Since 2024, Hoosier Energy and its cooperatives have been participating in a member education and engagement campaign via streaming audio, streaming video, digital display and social media. The campaign specifically targets audiences under the age of 45, with research showing younger demographics are not as familiar with\/positive about electric cooperatives.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe goal is to let people know they\u2019re part of a community when it comes to their electric utility, and also for them to learn more about the member cooperatives,\u201d said Chad Mertz, Vice President of Strategic Communications for Hoosier Energy.<\/p>\n
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A custom creative campaign for each member cooperative with co-op specific branding played a big role in the Spring 2026 Campaign, which exceeded expectations during its eight-week duration from late March to mid-May.<\/p>\n
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Across all platforms, the campaign delivered 29.7 million impressions.<\/p>\n
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The majority of those came via social media ads on Facebook where 17.3 million impressions resulted in over 31,000 clicks during the campaign.<\/p>\n
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The highest click volumes belonged to South Central Indiana REMC (3,181), Harrison REMC (2,539) and RushShelby Energy (2,402).<\/p>\n
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It was a reminder of the power and responsibility of social media.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThis is where we have the most opportunity,\u201d Mertz said. \u201cFacebook is a massively important communication channel for our members.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Streaming video impressions came via YouTube. There were 3.3 million impressions delivered and over 1.8 million completed views for a view rate of 57.2%. That number is up more than 20% from the video ads in 2025 and is well above the industry average of 31.9%.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThis stood out as one of the major data points,\u201d Mertz said. \u201cIt says the content we\u2019re producing and the local customization is clearly resonating with audiences, because instead of hitting skip, we have a completed view rate close to double the industry average.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The highest view rates belonged to Whitewater Valley REMC at 69.05%, WIN Energy at 66.74% and Wayne-White Counties Electric Cooperative at 60.94%.<\/p>\n
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In terms of actual clicks to visit member sites, Harrison REMC led the way with 218 and Southeastern Indiana REMC was close behind at 216. But the clicks were just a bonus.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe goal of this campaign was not necessarily to generate clicks,\u201d Mertz said. \u201cIf it was, we\u2019d have a stronger call to action or be offering a rebate. The goal was awareness.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Streaming audio via platforms such as iHeart, Spotify and Pandora delivered more than 2.3 million impressions, exceeding the goal by more than four percent as additional ads were able to run at no cost in unsold ad space.<\/p>\n
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Digital display ads on the internet, primarily via Google, delivered 6.6 million impressions resulting in 8,128 clicks. The highest volume of clicks belonged to Clark County REMC with 880, UDWI with 786 and RushShelby Energy with 725.<\/p>\n
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Mertz called it an \u201cextremely positive performance\u201d heading into the Fall 2026 Campaign.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe custom creative campaigns made a significant impact with the 2026 results exceeding most of the 2025 results by considerable margins,\u201d he said. \u201cWe expected an impact, but I\u2019m not sure we anticipated this level of engagement. It\u2019s a great sign for our strategic approach moving forward.\u201d<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Since 2024, Hoosier Energy and its cooperatives have been participating in a member education and engagement campaign via streaming audio, streaming video, digital display and social media. The campaign specifically"},"author":7,"featured_media":25680,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-25679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spotlight-stories","category-18","description-off"],"acf":false,"yoast_head":"\n