The StoryConnect Podcast

Energy efficiency is a story that can feel stale. Hear how Louisiana Utility Pioneers rebranded existing resources with an owl mascot and cohesive storytelling to help both staff and members be Power Smart.

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:
Energy efficiency isn't new, so how can you tell a timeless story
in an engaging way?

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 David Latona.

He's the vice president for communications and governmental
affairs at DEMCO in Louisiana.

David, thank you so much for joining us today.

David Latona:
Great, and I'm a utility pioneer.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Oh, yes you are, David.

Yes, we love [to call] –

David Latona:
I love that we're called that.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
all of our members.

David Latona:
It's wonderful.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah. You're a utility pioneer because you are forging the way
and helping show us some really fun ways to tell stories.

So before we get started, just tell me a little bit about DEMCO
and the communities that you serve.

David Latona:
Sure. We in Louisiana have parishes and not counties, so we serve
seven

parishes in southeast Louisiana.

That's the toe of the boot.

So those are parishes surrounding the capital city of Baton
Rouge.

Many rural locations, many urban locations and many suburban.

We're kind of from, we call it rooter to tutor.

We serve them all, everyone in the service territory.

But we are a larger co-op when you consider the national
average.

We are 116,000 meters, so we are hovering around that number
24, number 25

spot. When you consider the co-ops, electric co-ops, around the
country.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah, okay. So yeah, and I would say, I think nationally it's
about 12,000 members is the national average for folks.

David Latona:
yeah. So we have district offices that are larger than that.

So it's just – we do understand folks are structured different.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Sure.

David Latona:
There may be co-ops in other states that are adjacent to right
next to one another that would make up what might look like a

DEMCO in the way we have our districts separated, but
nonetheless, we love our members equally,

116,000 of them.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
So you are one of the larger co-ops out there.

But I love one of your campaigns.

And you and I were talking about this a few weeks ago, which is
when I asked if you would share this on the podcast, because I

think it's something that co-ops of any size can learn from,
which is key.

Because you really used existing resources and then kind of put
a spin on your storytelling, which I love.

You know, I love finding ways to use existing resources in
really new and exciting ways.

So energy efficiency, it's something that all electric utilities
have to address, not just once, but every year,

several times a year, over and over and over again.

It is a story that can feel a little stale for storytellers who
have had to share it so many times, and it can be really

hard to find inspiration when you're told again, "Hey, we need
to make sure we're talking about energy efficiency." Yay!

So with that in mind, tell us a little bit about DEMCO's Power
Smart campaign.

David Latona:
Excellent. Well, the Power Smart campaign was, it was really born
out of what we already provided.

We knew that we provided, like you said, energy efficiency tips
and advice and publications and videos and Facebook posts.

There's so many things that we do.

And we said, "Hey, you know what?

Let's bring all of our tools that we offer our members into a
place where a familiar

icon and maybe a color palette can bring folks to that." Right?

So if your viewers or listeners would see our website at
demco.org, you might see our

Power Smart collateral there.

But we created just a two dimensional, but a mascot of sorts.

And it's a cute little owl that has our star burst logo as its
eye.

Right? But nonetheless, his name is Simon, and he can be found
throughout our website or Facebook posts that are

guiding folks towards saving on their electric bill, right?

We know that a member with as small a bill as possible is a
happy member, right?

That's what we want.

And we do want to promote energy efficiency, but then also to
educate members that what you use is what you're

billed for. You know, this is not, we're not structured like a
telephone service or a

cable vision where you're paying one monthly fee and you get as
much as you want to use, right?

An electric utility is very different, right?

We bill folks.

We sell them the electricity.

So every kilowatt hour, every spark that they bring down is
something that they will pay for.

So saving on that usage equals saving on that bill.

So we want to use something cute, something flashy.

There's, you know, some orange colors in there.

We even did a little video animation of Simon himself.

And just to bring folks attention to the energy efficiency
measures that they can take on their own.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Well, I love that idea, because you're right.

We do have so many storytelling tools that we can use for energy
efficiency, but uniting all of those stories

under a recognizable branding, you know, having those united
colors and messaging

that aligns across everything.

I know you and I have known each other since I was at NRECA, and
one of the things that people would talk about a lot was, we're

getting so many different resources from all over the place, and
we don't have like a single

message, a brand that we can use for this.

It could be confusing people.

So I love taking the resources that are out there and branding
them for your utility and your program.

And I have to ask you, ever since you told me the owl's name, do
you start things out with "Simon

says?"

David Latona:
That's a great resource we can use, right?

I'm going to steal that. Thank you very much.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I mean, it's the first thing I was like an owl, named Simon.

Yes.

David Latona:
He's very clever, right?

Because this is a Power Smart.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Right, he is.

David Latona:
Well, I mean, he's shaped like a light bulb.

How clever is that?

But, Simon, I guess the origin of his name, if you will is, he
is actually Simon

Cowell. The, I guess, he's infamous at this point.

The person you may see on, what's the show he's on?

Nonetheless, the talent search shows.

You might see it.

Simon, our Simon spells his name a little different.

He spells his name C'owl So Simon says,

"we should save on our electric bill."

Megan McKoy-Noe:
This is a very unexpected turn for this conversation.

David Latona:
It might be stolen.

However, it's free, so we can't.

I don't guess we could be liable.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
And I like his last name is C'owl.

So it's Simon Owl.

I mean.

David Latona:
Yes.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yes. No, that.

Wow. There's a lot to unpack there.

I'm going to keep us on track because my tendency is to follow
that rabbit hole, that rabbit trail, but I'm not going to do that

right now. But wow, and thank you for that mental image.

But a big part of your campaign, it really looks like it's
focused on empowering your members.

Right? All the branding and everything aside, you really are
talking about being Power Smart.

It's about education and empowering folks.

Why is that part of the story important, and why did you lean on
that with your branding?

David Latona:
Sure. maybe unique to the state of Louisiana, we are a state that
has some of the

lowest rates in the country.

However, we are also some of the highest usage members in the
country.

So, you know, it essentially balances out, right?

If someone's power bill in another state has a higher rate but
lower usage, their bills might be about the same as ours.

However, that just means that we, as members, have more control
over our actual bill in the end,

because I can shave that usage.

I can't, as a member, I can only call my representation and let
them know how I feel about the rates.

But as a consumer member, I can adjust that thermostat.

I can wear a sweater indoors in the winter, and I can do things
that I have control of.

And that was part of this effort was to say, look, we more than
others can impact our bill by the

usage. So we being the membership, right?

We right. We can impact our own bills.

So we want to empower them.

So a lot of the collateral you'll see is do it yourself
checklist, right?

Because I mean, honestly, some of the things are simple to some
folks, but I've worked here 15 years.

I can go through this checklist in my home, and I can probably
make improvements right now just because I'm busy and maybe even

sometimes lazy.

But I need to know, change that air filter, check the seal on
those windows.

The things that I can do to save on my bill.

One year, you know, this entire idea comes from years of
communicating this message to

members, but it's just recently that it's become the Power Smart
program.

But we did one year.

We did, you know, someone will come on the Today show and talk
about the best gifts for the holiday season.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Of course.

David Latona:
They'll do these, here's the top ten.

Well, one year we made a full media tour of the best power
saving gifts of the

holiday season.

We went from, you know, a nest thermostat to a caulking gun to,
you know, and the last, of course, the last

item, the coup de gras.

The greatest one was this ugly sweater we pulled out of the bag,
which made sense to say, "Hey, wear a

sweater and turn your heater down a bit so that you can stay
warm without using power.

Maybe use an ugly sweater instead."

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I like that going old school.

David Latona:
Yeah, yeah.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I mean, and this is just stemming off of that, i could see co-ops
having ugly sweater contests over the

holidays as your efficiency message.

It just makes me kind of happy.

David Latona:
Oh, yeah.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Right. Yeah. So, you talked about the kind of the content and the
focus of the campaign, but I always love

talking and thinking about the channels that you're using to
share this story.

So I know that you have these materials on your website, but
what channels are you using to share this message and which ones

seem to work the best with engaging your members?

David Latona:
You know, we utilize pioneer resources for our social media
platforms as well.

We appreciate that.

Yes.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
We appreciate you, David.

David Latona:
As a matter of fact, this is a very short but successful story
that we committed

to the previous company was ARC social media platform.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Sure.

David Latona:
And we contracted with ARC.

About the same time our statewide organization contracted with
Pioneer for our print magazine.

And then I think it was very short, maybe 60 days later, Pioneer
acquired ARC.

We love it. We loved them then.

We love them now.

The resources we have through that are outstanding.

You know, they provide us –

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Oh thank you. And it is now called Pioneer Social I should say.

David Latona:
Pioneer Social. That's right, and we love Pioneer Social.

But we have a success rate on our social platforms, that's –
it's surpassing the national average

of what is an engagement rate for a business in that field.

Whether it's LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and X is what we use
currently, of course.

You know, I have teenage kids, so I know that the platforms
change frequently.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
So much.

David Latona:
But, we gotta stay on top of it.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah.

David Latona:
Nonetheless, that's what we lean on resources like Pioneer Social
to do is help us keep updated and help us keep things

fresh. And it is working.

Our engagement rate, and we challenge ourselves pretty hard.

We take that national average and we have our key performance
indicator that is reported to our board every month.

One of those is our social engagement.

And, constantly, it is above the national average.

However, we push our KPI pretty high.

We're efforting numbers that are two and three times the national
average, so because we don't think we should set goals that we

can always meet so easy, but nonetheless.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
You like the challenge.

Yeah.

David Latona:
And, we find great value in the Power Smart getting out there
through that social platform.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Okay.

David Latona:
But of course, that's just one.

You know, we do believe that communications is, it's like a pie,
right?

There's a piece of the pie, and not everybody at the
Thanksgiving dinner table are going to eat a piece of everyone's

pie. You eat your own piece of pie.

So there are.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I think the pie is breaking down at this point, because now I'm
thinking is it an apple pie.

Is it pecan pie?

Is it pumpkin?

David Latona:
I'm a savory guy, so it's chicken pot pie for me.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Okay. See it now.

All right. So, but focusing on everybody likes different pies.

David Latona:
Everybody likes different pies.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah. They all like different communication channels.

So you talked about social media and that being really
successful when you have a lot of folks eating that flavored pie.

If we're going to go with that.

What other flavor channels are you serving up to your members?

I'm trying. Well, I'm trying hard to stay with the analogy.

David Latona:
We have the ability to message our membership through either it's
through our

website or even through our print media that we have.

Even face to face when folks walk into that lobby, we have at
the ready, it's like a publication station that we have that

have all the energy efficiency and energy saving measures and
brochures and things like the, do it yourself audit checklists

that are available to the members in that way, too.

Because, you know, a 16 year old is not walking in these doors,
but they are checking social.

So we do feel like we want to hit them at these different areas
for sure.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Do you have an owl?

It's like a Simon mascot that goes out to community events?

Or do you partner with local rehabilitation centers for wildlife
and have owls come out to, you know, events with

kids and then talk about the Power Smart program at that level,
too?

David Latona:
We don't. But I love that idea.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Okay.

David Latona:
We're still fairly new in what we do with the Power Smart
program, but we certainly get

out to our schools.

We're heavily in our schools.

And that's a great idea.

It's a good opener.

Now Simon is certainly – it's an inside name.

We don't have the publication, I see Simon.

Hey, there's Simon.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I just assumed.

David Latona:
No, that's okay.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
It's out now, David. I don't know about you, but you know, once
it goes on The StoryConnect Podcast.

David Latona:
You're not recording, are you?

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Oh, yes. Oh, yes.

All right. So Simon is not what you use for the community.

That's just what you all call him internally.

David Latona:
Yeah.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Okay. I'm going to have to, like, change up how happy I was about
that at the beginning because I tell you the Simon Says thing.

David Latona:
Oh, we're not averse to it.

We certainly mention his name in public.

We do have Secret Service agents that go out with us to our
schools and present Simon because he has to

be protected. Right.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Of course, of course.

So funny. All right.

How has the Power Smart campaign been received by your members?

Like, have you gotten any feedback about it?

Are people excited about it?

Is it affecting change?

David Latona:
Yeah. Yeah. We do feel that our, not only our members, but, you
know, we have five

elected public service commissioners, right?

And they're very excited about, just like I said, we're a high
user state as far as our members and our

consumers in general.

So they are excited about and want to promote energy efficiency
in any way they can.

So when they see what we're doing, they're pleased with that.

They are certainly our allies, when we go out and be a part of a
message that's going to, whether it's an

audience of elected officials or an audience of five year olds.

We're still promoting that idea of energy efficiency and how
important it is to us too.

You know, it's not this, we're not trying to have a member that
is inefficient so that we

make more money.

You know, the business model does not support that.

So it is an opportunity to communicate that as well.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
All right. I know you said that this program and the branding
that you've done, which I think is really one of the big

takeaways from this, is to brand all of your energy efficiency
storytelling to be cohesive

and to have a really focused story.

I think that's really critical.

It's still new.

Have you been able to track how much energy your members are
saving?

David Latona:
No, we are not. Yeah, we're not tracking that.

We are certainly doing our best to keep a good idea of what our
members feel.

Right? So through member satisfaction surveys and through even,
you know, it goes so deep as to get into

talking points, is what we call it, for our employees that we
provide to our employees so that we have a consistent message

throughout. So it goes all the way to our MSRs, our guys in the
field.

And, you know, it's always the way I present it to our employees
is if you go to the grocery store, your

community knows you work at DEMCO.

They just do, whether you're wearing a branded shirt or not.

So over the pineapples, they're going to ask you, what can I do
to save on my bills?

So part of this message is certainly communicated well to our
first line of communication, and that's our employees.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I like that. So in addition to, and I guess that's one of the
channels that you're using to really get this message across

for Power Smart.

You're starting with your staff, giving them talking points so
that they can be able to address your, you know, folks in the

community. How often do you talk to your staff about the Power
Smart campaign?

Is it once a quarter, once a year?

David Latona:
Probably more than that.

But we do get together with our staff three times in the year.

Twice, two of those meetings are when we go to each of our,
maybe our districts and then our headquarters office.

But then once a year, we all get together as one unit.

We close our offices for the day and we get together, and we
really show them how important they are to us and to our

leadership. It's to say, you know, we appreciate what you do,
but also here is valuable information about the co-op that we

trust you with.

We trust our employees to deliver that message to the
communities that we serve.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Do you guys send out any like regular updates to them about
seasonal efficiency tips, as part of the Power Smart

campaign? This month, we're reminding people about the A, B, and
C or whatnot.

David Latona:
Yes, yes we do.

We have a few tools that we use to keep our employees abreast of
what is going to our

members. So on our intranet site, we are able to have a category
there.

It's called "the member corner." So what that tells employees is
that this is exactly what we're telling the

members right now or the last few weeks.

This is the message that's going out to them, whether that's a
bill insert or even a call out that we might do

to our members so that our employees know.

Because, you know, so many times the questions you get from
members are generated from some type of

communication or something that's happening on the lines.

Like, we may be clearing right of way in a certain area, we want
our employees to know that here's how we notified those

members in that area.

So we have that through our intranet.

And then also we have a monthly publication for our employees
only.

Right. It's called The Power Up.

It has a message from our CEO that it's really coming straight
from his heart to the employees.

Like, here's what's on my mind and here's what's on the plate of
the cooperative right now.

Whether that be we're going through a power contract transition
right now where next month we'll begin

purchasing power from someone else.

So that's a critical and important message coming from him to
those employees.

And then also in that same it's a digital delivery.

But in that same newsletter, there's information valuable to
them as far as what we're communicating

to members, what we're asking you to.

And then, of course, housekeeping, things like, don't forget to
sign up for specific insurance documents or whatever it might be.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Sure.

David Latona:
From our HR department and then safety messages.

But prominent on there certainly is Power Smart messaging.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I like that. I love adding that as one of the channels, because
we always tell folks to start with staff.

But I was just talking to someone last week at a telco who said,
you know, we've got three different offices.

We have to work on our internal communications, but it falls to
the side sometimes.

So I appreciate the member corner, especially.

I love as a way to let people know right now this is what
members are being communicated about.

You might be asked about this.

Next up, maybe you have pop quizzes for them.

That would be fun. Have the CEO call and ask about.

David Latona:
That's right.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Nope, nope, no, no.

All right.

So one last question before I let you go, David, because I have
a feeling that you and I could just talk about all sorts of

things. I love what y'all are doing.

David Latona:
The rabbit hole might be deep.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
I know, I know, but I'm gonna keep us on track.

So, one last question before I let you go.

Do you have any tips for utility pioneers who feel frustrated
when they're faced with telling the same story over and over and

over and over and over again?

David Latona:
Yes, absolutely, i do.

So I know we talked about the pie.

That is what it is.

That's the delivery tools.

Right. But I think also when we think about the pie, I try to
take myself back

to when I started with the utility, how much did I know?

It's very difficult in our line of work to not look past, or to
not

take advantage of what I know already and assume that a member
is ahead of this.

And they're reading this every single day as well, which we know
that they're not.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah.

David Latona:
So when we take a step back and create from the new side, right.

It almost gives you an energy to say, all right, this is new.

And don't be afraid to communicate something you feel people
already know.

Because repetition, I feel repetition, is okay.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yep.

David Latona:
I feel repetition is okay.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
It's necessary.

David Latona:
Is it alright to say that twice? But whenever we do that, it
gives us an energy in creativity as well.

So it's difficult, like you said, to know what the member knows.

But it helps me to start from the beginning, assuming if you're
talking to an audience of 100 folks,

assume 20 of them don't have never heard you speak before.

Always assume people, you know, like when they say when you get
up to speak, you need to say your name.

Not everybody in the room knows your name, right?

We did a, this is so funny, can I share this?

Yeah, I can share this. We did our big all staff meeting
everybody together.

We closed offices.

We brought them all together.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Yeah.

David Latona:
And this one employee told me, they said, they were talking to
another employee about what's going on.

Now, this person I'm talking to is on our executive staff.

They're close with the development of what was going on with the
all staff meeting.

And they said, you know, this one person said, you know, the
bald guy really did good.

I don't care. I've been bald for a long time.

That doesn't offend me.

What offended me was I've worked with this person for 15 years,
and they referred to me as the bald guy.

I said, so when I saw him next, I said, "Hey, my name is David."

Megan McKoy-Noe:
My name is David.

David Latona:
It's so great to meet you.

But it was funny.

We both laughed about it.

Nonetheless, I would say my biggest advice is position yourself
in a place where you're starting from scratch.

You know, we have youth programs at DEMCO that go from age zero
birth until college.

We give scholarships, right?

We have the Imagination Library that begins the first month of
your life, and we can send you all the way through your four

years of college.

So if I bring myself back like that, I bring myself back to the
beginning and say, "What do people need to know from the

beginning?" It really gave us energy to say, all right, now I
can create something that I don't feel like

I need to be on the cusp of technology.

I got to know everything about EVs and AI.

And let's just step back and say, sometimes a coloring book and
five colors is going to educate

someone. So take a step back.

It's okay to communicate something you already know to those
folks.

I want the same thing.

You may think I know it, I probably don't, but I like hearing it
again.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
Well, and that's why we wanted to have you on, because it's a
good reminder to focus on the basics and to.

I mean, when I was a journalist, I remember I would just try to
empty out anything I thought I knew about a topic and come at it

fresh each time, because that's how a lot of your audience is
going to be approaching your article.

Right? So it's the same thing with energy efficiency.

It might feel tired to us, but color.

Have some fun. Go back to basics and find some fresh ways to
tell that same story again and

again and again.

And I loved hearing about it from you, David.

So thank you for sharing your pie selection.

David Latona:
Absolutely.

Megan McKoy-Noe:
With us today.

He is David Latona from DEMCO, and I'm your host, Megan
McKoy-Noe 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.