The larger-than-life education and awareness campaign combined paid and organic digital media strategies with on-the-ground efforts from partner organizations to reach California’s diverse consumers.
Veloz’s 2022-2023 Myths Busting Myths Electric For All campaign, which rounded up Sasquatch, a family of Martians, a unicorn and the Tooth Fairy to build on the continued public interest for EVs and help overcome the “mythical” barriers to EV adoption, delivered unprecedented results including over 145 million impressions, 58 million video views and audio listens, over 1.13 million visits to ElectricForAll.org, over 77,000 consumer conversions and nearly 15,000 in-person interactions with campaign and EV education materials.
Throughout the campaign, Veloz partnered with a third-party research firm, Hall & Partners, to execute a three-wave research study around general consumer sentiment about EVs and the campaign’s effectiveness. The study ultimately showed that, while the campaign was successful in increasing EV awareness and consideration, range anxiety and price remain a top barrier, tax credits and incentives continue to need messaging support, charging infrastructure improvements are a critical component, and improving air quality and reducing CO2 emissions are key purchase drivers for consumers.
“The entire campaign — from inception to production to execution — aimed to reach diverse and historically under-served communities to educate, inspire and dispel the myths holding people back from choosing to go electric,” said Josh D. Boone, Veloz’s Executive Director. “Over the last decade, we have seen broad awareness of EVs skyrocket in California and across the nation, and the incredible results of this effort show that consumers are excited about our electrified future and want to know more, especially as we move into mass-market adoption.”
The $5 million effort launched in September 2022 with hilarious video spots directed by Eric André — stand-up comedian, actor, producer, television host and writer most known for his Netflix movie “Bad Trip” and his comedy series “The Eric André Show.” Over the course of the 15-month campaign, which wrapped up in December 2023, the always-on paid media strategy included heavy-up periods during key potential purchase seasons and events, with a minimum of 50% of the total media buy committed to priority communities in California.
From paid media on channels such as programmatic Connected TV (CTV), video, audio, display, native, Gas Station TV, paid social, paid search, and billboards and outdoor projections in four major cities throughout the state, to organic efforts including public relations outreach, in-kind public service segments and social media engagement — the campaign focused on sending consumers to ElectricForAll.org’s innovative research and shopping tools that make going electric easy. Veloz also created ElectricForAll.org/es, which allowed Spanish-language advertisements to be linked directly to a Spanish-language website.
New to Veloz’s tradition of delivering high-powered media campaigns, partner organizations were brought in thanks to a California Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development’s (GO-Biz) ZEV Consumer Awareness Grant. The grant support allowed partner organizations, including Charge Across Town, Ecology Action, ETcommunity, EVNoire, GRID Alternatives, the Hydrogen Fuel Cell Partnership, Rural County Representatives of California and Univision, to further their local work in the EV space while also spreading the statewide Electric For All message. From in-person EV ride and drive events in priority communities and focus groups surveying current ride-share drivers on the switch to EVs, to dedicated webinars to promote expedited electronic EV charging permitting, campaign partners amplified the messaging while bringing their proven community programs to the table to accelerate EV adoption.
Additional sponsors and in-kind partners of this campaign include Southern California Edison, Electrify America, Pacific Gas & Electric, Uber, Ava Community Energy, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, BMW North America, the California Air Resources Board, General Motors, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, San Diego Gas and Electric and Ford.
As Veloz moves on from the Myths Busting Myths campaign, the organization is setting its sights on improving the consumer EV experience, including geographic expansion of tools on ElectricForAll.org and additional organic consumer outreach efforts. “The industry needs brand neutral consumer EV education now more than ever and Veloz is continuing to improve our consumer tools and communications to meet that need,” said Boone. “Additionally, our job in the campaign space is not done, which was evidenced by the shift in advertising we saw at this year’s Super Bowl and our campaign research. Alongside our partners, Veloz is uniquely positioned to accelerate the shift to EVs through campaigns like Myths Busting Myths.”
To learn more about the full consumer education and awareness campaign, please visit ElectricForAll.org/campaign.