them at the show and said that it now appeared that Energy Eye was ready to sit at the table and enter into serious discussions.
  • Energy Eye personnel set dozens of appointments to assess savings for hotels.
  • They generated so many qualified leads that they had to add marketing and sales staff to handle them all.
  • They have experienced record-breaking and explosive growth since the new brand launch.

What our Client Had to Say

  • “What a spectacular package of collateral, brand messaging and website you crafted for us. Not to mention the other design work (i.e. tradeshow booth). We are eternally in your debt. Particularly me – thanks for making our marketing efforts look so fantastic! An absolutely terrific re-launch of the brand, done in record time. And as if to prove that a new day has dawned, Phil informed us on Saturday that Energy Eye won the IHMRS Editors’ Choice award for “Outstanding Technology Product” at the NY show. Whoo-hoo! We so appreciate the incredible effort you made on our behalf. I know a lot of nights and weekends over the past 6 weeks went into this (heck, I was on the phone with you for much of them….sorry about that!). Thanks again for everything. You guys are amazing, and an absolute pleasure to work with. We look forward to celebrating with you!”

    Peter Cohen Sales and Marketing Leader at Energy Eye Inc.