Winners Announced for Demand Response and Smart Grid Communications Awards

WASHINGTON, July 12, 2013 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Association for Demand Response and Smart Grid (ADS) announced today the winners of its "Griddie" Awards for Excellence in Communications. The Griddie winners were honored at the National Town Meeting on Demand Response and Smart Grid held on July 9-11 in Washington, DC.

"We see this competition as a way to recognize those who are doing a great job of articulating the visions of the smart grid and demand response community," said Dan Delurey, Executive Director of ADS. "The policymakers and decision makers who attended the Town Meeting are all looking to learn about creative ways to explain our initiatives and make strong connections with customers. Through the Griddies, and the overall program at the event, we try to give attendees a chance to see what other people are doing, especially in the important area of customer outreach and communications."

Griddies were awarded in three categories. The "Online Exchanges" category included interactive social media, web, tablet, or smart-phone apps that help family members or businesses choose relevant actions or programs to use energy more effectively. Votes were collected in an online poll between June 26 and July 9. The winner was the Facebook community of Power Over Energy, an energy literacy campaign designed to increase awareness about global energy challenges and provide consumers with information needed to make smarter decisions about using electricity. Funded by a coalition of energy and environmental groups, the creative team included Posit Partners, Indigo Partners, Silver Spring Networks and Steven Decker. 

• Power Over Energy

The "Conversations" category showcased promotions or narratives illustrating best practices in stakeholder and (residential and C&I) customer engagement. The winner—chosen by participants at the IEEE-sponsored Consumer Engagement Workshop at the Town Meeting —was produced by the in-house team at Oncor. The video highlighted winners of their Biggest Energy Saver Contest that encourages customers to make the most of smart meter data by changing habits to reduce usage and control costs.

• Oncor: Biggest Energy Saver Contest Winners

The winner of the "Commercials" category was chosen through live voting by the attendees during the Town Meeting general session.  Reliant Energy won a Griddie for the second year in a row for their TV ad produced by Grey San Francisco. Promoting the Reliant Energy AccountAlert program, it uses humor to suggest why it will no longer be so easy for teens to throw those wild parties when parents are out of town.

• Reliant Energy: The Party

"We connected the voting opportunities with what the creative efforts are trying to achieve," says Judith Schwartz, President of marketing consultancy To the Point and program manager for the Griddies and the Consumer Engagement Workshop.  "For example, in the Online Exchange category, the winner was the group that demonstrated the greatest ability to leverage the followers of its social media program. 

"We presented the Conversations finalists in the context of an interactive workshop examining innovative ways to foster two-way conversations with customers.  The Commercials were shown throughout a busy day packed with thought-provoking content.  The experience reflected how one can capture attention in less than a minute."   

The winners, finalists and all the entries may be viewed at http://www.demandresponsesmartgrid.org/call-for-creative.  Images and presentations from this year's National Town Meeting can be found at www.demandresponsetownmeeting.com.

About the Association for Demand Response & Smart Grid

The Association for Demand Response & Smart Grid (ADS) is nonprofit organization consisting of professionals, companies and organizations involved in demand response and smart grid. It provides services to educate and help policymakers and practitioners its members in the conduct of their work and in the attainment of their goals.  ADS seeks to establish and grow a demand response "community" of policymakers, utilities, system operators, technology companies, consumers, and other stakeholders.

Group Members of ADS are Ameren, American Public Power Association (APPA), Arizona Public Service (APS), California ISO, Comverge, Con Edison, Conservation Services Group (CSG), Constellation, Corporate Systems Engineering, Dimplex, Duke Energy, Emerson Climate Technologies, ENBALA, Energate, EnerNOC, Freeman, Sullivan & Co, GE, ISO New England, Itron, Joule Assets, Landis & Gyr, MISO, National Grid, National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA), Navigant Energy Practice, Negawatt, NYSERDA, On-Ramp Wireless, Opower, Pacific Gas & Electric (PG&E), PECO, PJM Interconnection, Reliant, Rodan Energy Solutions, San Diego Gas & Electric (SDG&E), Siemens, Silver Spring, Southern California Edison (SCE), Southern Company, and Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA).    

More information on ADS can be found at: www.demandresponsesmartgrid.org

SOURCE Association for Demand Response & Smart Grid (ADS)