Energy Security or Corn Dog?
Which mission is more likely to "stick" with the 400,000 people attending the Bloomsburg Fair:
A) providing energy security around the world and lowering global emissions; or
B) providing several hundred corn dogs (along with free rides and games) to you and your family?
And more importantly: What can fair food (like the inspirational Mr. Sticky's) teach you about effective communication?
To explore those questions — and how they apply to energy advocacy, corporate messaging, and career transitions — check out Episode 122 of The Energy Detox.
Then check out the information below supporting the Corn Dog Equivalent (CDE) savings enjoyed by Pennsylvanians thanks to natural gas development in the Commonwealth:
“PA Gas Brings Savings to Consumers” (Marcellus Shale Coalition Blog)
RELATED EPISODE
“How Do We Make Nat Gas Stickier?” (The Energy Detox, Episode 94)
What can we do to create a Natural Gas epidemic?
What small steps can we take to boost the stickiness of our industry's message?
And how can you—as an individual leader—overcome the natural immunity of your stakeholders so that they infect countless others with knowledge of the differentiated value you generate?
Inspired by the Marcellus Shale Coalition's SHALE INSIGHT® 2024 conference, 400 bottles of maple syrup, and Malcolm Gladwell's Tipping Point, Episode 94 of The Energy Detox will help you answer those three questions.
This episode also challenges you to consider how the natural gas industry can build upon an already strong shale story to reach a "tipping point" where the undeniable benefits of natural gas become common knowledge among policymakers and their constituents.
Transcript
(AI training in progress; please excuse any errors)
Energy security or corn dog? That was the question on my mind this past weekend while my family and I enjoyed the Bloomsburg Fair in northeastern Pennsylvania.
00:12
And the reason that that question (energy security or corn dog?) was on my mind is because of EQT, because as a sponsor of the Bloomsburg fair, EQT is entitled to one of several rotating commercials, if you will, that come across the public address system throughout the entire fairgrounds. And so I and some of the other 400,000 people that were at the fair or will be at the fair between last weekend and this upcoming weekend, will have the opportunity to hear this advertisement. But really the question is, how many of those people will actually care? For how many of those people does the message that EQT was sharing stick in their minds? And because of that question, basically it led to that other question, which is, well, energy security or corn dog?
01:01
Which of those two items would actually get my attention if I were (and I was) somebody trying to lead a family through the fair it's hot. Kids are wanting to do all kinds of different things, of course, at different times, wanting to spend all the money we had on games and rides and junky food. And so to me it's gonna take something a little extra to get my attention, to stick, if you will. And so I ask you here, is the advertisement from EQT...well, is it sticky? Would it draw your attention if you happen to be at the Bloomsburg fair? And for you to help make that determination, I'm going to read at least my translation of that advertisement here, so you can make your own determination.
01:47
So the advertisement basically said EQT is driven by a higher purpose of providing energy security around the world and lowering global emissions. "Everything we do is about safely delivering cheaper, more reliable and cleaner energy to the world." Visit eqt.com for more information.
02:09
And I may have gotten a word or two wrong there, but in essence, that was the advertisement. Global impact, reduced global emissions, improving energy security, again around the world. So the question for you is, if you were one of the 400,000 pairs of ears that will have an opportunity to hear that advertisement, and one of the many times that that advertisement will come across the PA system, is that going to stick?
02:37
And I keep using that word intentionally here, "stick," not just because it's something we've talked about in the past here on The Energy Detox, the importance of having a sticky message, but because for the Bloomsburg fair in particular, when you first walk into the fair, one of the very first things that you see and have an opportunity to partake in is Mr. Sticky's. And let me tell you, Mr. Sticky's, it's great product. Again, basically a sticky bun, as you might imagine, and for the low, low price of $5.50 you can enjoy this great treat to kick off your time at the fair.
03:11
But again, what if, as people walked into the fair, they heard, hey, guess what? EQT is giving you 200 free Mr. Sticky's, maybe not directly, but because, if you are a Pennsylvania family, on average, you're saving somewhere on the order of $1,100 to $2,200 per year on your energy costs. Because companies like EQT and its fellow operators here in Pennsylvania have reduced the cost of energy relative to what it was back in 2008 before the beginning of the Marcellus shale boom. So again, taking that $1,100 to $2,200, you could buy a lot of Mr. Sticky's. You could buy a lot of corn dogs. You can play a lot of games. You can ride a lot of rides. You can enjoy free admission for you and whole bunch of other people. To me, that's a sticky message.
04:04
And now, I'm not saying this, of course, to disparage the EQT marketing people or community affairs people or whoever's responsible for that message. Of course not, because that message that EQT is sharing in that advertisement over the public address system there at Bloomsburg fair is accurate. It's important. It is consistent with EQT's mission. It's definitely consistent with everything that its CEO is taking the time to share on various stages.
04:28
So again, I'm not suggesting that they tweak their advertisement necessarily, but I am suggesting that you as an individual, take stock of the opportunities you have to deliver a stickier message when it comes to industry advocacy. Are you spending time talking about the billions of dollars, if not trillions of dollars, in impacts that our industry has had on Pennsylvania and the world...or are you taking the time, taking those couple extra steps to translate it into something that actually matters and that's actually gonna stick for your audience?
05:01
In other words, you know, when the Marcellus Shale Coalition talks about upwards of a trillion dollars in healthcare related savings for Pennsylvania, do you do the quick math and say, Well, you know, there's, what, 13 million Pennsylvanians, divide that into a trillion dollars. That's tens of thousands of dollars per individual, if not per family, that you've saved over the last decade or so because of natural gas development. Here that's going to stick, or at least it's going to stick for me.
05:31
So too within a company, how often do leaders within your company spend time, basically at the highest of levels, talking about high level impacts and their mission statement and their values, all of which is good, all of which is important to reinforce, but all of which is relatively useless unless it's translated into individual actions and impacts for specific team members, if not departments. You have an opportunity to do that, to again, translate those high level, quasi impactful messages into discrete things like corn dogs and sticky buns and dart games. (And I stick with dark games because I spent a lot of money on dart games for my children).
06:08
But anyway, those are the things that are gonna resonate with me, much like the mattress advertisements throughout the fair where, hey, they're saying, you're tired, you're sore. You know, you may have eaten too much. I bet what you want is a good night's sleep. So come and visit the mattress section in one of the buildings, and let's talk about getting you a new mattress. Well, that's going to stick for me. That's going to get my attention again, among all of the noise and all of the chaos and all of the whining and all of the crying and all of the sweating and everything else that goes on at a fair.
06:39
And so that being said, and maybe, as the last piece here, ask yourself, beyond the potential advocacy, beyond the internal workings for your company, for yourself as an individual, again, what opportunities do you have to increase the stickiness of your message by making it more specific to your audience? And I say this especially to you if you happen to be in career transition, because I come across lots of resumes, lots of LinkedIn profiles, lots of cover letters that I'm reviewing as part of my career coaching efforts. And I'll tell you what, a lot of those are as far from "sticky" as possible. A lot of those come across as individuals saying, Hey, look at me. I'm gonna solve world peace. I'm gonna, you know, address hunger and save the world from X, Y and Z, when the actual audience doesn't care about that. They want to know if you can do the job, and if you can do it better than most other people. That is what they want to hear. That's what's going to stick, if you can convey it to them, not again, this high level stuff that might sound kind of nice, but doesn't make an impact, isn't sticky.
07:43
So with all of that, regardless of your role, regardless of your industry, regardless of whether you lead a team or not, ask yourself today, how can you channel your inner Mr. or Mrs. Sticky and create a message that people are actually going to pause for, especially amidst their busy lives, especially if they're standing on the Bloomsburg fairgrounds trying to do 10 different things. What's going to cause them to stop and listen and engage?
08:14
Because if they can do that, engage for just a little bit, if you lure them in with a corn dog, if you will, then they're going to be more receptive to saying, hey, you know what? In addition to the hundreds of corn dogs that EQT has essentially gifted you as a result of lower energy costs, we're also making an impact on the world. We're also lowering global emissions. We're also boosting energy security.
08:40
Flip that conversation, start with sticky and again, look for those opportunities in all areas of your personal and professional life. And so with that, thank you, of course, as always, for sticking around here on this episode of The Energy Detox. And if you're so inclined, I welcome you back here as we prepare for episode number 123 of The Energy Detox on some sort of topic that I hope "sticks" at least as much as this one. So with that, take care, thanks as always, and bye for now.