Thought-Leadership Marketing

Client:

Amperon

Industry:

Utilities

Challenge:

Present Amperon’s subject-matter expertise to raise awareness for the company and the value they create for participants in wholesale electricity markets.

What We Did:

• Interviewed leadership and internal subject matter experts

• Developed concept outlines and media pitches

• Drafted white papers, op-eds and blog posts

• Placed op-eds with industry media outlets

• Pitched podcast guest appearances

How We Did it:

Amperon was founded in 2018 to bring cutting edge analytical technology to utility industry forecasts. To that end, they assembled a team with top-tier talent in data science, artificial intelligence and meteorology, as well as deep experience in energy markets. Following a successful Series A funding in 2022, Amperon engaged us to begin a consistent program of thought-leadership marketing. In collaboration with their new marketing lead, we established a content strategy centered around white papers and promotional content that would raise industry awareness of the company, while showcasing their deep expertise and educating potential customers.

Each whitepaper is aligned with Amperon’s near-term business goals for its expanding suite of analytical and forecasting services. The content development process then begins by interviewing Amperon’s subject matter experts, who explain the complexities of data models, machine-learning algorithms, market operations and much more. Following the interviews, our job is to develop a concept outline and ultimately draft a paper that balances the audience’s informational needs with the marketing goals. After drafting the whitepaper, we refine the main strategic concepts into a short op-ed that we pitch to our editorial contacts at industry publications. Then, any valuable deep-dive information that didn’t make it into the white paper is put into a blog post for Amperon’s website.

Outcomes:

To date, we’ve developed four white papers that Amperon has used to explain the strategic value of different forecasting services to different market participants. In addition, we’ve developed four op-eds and successfully placed them in industry publications to help promote each paper. Supplemental blog posts have also helped drive downloads of the white papers while serving the needs of more knowledgeable audience members.

In 2024, we expanded our work with Amperon to include the development of quarterly Q&As with Amperon CEO Sean Kelly and to pitch him as a guest for industry podcasts. He appeared on The Power Podcast in March 2025, and another guest appearance is in the works.

“I met Bart before Amperon even had a marketing team, and I was impressed with the quality of the content he was producing for other industry vendors,” Kelly said. “As soon as we hired our marketing lead, I introduced them and said, ‘Get this guy going for us.’ It’s been a great partnership ever since, and we couldn’t be happier with what he’s been able to help us achieve.”

Industry Report Development

Client:
Itron

Industry:
Utilities

Challenge: 
Quickly develop a compelling report for the first-ever virtual Itron Utility Week (IUW) conference. 

What We Did:

• Developed survey questions for the IUW Advisory Board

• Analyzed responses 

• Drafted executive summary and response summaries

• Selected and edited quotes

• Edited Advisory Board bios for consistency

How We Did It:
We’ve developed white papers, case studies and op-eds for Itron in the past, so we were able to get a quick start on this project. In fact, we were in the middle of developing a white paper on distributed intelligence capabilities when the need arose for a piece of content that could give greater visibility to the Advisory Board for the annual Itron Utility Week conference. Typically, board members, who work at large and small utilities across the U.S., play an active role in the three-day event, which brings together thousands of industry professionals. However, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the event was taking place virtually for the first time, and Itron wanted to ensure that the Advisory Board’s perspectives were well-represented.

A little over a month before the event, we developed three survey questions with a chronological thread that inherently linked responses to a compelling narrative about the conference’s theme—innovation. By exploring how utilities responded to the pandemic, we also were able to reinforce the timeliness of Itron’s most recent Resourcefulness Report on disaster preparedness. As survey responses trickled in from Advisory Board members, we quickly analyzed them for themes and outstanding quotes. With an eye on our hard deadline, we began drafting, editing and assembling the different parts of the report as soon as we had enough material to do so, adding new pieces as they became available up to the last minute.

Outcomes:
Despite the tight deadline and limited responses from the Advisory Board, we met the deadline, giving Itron’s marketing team enough time to review the content and pass it along to internal graphic designers. Ultimately, the 15-page report was downloaded more than 2,000 times in the weeks surrounding the event and drew praise from Advisory Board members and attendees.

“We were extremely fortunate to have Bart handling our conference Advisory Board report,” said Itron’s Senior Content Marketing Manager, Marc Heimbigner. “Our entire team was busy handling other challenges associated with moving the conference online, so we had very little time to give to this important piece. Bart simply picked it up and took care of it. He knew immediately what we were after and how to pull it together. In fact, the copy he submitted as a first draft was essentially the finished product. Bart’s an absolute pro at what he does and a pleasure to work with. That’s why he’s become our go-to guy over the last few years.”