Raising the Visibility of Hydropower
So where does hydropower fit into the public conversation? The fact is, for decades, it hasn’t. For the general public, the idea of “clean energy” conjures up images of gleaming solar panels and spinning wind turbines; hydropower has been an afterthought. Anyone familiar with hydropower knows that it is key to a clean energy future, but we haven’t been able to tell our story; rather, it has gone unsaid.
Thankfully, that’s changing due in part to NHA’s advocacy. Recognizing the critical need for the industry to proactively raise awareness with the public, NHA launched a digital advertising campaign designed to increase hydropower favorability among key groups.
In its third year, the hydropower ad campaign continued the success of 2023’s “Clean Living” and 2022’s “Below the Surface” campaigns and honed a concurrent message highlighting hydropower’s role as the “Solution That’s Right in Front of You” to ensure a 24/7 reliable clean energy grid.
2024 – The Solution That’s Right in Front of You
This year’s campaign reminds viewers that hydropower is “the solution that’s right in front of you” to help defeat the climate crisis and balance a renewable grid. The ad targets agenda setters and climate thought leaders who will help shape America’s energy goals in this election year and beyond. This effort bolsters the message of prior campaigns by emphasizing water power’s key role in a clean energy mix.
2023 – Clean Living
The “Clean Living” ad aims to push millennials to think beyond associating the concept of clean living with JUST what one eats and how they live; rather, to start thinking about clean energy in their everyday lives. Hydropower and pumped storage provide a 24/7 ready and reliable energy foundation allowing one to plug in EV’s, TV’s and more without thinking twice about whether the wind is blowing or the sun is shining.
2022 – Beneath the Surface
Hydropower is more than just clean energy. Yes, it’s essential to our clean energy future, but there’s so much more below the surface. Many don’t realize that hydropower also enriches our communities by protecting our ecosystems and creating community gathering places.
2024 Campaign Results
The most recent campaign achieved tremendous results. This year, the target audiences for the campaign were Washington, D.C., agenda setters as well as climate thoughts leaders throughout the United States. The objective was to remind these audiences that hydropower is the clean energy solution that’s right in front of you. In a contentious election year with significant implications for the energy sector, we need water power to be top of mind for these key decision makers.
Throughout this seven-week campaign that ran earlier this year, our digital ad was viewed nearly 6.9 million times across multiple social media and streaming platforms. The number of impressions — the numbers of times users came across our videos online — topped out at nearly 10 million. Among both groups, our video completion rates (VCR) were above the benchmarks we set.
Polling Insights
NHA also measured our target audiences’ views about water power, both before and after they received the ads in the campaign. Results show that our message is compelling when we are able to break through a noisy advocacy landscape.
Water power’s favorability is already high — hovering at 77% for both groups before exposure to the ad.
Despite competing in a challenging advocacy landscape, polling showed that our message is compelling. The data revealed that, among those tested who could recall our ad, their opinion of hydropower increased across every metric we employed to measure its value to our two audiences.
