Managing a New Brand, With Larry Mattox

In under three years, Central Rural Electric Co-op moved from breaking ground to 85% buildout of their broadband service, CentraNet, in Oklahoma. During a break from the Calix event, Larry Mattox shares how the small team managed this growth, a new brand and evolving member expectations.

Creators & Guests

Host

Megan McKoy-Noe

Brand Storyteller

What is The StoryConnect Podcast?

StoryConnect features interviews with marketers, communicators, CEOs and other leaders at cooperative and independent broadband companies, electric cooperatives and municipal power providers. The goal of the podcast is to help listeners discover ideas to shape their stories and connect with their customers. It is produced by Pioneer Utility Resources.

Intro:
A production of Pioneer Utility Resources.

StoryConnect, helping communicators discover ideas to shape
their stories and connect with their customers.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
How can you manage a new brand with a team of three?

Larry Mattox:
Yep, three of us.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Three. That's what we'll be talking about on this episode of The
StoryConnect Podcast.

Hi, I'm your host, Megan McKoy-Noe, one of the storytellers at
Pioneer Utility Resources, and I am joined by Larry Mattox.

He is the director of communications for both Central Rural
Electric Cooperative and Centranet, the fiber subsidiary in

Oklahoma.

Larry Mattox:
Yes.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Larry, thank you so much for being with us today.

Larry Mattox:
Thanks for having me, Megan.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah, it's exciting. And I should say, we are podcasting from
Calix ConneXions with just a few thousand of our closest

broadband storytellers with us here.

Larry Mattox:
It's quite the conference.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
It's quite the conference.

So any noise that y'all hear in the background, we're going to
say that it's ambiance.

It's setting the mood for good storytelling today.

Yes. So Larry you have been at Central Rural Electric for how
long now?

Larry Mattox:
I've been there 17 years now, so since May 2006.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
So you're just getting started.

Larry Mattox:
Just getting started.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I love that for you.

Yeah. And then when did you find out that your job was going to
be changing?

Larry Mattox:
So during the height of the pandemic in 2020, we, I mean, our
members were demanding

pretty much better internet.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
How did they demand? What did they do?

Were they picketing?

Larry Mattox:
We're in a rural, very rural, semi-rural area, but I'd say like
90% of our

electric members who had internet just had fixed wireless.

And during that time it was not keeping up with the demands of
the pandemic.

So, we were hearing from our members.

They were calling in telling us.

We decided to do a survey at that point and say, "Hey, if we
were to do this, like, how interested would you be?" And, you

know, fiber internet, and we had a 96% of the membership said,
"Yes, sign me up.

I want it."

Megan McKoy-Noe:
You were like, well, let's see, how do they really feel about
this?

How did you do the survey? Was it – ?

Larry Mattox:
We just, we hired a company Inside Information to do the –

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Oh, we love them. Yeah.

Larry Mattox:
– the survey for us, but, yeah, it was a board initiative.

They're like, yeah, we see value in it.

Let's do this, or let's at least explore this option and see.

And then, yeah, with the overwhelming success, we started right
away, and in October 2020 started building the fiber network.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Wow. Where are you at now?

Larry Mattox:
We're at 85% built out.

So.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Whoa, dude, that's fast.

Larry Mattox:
We just hit the ground running and connected our first
subscribers in July of 2021, and haven't looked

back.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Larry. Are you okay?

Do you need some more caffeine at this rate?

Well, you know, with speed like that, and especially you have a
three-person team at the electric co-op that then became

– are they all employees for the subsidiary as well?

Larry Mattox:
Yeah. We do have some on the technical side, you know, some
strictly fiber employees, but pretty

much every other department, communications, accounting, all of
those, we're doing double duty.

And, it's fun.

It keeps us busy, but it's a lot.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
It's a lot. So then how do you manage that, and what has worked
really well?

What has helped you kind of manage the new workload without
burning out yourself and your staff?

Larry Mattox:
So, right now our build is to the membership, the electric
membership.

And we do have, like, just a handful of, like, off system
subscribers who aren't both electric members.

But being that, you know, they're already our members, like that
helps out.

Like, when we're at community events, we just pop up another
tent with them on this internet site as well.

But, I think just, you know, that they're both electric and
fiber subscribers, that helps.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah. Well, and I love the name.

I saw the new branding on your shirt.

New to me because I've known you for such a long time on the
electric side.

But I like the brand, which is Centranet because it sounds like
you're starting to say your name.

Larry Mattox:
Right.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
So it's an interesting way to kind of hold on to a bit of your
existing brand story, especially when you're reaching out to

folks that already know you in the community and have been, I'm
still going to imagine them like picketing outside with signs.

Fiber now.

Larry Mattox:
Demanding fiber.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah, exactly. So how is, have you looked ahead to think, "Okay,
we're already at 85% build out." Which is

amazing, by the way, that you're already there.

What is next? Are you going to start marketing to folks outside
of your membership?

Larry Mattox:
So that's one of the main reasons I'm here today, like at this
conference, is like we see that, you know, by the end of the

year, we're going to be 100% built out.

And, you know, shortly after that, like all our electric members
will have access to fiber.

So what are the next steps?

And, you know, just knowing that it's a competitive market, you
know, we're

trying to learn, you know, from everybody like, "Hey, if you're
built out, like, what are you doing next?

What are your next steps?" So.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
What are you hearing?

Larry Mattox:
So there, I mean, a lot of the companies that are here are
telcos.

So they've been in this space the whole time.

And, just learning their approaches, like you need social, you
need to be out in the community.

You need to be in the chambers.

Like a lot of just putting yourself out there, which we are on
the electric side.

But, when we move into some of these communities where, you
know, they're not familiar with our electric

side, we're going to have to kind of ramp up and tell this
internet story.

Which we've not really had to do because we've been like pig
tailing on the Central Electric side, so.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
But you're going to be coming into your own.

Larry Mattox:
Yes.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
For Centranet and saying, "Who are we outside of the electric
co-op?"

Larry Mattox:
So that'll be exciting.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
It is exciting.

Larry Mattox:
A new venture for us, so.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Do you have any ideas yet about how you're going to, not break
off, but start building your

own brand story?

Larry Mattox:
Yeah.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
For a subsidiary.

Larry Mattox:
So yesterday, one of the sessions, it was United Fiber.

They said that, you know, they want, well, they have multiple,
like,

offices, like satellite offices of their main office.

They didn't want anybody to be, like, more than 20 minutes from,
you know, one of their offices, which is kind of interesting.

It's a different approach than your big, you know, telecoms,
like your AT&Ts that aren't in communities.

You just have to call in.

So I kind of like that approach.

I don't know that my management team would like that, but I like
the idea of being in the smaller communities if we're providing

fiber to them.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Of course. There are some telcos and some broadband service
providers that actually have

mobile offices.

Larry Mattox:
Yeah.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Right.

Larry Mattox:
That would be really cool.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah. And so they go out into the communities.

And I was talking to James at Wave Rural Connect in Arkansas
just yesterday, day before?

It all blurs together at Calix ConneXions.

But he was talking about how they then have big celebrations at
each milestone in the community.

They're all out there signing folks up and being there with
them.

Larry Mattox:
Yeah.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
So I love finding a way to marry the two ideas.

And maybe you can't build every 20 miles and have a lovely new
facility.

But maybe you can have a trailer that you take out there, or,
yeah, I've seen people that just they say, "These

days, we're in this community, and these days we're here."

Larry Mattox:
I like that. And those are like ideas that I wouldn't have come
up with myself.

But I love, like, just coming here and learning and hearing and
sharing ideas, so.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I mean, that's the beauty of the co-op network, right?

And it is October. I know this is going to be airing after
October, but it's co-op month.

Larry Mattox:
It is.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Right. So the more ways we can learn from each other.

Anything else that you've heard here that you're like this, this
is what I want to do.

Larry Mattox:
Oh, so much I can't pinpoint something, but yes.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Not trying to put you on the spot, Larry.

Larry Mattox:
It's early, Megan. I've not even had coffee yet.

But, yeah, just we've learned so much.

I just love, like, they have the circles of success here where
it's just like a group of, you know, 6 to 10

people talking about what they're doing.

And I have like, just notes.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
So at some point I'm going to ask you, I'm like, pull out the
notes.

Tell me, what were you picking up?

But I do like that.

Are you making contacts here that you're going to be able to
reach back out to afterwards?

Larry Mattox:
Yes. For sure. Yep.

Okay. Yeah.

So there's a lot of people from Oklahoma, but then just across
the nation here.

So it's great.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah. The OEC Fiber team.

Larry Mattox:
Oh man, they are awesome.

They have their own session.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
We're talking about you guys.

They had a session just where they were all up on stage
together.

Larry Mattox:
Yeah.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
And they just shared stories, and things that have happened.

Larry Mattox:
It was great.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Like chicken in a mailbox.

Larry Mattox:
We need to document some of those things.

Because we have some of the same things, and yeah, if we don't
write them down, we're going to forget.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Do you have a story you can share of something that's happened to
y'all?

Larry Mattox:
We've not had the chicken in the mailbox yet.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
That could be a podcast in and of itself, folks.

Finding a chicken in the mailbox, or chicken bones, I think, in
a mailbox from someone's lunch, and the member decided it must

have been the install team.

Larry Mattox:
Yes.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
It was not.

Larry Mattox:
Install team. Well, the contractors, we get tons of stories about
them, and they're working

so hard and building so many miles of line.

And we get calls about this roll of fiber has been here for
months and months and months, and I know it's

not been there that long, but, you know, we just take it with a
grain of salt.

We're like, "We'll send somebody out to get it." But, yeah.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Well, I am excited that you are here getting all these fresh
ideas.

I would love to hear how things develop at Centranet and how you
start finding that new story.

And it's just nice to see you and to see everyone coming
together in an amazing event like Calix, where we're all

celebrating cooperation in ways that we can help build each
other's stories.

Larry Mattox:
Yes.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
So thank you so much for sharing your story with utility
pioneers.

He is Larry Mattox, the director of communications for both
Central Rural Electric Cooperative and Centranet in

Oklahoma. And I am Megan McKoy-Noe, one of the storytellers at
Pioneer Utility Resources.

And until we talk again, keep telling your story.

Outro:
StoryConnect is produced by Pioneer Utility Resources, a
communications cooperative that is built to share your story.

StoryConnect is engineered by Lucas Smith of Lucky Sound Studio.