Case Study: a major utilities provider rebuilds trust and boosts engagement with Collage Group

a major utilities provider rebuilds trust with Collage Group, boosting sentiment and engagement

A major utilities provider faced a significant crisis of public trust following natural disasters and rate increases, leading to customer frustration and skepticism. To rebuild credibility, especially with vulnerable communities, they engaged Collage Group. Using Collage’s Inclusive Marketing 3.0 principles and the Brand Cultural Fluency Quotient (B-CFQ) framework, a diagnostic revealed their messaging was misaligned with the experiences of their diverse customer base.

Collage Group guided the utility to launch a new video series and campaign focused on acknowledging hardships, communicating solutions, and depicting tangible support. Using pre-launch ad testing, they refined the creative for relevance and credibility. The solution led to a meaningful turnaround: trust metrics climbed among key demographics, engagement rates exceeded category benchmarks, and social sentiment shifted from criticism to optimism, positioning the company for long-term cultural fluency.