Energy prices are soaring, and many face a cost-of-living crisis.
So, advice on staying warm without cranking the heating up could have been useful.
The advice issued by OVO Energy to its SSE customers, however, was neither helpful nor meaningful.
Instead, its tips saw the company accused of being “insensitive” and “clown-like”. And that has put Britain’s third-biggest energy supplier in crisis communication mode.
The advice, sent in an email to customers, included recommending people cuddle their pets and do star jumps to keep warm.
Keeping the oven door open after cooking and “challenging the kids to a hula-hoop contest” were other recommendations.
Perhaps even more bizarrely, ginger was also suggested as “it keeps your body warm by encouraging blood flow”. But avoid chilli as it makes you sweat.
The email was sent to customers of SSE Energy Services, bought by OVO in 2020.
And it was picked up by The Financial Times, which quickly led to a stream of furious headlines.
Can’t afford to heat your house? Cuddle the cat says Britain’s third biggest energy supplier Daily Mail
OVO NO Fury as energy giant tells Brits ‘cuddle your cat’ & ‘do star jumps’ to keep warm as bills are set to double to £2,000 The Sun
‘Do star jumps’: energy supplier criticised over advice on keeping warm Guardian
Energy firm blasted for telling customers to cuddle pets and do star jumps to keep warm Mirror
The Daily Mail kept the company in the spotlight with an article on the £3.2m “weekend home” of OVO founder Stephen Fitzpatrick, reporting it costs “£850 a month to power”.
In addition to the scathing headlines, the company faced a backlash from politicians.
Former Conservative cabinet minister Theresa Villiers labelled the advice “pretty insensitive”. She added: “Many people are very anxious about rising energy bills and won’t take kindly to being told to do some star jumps.”
Darren Jones, a Labour MP and chair of the business select committee, said: “Being told to put on a jumper instead of turning on your heating if you can’t afford it, at a time of such difficulty for so many families, is plainly offensive.”
Clive Lewis, another Labour politician, called the advice “clown-like” and “depressing”.
And if that wasn’t damaging enough, there has also been widespread condemnation and ridicule on social media.
I’ve just tried cuddling my cat while doing star jumps, like Ovo Energy suggests, and I’m sending them the veterinary bills.
— Stuart Wilks-Heeg (@StuartWilksHeeg) January 11, 2022
Do star jumps to keep warm SSE/OVO Energy 😕
— Jessica (@Jessica67669786) January 11, 2022
Bit difficult if you have a disability /elderly.
How ridiculous, insensitive and insulting. https://t.co/5OGPDsy7TP
advice from Ovo, Britain’s 3rd largest energy supplier, to beleaguered customers:
— Jim Pickard (@PickardJE) January 10, 2022
- wear jumpers
- do star jumps
- don’t drink alcohol
- hug your pet
- eat ginger https://t.co/aytZXCAj6g
How has OVO responded?
Well, its crisis media management response has been pretty good. The offending advice was quickly taken down. OVO and SSE apologised on social media and said the tips were “embarrassingly unhelpful and poorly judged.”
A media statement from OVO added: “Last week a link to a blog containing energy saving tips was sent to customers. We understand how difficult the situation will be for many of our customers this year.
“We are working hard to find meaningful solutions as we approach this energy crisis, and we recognise that the content of this blog was poorly judged and unhelpful.
“We are embarrassed and sincerely apologise.”
Mr Fitzpatrick has also shown visible leadership, giving interviews to Channel 4 News and BBC Breakfast, among others, where he struck an apologetic tone and accepted responsibility – I wonder if such an approach could catch on in government?
“It was really embarrassing,” he told Channel 4 News. “It was a stupid thing for us to have written. It is something I regret. I am very sorry that we sent it. It is a big company and somebody had a bad day.
“We deserve to be getting a lot of trouble from this.”
On BBC Breakfast, he added: “It was a ridiculous piece of advice. It should never have been written. It should never have been sent, and we should have caught it.
“We found out about half an hour after it had been sent out. We retracted it. We made a big apology.
“And clearly, for all the customers that we know are worried about paying their energy bills, this type of message is deeply unhelpful and upsetting, and I apologise. It was a bad day, we made a mistake, and we have tried to put it right as fast as possible.”
"It was a bad day, we made a mistake"
— BBC Breakfast (@BBCBreakfast) January 12, 2022
On #BBCBreakfast the boss of OVO Energy Stephen Fitzpatrick apologies to customers who were told to 'cuddle a pet or loved one' if they can't afford to put the heating on.https://t.co/ECCQaTFdMk pic.twitter.com/uqWYWBdiCL
Well done to @OVOEnergy and boss Stephen Fitzpatrick for tackling a PR problem head on with a clear and sincere apology. I hope other businesses in all sectors are paying attention. https://t.co/PJeSSWow9F
— Martyn James (@martyncjames1) January 12, 2022
You might be thinking there is a touch of déjà vu about all this. Don’t worry, you are not suffering from some form of post-Christmas brain fog - issuing energy-saving tips has previously proved to be a PR disaster for another one of the big companies.
Cast your mind back to 2008, and you may recall Jake Ulrich, the managing director of Centrica Energy - owner of British Gas - telling families feeling the pinch from soaring energy prices to “wear two jumpers instead of one”.
Coming at a time when there were predictions of a 60 per cent hike in prices, the gas chief’s comments caused a similar backlash and pushed the brand into crisis media management mode.
So, you have to wonder how OVO got itself into a position where it repeated the same foot-in-mouth mistake.
The crucial lesson for any business that uses content marketing or even sends mass communication style updates to customers or prospective customers is to apply an editorial ethos to their content creation.
This means:
- Ensuring that, no matter how small the content, there is a dedicated person in place to approve it before it gets sent. This person needs to be experienced and comms savvy. For me here, it’s the MD. But as he’s often busy, I also have other colleagues that can approve things for me and make sure I haven’t dropped a clanger or gone rogue.
- As well as having people in place to approve the general angle of the content, it’s vital multiple people have read and re-read the copy to ensure there are no mistakes or typooos.
- Schedule emails to send to different groups at different times. This can usually be automated, and means if a mistake does sneak through, you can fix this before it goes to your whole database.
- Be careful about where you outsource your blog writing and content marketing. Our sister company Thirty Seven uses experienced journalists to write blogs for their clients. But we’ve heard all sorts of horror stories of agencies using junior team members who have not had appropriate writing skills training.
- Just as designers have a set of visual brand guidelines in place, writers should have a short document they can refer to that gives guidance on tone of voice and areas to watch out for.
If you are looking to learn new skills in 2022 or develop existing ones, the Media Team Academy has you covered. Combining communication masterclasses, personal development training, access to our on-demand online courses, and much more, the Academy is a programme that will keep you learning all year.
We are still left with one crucial unanswered question. Is it possible for energy companies to provide meaningful money-saving tips that don’t risk damage to their reputation or encourage customers to recover a hula hoop from the depths of the shed?
Well, in short, yes.
For example, turning your thermostat down can have significant financial benefits. According to the Money Saving Expert website, for each degree you cut the thermostat, a typical home could save around £65 a year.
Similarly, reducing the time you spend in a shower by just a minute could save £75 on energy bills and more than £100 on water bills.
The Energy Saving Trust advises turning devices, such as TVs, off standby can save around £40 a year.
And, during these times when many of us are working from home, it is worth keeping a closer eye on the kettle. Avoiding overfilling it can save £8 a year on electricity bills.
Radiator thermostats enable you to control the temperature in your home room by room and can save you around £85 a year, although there is an initial outlay. And finding where those annoying draughts are coming from, and tacking them with draught excluders, can cut two per cent off energy bills - around £30 a year.
Crisis communication and energy-saving tips in one blog – who would have thought it?
Media First are media and communications training specialists with over 35 years of experience. We have a team of trainers, each with decades of experience working as journalists, presenters, communications coaches and media trainers.
Click here to find out more about our practical crisis communication and media training.
