H/Advisors Cicero was tasked with helping Energy Networks Association (ENA), the UK’s energy network trade body, to understand the key issues and challenges for the energy networks among their key external audiences. This included relevant senior decision makers and thought leaders across politics, regulators, think tanks and academics as well as consumer groups.. H/Advisors Cicero were tasked with engaging relevant individuals across these groups to glean insights into their perspective on pressing topics and foreseen challenges for the networks.

Strategy & Execution

H/Advisors Cicero identified a core stakeholder list amongst the key audiences and designed a discussion guide in collaboration with the ENA, ensuring we were targeting the right audiences with the right questions.

H/Advisors Cicero leveraged our reputation as a heavyweight strategic communications agency to engage with these hard-to-reach audiences, as many relevant candidates were already present in the H/Advisors networks or aware of the quality of the research we undertake. We embarked on a series of 30 in-depth interviews in Spring 2021, with conversations lasting up to an hour, across wider stakeholders. The conversations were tailored to the individual’s area of interest in order to maximise the level of insight garnered from each conversation.

Putting the interests of the networks first, and not assuming they hold a complete understanding of the wider stakeholder universe their members wish to engage, the Energy Network Association spent their time really understanding their members stakeholders. We collaborated on every step, allowing our research knowledge to marry with ENA’s industry knowledge to create harmonious outputs that provided actionable insight for their members. To hear that members have directly integrated the findings into their communications and wider corporate approach is what our research team wish to achieve across every project.

Andrew Roberts, Chief Creative Officer

Results

H/Advisors Cicero produced a report based on the insight gathered from these conversations to share with its membership. This covered the key challenges the sector faces, the political and regulatory requirements to overcome them and the preferred forms of engagement tactics from the Networks to reach external stakeholders going forward.

The insight report informed the ENA’s membership on how to improve communications across the Networks, particularly given the growing interest by external audiences in the energy sector as a whole. Their membership applauded the publications of the findings, noting that it served as a framework within which they could develop their own communications and wider corporate approaches.

If you wish to discuss any of the issues mentioned in this article, please contact Andrew in H/Advisors Cicero’s Campaigns team on andrew.roberts@h-advisors.global