Client Profiles


America
’s Water Heater Rentals 
 Provide marketing support as well as consulting services to reinforce market position as the premier provider of turnkey water heater rental programs.  Assist in developing sales/marketing materials and other communication tools to the utility market segment, and identify opportunities for cross-promotion and co-development with trade allies.

 Association of Energy Services Professionals (in partnership with The Matt Group)    Revitalized Corporate Sponsor program and launched Group Member recruiting program.  Transformed quarterly printed Strategies newsletter into a monthly email broadcast and continues to edit and publish monthly.  Co-produced first and second Energy Efficiency and Demand Response Technology Symposium at SoCal Edison Technology Center.   

ConvectAir  Developed and proposed an electric space heating-related research study to NRECA’s Cooperative Research Network.  Provides marketing support as well as consulting services to reinforce Convectair’s market position as the premier provider of electric space heating equipment in North America (i.e. non-compressor driven).  This includes assisting in developing communication tools to the utility market segment, identify and discuss relevant policy issues and trends, and identify and evaluate product opportunities for cross-promotion and co-development with trade allies.

Colorado Springs Utilities  Completed an economic, market, and technical potential study for this municipal utility to determine the feasibility of developing a geothermal heat pump incentive program targeting residential and commercial customers. This work included conducting economic tests to quantify the benefits to the customer and the utility from offering this program, as well as to determine the current competitive market conditions.

Consortium for Energy Efficiency  Assisted in refining and deploying EPA ENERGY STAR® Purchasing Tool Kit targeting state and local government procurement officials. Wrote case studies highlighting effective strategies used by municipal governments to adopt energy efficient equipment.

EPA ENERGY STAR®   Refined the EPA’s ENERGY STAR® Purchasing Tool Kit targeting state and local government procurement officials. She also wrote case studies highlighting effective strategies used by municipal governments to adopt energy efficient equipment.

Delta Montrose Electric Association (DMEA)

  • Home Energy Makeover Contest –  Develop and launch a contest to educate existing homeowners about the value of “whole house” home energy improvements by awarding free improvements donated by local contractors

  • Light Bulb Fund Raiser Developed and implemented ENERGY STAR® program to encourage home and business owners to purchase over 3,000 CFLs from community non-profit groups at $5 each during a two-week campaign with the groups keeping $2 as a fund raiser.  Completed a comprehensive market assessment and literature review of lighting trends in the residential market. The project included developing a financial analysis of energy efficient lighting for residential applications

  • Home Performance with ENERGY STAR®   Prepared “Go to Market” Planning Binder to consider all aspects of implementing an existing home energy improvement contractor alliance Business Plan Development initiative, to include: Business Model Description and Utility Incentive Options, Insight from other Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® Program Partners, Start-up Equipment and Materials List, and Annual Budget with Three-Year Pro-Forma.

  • Geothermal Heat Pump Marketing   Led the marketing, sales, and operations of geothermal heat pump installation subsidiary that resulted in doubling of sales and installation capacity, and marketing relationships with neighboring electric cooperatives and national allies. Consulted in development of award-winning, integrated geo heat pump marketing program for residential and commercial customers to include: 1) 30-year financing with extended warranty and rate lock; 2) Geo Comfort Club with quarterly newsletter and annual dinner; 3) Joint utility-contractor promotion with lead generation, design/proposal standards and post-install commissioning for comfort/quality assurance.  Designed and implemented customer satisfaction surveys to measure the customer satisfaction and determine areas for improvement in its strategies to promote geothermal heat pumps. Prepared case studies based on customer interviews and developed and evaluated various marketing materials and outreach programs.

Department of Energy (in partnership with Innovologie)  Assisted in a comprehensive analysis of the Commercial Building Sector, identifying key trends in market development, consumer attitudes and behaviors that will influence how commercial buildings operate. This ground-breaking study identified the likely effects that improvements in communications, technology, and materials will have on how various commercial segments use commercial building space. This report has major implications for energy usage and consumption characteristics. It is currently being updated with interviews of chief energy stakeholders and decision-makers throughout the commercial buildings market.

Edison Electric Institute

  • Revitalized meeting activities; doubling attendance to over 2,500 for 20 annual conferences and boosted meeting revenue from break-even to over 30% net profit within two years. Led in the organization of first class mailers to advocate greater postage discounts for utilities, and Ed Thomas served as national advocate/spokesman for 200 utilities regarding billing, call centers, meter reading, credit and collections, etc. 

  • Strategic consulting for new product and service development. Developed an affinity marketing program for vendors specializing in the residential and small commercial markets and led the development of their marketing plan.

GeoPowering the West (in partnership with U.S. Department of Energy and Western Area Power Administration)  Developing and will present a webinar to help staff at small-to-medium utilities calculate and articulate the value of geothermal heat pumps based on their utility’s load objectives and new/existing home market opportunity, evaluate alternative utility program offering “best practices” and “lessons learned”, Identify low/no cost information and program development resources and develop a “Go to Market” Program Plan Outline for presentation to senior management.  All webinar registrants will receive a “Geo Heat Pump” report with an updated introduction and listing of geothermal program tools and resources, as well as a “Geo Heat Pump Utility Value Calculator” and Geo Heat Pump Program Opportunity

MaGrann Associates   Conducted a comprehensive customer satisfaction study to identify strategies for this building engineering firm to measure and improve its performance among utilities, builders, architects, and engineering firms in New Jersey.

Maine Governor’s Office of Energy Security and Independence (in partnership with Performance Systems Development)  Strategic and tactical marketing consultation to develop and launch the Maine Home Performance with ENERGY STAR® program that links Maine homeowners with qualified, certified contractors who provide one-stop-shop access to a whole-house approach to home energy efficiency improvements.  Over $100,000 in co-funding has been provided by local businesses and others who support the program goals by co-sponsoring a Home Performance Makeover contest that was produced as a “Whole House” feature aired on the CW Portland television network.

MainStreet Networks (formerly eT Communications)   Led repositioning of the company from an automatic meter reading manufacturer to an affinity marketer of residential Internet gateway services. Championed the corporate refocus on mass market customers of cooperative and municipal utilities instead of large customers of investor-owned utilities.  Created a marketing affiliate program for utilities to ramp-up sales of value-added services through community non-profit groups.

Marathon Water Heaters   Provide marketing support as well as consulting services to enhance its position as a thought leader among utilities desiring to begin or enhance a water heater related demand response program. 

Montgomery County, Maryland   Updated Energy Design Guidelines as part of a larger county-wide effort to promote energy efficient building practices for all commercial end-use applications. This project included conducting a literature review of current design guidelines from a variety of energy efficiency organizations and creating a workable document that could provide guidance and direction to County employees, vendors, and consultants.

National Rural Electric Cooperative Association   Develop and present a “How to Plan and Implementation Home Energy Efficiency” workshop prior to Connect 2007 conference for marketing and communication staffs of electric cooperatives to be held May 2007 in Miami.

New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (in partnership with Summit Blue)  Supervised and completed more than 70 in-depth interviews with trade allies throughout New Jersey. Also summarized the results and provided strategic recommendations for program improvement and outreach.

New Jersey Board of Public Utilities (in partnership with Summit Blue)  Conducted in-depth interviews with building professionals to measure the overall effectiveness of New Jersey’s residential new construction programs. These interviews were part of a comprehensive multi-year evaluation and helped to identify new ways to provide the building community with the support they need to promote energy efficient building practices.

New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (in partnership with PA Consulting)   Key project team member in the first state program ever to target local decision-makers. Conducted life cycle costing analysis and energy benefits analysis for local governments. Prepared case studies documenting anticipated savings from program participation. Presented findings to elected officials, technical staff, and end users in various presentations throughout New York State. This project scope has expanded to target large cities, and state colleges and universities, and now includes analyzing the entire “plug-load” of a building to identify energy savings strategies. Ms. Johnson directed 25 projects at locations throughout New York State, including the University of Buffalo. This project has just been renewed for a fourth round which began May, 2006.

New York Energy $martSM Offices (in partnership with PA Consulting)  Developed marketing and awareness campaign to encourage the adoption of energy efficiency strategies in institutional and commercial markets throughout New York State. Developed marketing materials, conducted in-depth research with institutional decision-makers and tracked program implementation rates and estimated energy savings

Pacific Gas & Electric  As the principal researcher and interviewer for commercial and industrial baseline studies, this study examines the effects of market transformation in motors, HVAC, and refrigeration markets. She has also conducted extensive interviews with Energy Service Companies (ESCos) throughout the United States to determine trends in energy efficiency technologies and likely marketing strategies.

Southern California Edison (in partnership with TecMRT Works)   Provided in-depth analysis of hard-to-reach customers located throughout California. This joint utility sponsored study included a comprehensive mapping analysis, detailed segmentation studies of various ethnic and demographic groups, and action plans describing appropriate vehicles to reach core groups.

Touchstone Energy®    Develop and present a “How to Plan and Implementation Home Energy Efficiency” workshop prior to Net and Emerging Technologies conference for key account staff of electric cooperatives to be held February May 2007 in Orlando.

Volt VIEWtech   Led repositioning of the company from a demand side management program provider to a residential customer program implementer. Introduced first Internet-based home energy and water bill analyses linked to utility web sites, Created residential finance line-of-business, forging exclusive relations with FannieMae, EPA Energy Star, Edison Electric Institute E Seal, and chaired the Marketing Committee of National Home Energy Rating Council in Washington, DC 

Western Area Power Administration   Development and deployment of two web-based seminars and two “How to Plan and Develop Demand Side Management Program” strategies and tactics for small-to-medium municipal and cooperative utilities in Western’s service territory.

© Market Development Group. All Rights Reserved