Piedmont Natural Gas Rolls Out Corporate Brand Campaign Highlighting Benefits of Natural Gas and Focus on Service

New Logo, Campaign Position Natural Gas as Best Energy Choice Now and for Future

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Oct 04, 2010, 02:29 ET

CHARLOTTE, N.C., Oct. 4 /PRNewswire/ -- Piedmont Natural Gas (NYSE: PNY) has launched a new corporate brand campaign communicating the advantages of natural gas and the critical role Piedmont's 1,800 employees play in making it the reliable energy source for residential and business customers.

The comprehensive campaign includes a redesigned logo, new tagline, print, online and broadcast advertising as well as internal and external public relations efforts that communicate the reliability of Piedmont's product and its people. Customers are beginning to see the new logo on service trucks, uniforms and signs, as well as on Piedmont's website at www.piedmontng.com, mailings and other printed material.

"Our customers enjoy the advantages of natural gas as a clean, comfortable and environmentally responsible source of energy, but above all they value the reliability of natural gas that comes from the commitment to quality service that all of our Piedmont employees make every day," said Thomas E. Skains, chairman, president and chief executive officer of Piedmont Natural Gas. "We want our customers to know that Piedmont Natural Gas is now more focused than ever before on serving and partnering with them to meet their energy needs today and in the future."

The new logo, an updated version of the familiar design used in some form since the 1980s, reflects the continuing evolution of Piedmont's traditionally service-oriented culture. The new tagline – "Energy that shows" – refers to the reliability and other tangible benefits Piedmont employees bring to an otherwise invisible commodity.

Piedmont's new television campaign, titled "Invisible," features vignettes in which familiar products are missing from the scene, including a car-show model pointing to an empty platform, a restaurant chef sending out a plate with no food, a produce stand where baskets sit empty, and a child gazing at a toy store window with nothing on display. The closing scene delivers the message that Piedmont may offer a product that cannot be seen, but the people and company behind it are anything but invisible, by showing a family sitting in front of a natural gas fireplace as seen through a picture window that reflects a Piedmont truck driving by.

"We are working on several new initiatives and expanding existing programs to better serve our customers, such as revamping and improving our website, expanding our successful Round Up partnership with customers to raise money for the Share The Warmth program, and engaging the communities we serve through the volunteer efforts of our employees and through our Piedmont Natural Gas Foundation," Skains said. "In these and other ways we hope our customers see the 'energy that shows.'"

Piedmont also will be introducing new energy education initiatives in local schools throughout the company's service area, and enhancing an internship program that gives college students a chance to get involved in significant company initiatives and receive mentoring from senior-level Piedmont executives. The company will announce additional details on both programs soon.

About Piedmont Natural Gas

Piedmont Natural Gas is an energy services company primarily engaged in the distribution of natural gas to more than one million residential, commercial and industrial utility customers in North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee, including 52,000 customers served by municipalities who are wholesale customers. Our subsidiaries are invested in joint venture, energy- related businesses, including unregulated retail natural gas marketing, interstate natural gas storage and intrastate natural gas transportation. More information about Piedmont Natural Gas is available at http://www.piedmontng.com.

SOURCE Piedmont Natural Gas