Energy giants SSE and npower take different routes to our winter wallets

Companies all over the place are trying to show us they’re our friend – not easy when, among other things, they’re trying to whack up prices as the once-great GBP plumbs new post-Brexit vote depths.

This is a bigger ask for energy companies than most as they’ve been ripping us off for years.

Adam&eveDDB, in that cunning way it has, unveiled a cuddly orang-utan for SSE last year – do they ever escape their enclosures and what do they do if they do? – and it’s back with what looks like quite a good offer, fixing your boiler for free if you take out insurance afterwards. At least then you can contemplate the costs of the insurance with un-frozen fingers.

Spot on for the winter, let’s hope there isn’t a catch.

MAA creative scale: 7.

Rival npower has a new agency, FCB inferno, and hence a new campaign – ‘Family Super Powers.’ This is another campaign featuring ‘real people,’ last seen here in CHI’s new campaign for TalkTalk. What are all those poor actors who used to make a living out of commercials going to do?

Npower head of marketing Edward Madden says: “As a provider of energy to almost three million busy British homes, we understand that gas and electricity are rarely front of mind. People do however want to feel in control of their home’s heat, light, hot water and bills. At npower, we believe it’s our job to make this happen and help simplify our customers’ busy home lives. ‘Super Powers’ and the tag line ‘You have the npower’ have been created to communicate this in an entertaining and engaging way.”

It’s quite winning in the school of countless reality shows. Is it the way to sell energy?

Looks to me as though SSE is trying to recruit customers (course it is you muppet) while npower, in this anyway, is trying to keep them.

MAA creative scale: 7.