Enlit: A Unified Energy Brand
Clarion Events was founded in 1947. It currently lists on its website a portfolio of close to 100 trade shows and conferences, organised around the world. Part of this portfolio are the three Enlit events, held in Asia, Australia and Europe. But, the Enlit brand now covers much more than conferences and exhibitions. There is also Enlit World, a digital platform hosting videos, podcasts and other energy-related content.
As the website of Enlit Europe says, “At Enlit we are on a journey to tell the stories of the people, projects and technologies driving the energy transition.” And in terms of the energy industry’s annual event calendar “Enlit is the new unifying brand for Clarion Energy’s worldwide series of Utility Week and POWERGEN events.”
Carolien Oey, the event’s Brand Director notes that the inventor of brandr Index, Dr Fridrik Larsen, is the godfather of Enlit. “Fridrik came up with the name. That is how I got to know brandr Index, even before commissioning the first brandr Index survey.”
Carolien says that Enlit’s marketing team counts seven people. “I work on brand, two people are on campaigns, one on social media and three people work on marketing operations. They run everything related to data and platforms.”
“brandr Index is simple and straightforward in the way it was set up, as are the questions being asked. I enjoyed that, as much as I enjoyed taking the questionnaire myself. It really fitted with what we were trying to do with Enlit. brandr Index gives you a lot of information on how a brand makes you feel, rather than about the practical aspects of a product or event”
Steering the intangible elements of the brand.
Enlit bought brandr Index, Carolien explains, because Enlit was a relatively new brand. “After the rebrand from Utility Week and POWERGEN to Enlit, we felt that it was the perfect time to get a benchmark for both our positioning and our strategic direction. This included measuring the impact of new products, as well as our new brand. It was especially important to match how we felt about Enlit, to how the industry we serve feels about it. In other words, to understand how to steer the intangible elements of the brand.”
“The first time I used brandr Index I found the experience very refreshing. This is the feedback I gave Fridrik at the time. I am used to doing post-event questionnaires, where you’d ask standard questions about the physical aspects of the show, such as ‘Was the coffee good’ and ‘Where you able to meet the people you wanted to meet’. brandr Index takes you to a different place and a different way of thinking.”
“brandr Index is simple and straightforward in the way it was set up, as are the questions being asked. I enjoyed that, as much as I enjoyed taking the questionnaire myself. It really fitted with what we were trying to do with Enlit. brandr Index gives you a lot of information on how a brand makes you feel, rather than about the practical aspects of a product or event.”
Surprising insights
On a scale of 1 to 10, Carolien would give a brandr Index a nine in terms of usefulness. “It gave me a lot of tools, and insights into things. There were also some surprises in there, which was unusual because our team has been doing this for quite some time.”
“One of those surprises was around sustainability. As an energy-event organiser, we were worried that our clients would not see us a sustainable brand. But, it turned out that people definitely saw us as green and noticed our efforts to be sustainable. The real work for us was, actually, in explaining what we stood for—our brand promise, even though we thought this was quite clear. That is why the next time we run brandr Index I will be extra curious to see whether we have improved the perception of our brand promise.
Carolien says that brandr Index has helped Enlit assess its intangible brand attributes. “People sometimes think that the product is the same as the brand. The brandr Index survey questions helped us understand how the brand as a brand makes you feel, and how you connect to it.”
“When we used the survey for the first time, the results gave us a benchmark. We have a contract with brandr Index for three years, so we intend to build on the foundation of that first survey. It is our starting point.”
“I recommended brandr Index to all heads of marketing at Clarion—I held a presentation on it at our head office. My proviso is that it is not for everyone. Some companies are already travelling down the brand route, while for others this kind of information might be too advanced. But, if a company is ready for this kind of survey, then I would recommend brandr Index. On a scale of 1 to 10, as to ‘How likely I would be to recommend brandr Index’, I would definitely say nine.”
“People sometimes think that the product is the same as the brand. The brandr Index survey questions helped us understand how the brand as brand makes you feel, and how you connect to it”
