ABOUT

Challenge:
British Gas came to us with a problem: an ageing core customer base. And a younger target audience who were increasingly difficult to connect with and engage (only 12% of their customer base were younger than 35).

Customer engagement was at an all time low with the over-riding feeling that all utilities companies were the same.

We knew the answer had to be ground-breaking, distinctive and useful but everything else was up for grabs.

Solution:
Through co-creation sessions with the target audience, we defined the problem. Younger customers felt they were overpaying due to estimated readings, were constantly on the move in rental properties, had little time and ongoing problems setting up utility accounts every time they moved.

We co-located with the core BG team in a dedicated space at Rufus, working through each of these insights to develop a working proposition for a completely new product and the marketing behind it - Mobile energy for the smart phone generation.

BG ME - a mobile service that puts the power back into the hands of the customer, enabling them to control their energy account from wherever they are, take it with them from property to property and offering them a range of relevant rewards.

Results:
Multi-award winning
"Rufus have been outstanding in helping us to truly innovate new service - everything from developing the concept to mocking up wireframes and designing the new brand - they were with us every step of the way". Philip Kohler, Director of Product Development, British Gas