Utility companies, by the nature of their business, unavoidably will have to muddle through issues like outages and aggravated publics repetitively. Some customers may feel that utilities are sluggish in reacting, and project a “we don’t care” attitude considering that the customers don’t always have a choice about who provides the public services they need. With concerns like these, utility companies may have a hard time being among the most appreciated or liked brands. That’s why there are communications leaders and teams that take care of connecting with various publics that impact on the business. What’s critical is that utilities should have people providing service and engagement to their customers. And truth to tell, a little customer engagement can go a long way in keeping customers delighted—or at least patient and uncomplaining.
September is PR month. And PR Matters talked to another esteemed PR communications professional to generate key learnings from his practice. This time we have somebody from the utilities industry. He is a man of vision and a transformative leader. He is Meralco’s senior vice president and head of Customer Retail Services and Corporate Communications. He is Alfredo S. Panlilio, known to many as ASP.
Meralco, a 115-year-old company has infused a new philosophy to deliver better customer experience. With this business thinking, Meralco, through the solid leadership of Panlilio harnesses technological developments in the global energy space, and communicates relentlessly via multiple touch points including digital media. “Customer-centricity” was a business buzzword they “talk and walk.”
Panlilio as the communication leader of Meralco delivers communication programs that positively affect operational metrics, boost the corporate identity and add value to the lives of their customers. With these efforts, the company has reaped and continue to earn record recognition from communication award-giving bodies and brought the Meralco Customer Satisfaction Index (CSI)—a customer survey tool—to all-time highs, along with record revenue and profit numbers.
Panlilio joined Meralco in September 2010, taking with him more than 25 years of experience in broadcast, telecommunications and information-technology sectors. More than experience, he brought the aspiration to lead the company into a new era of customer service orientation and innovation. PR Matters engaged Panlilio with the following queries:
What are examples of PR communications programs or activities that you have championed over the years?
Panlilio: Based on our four stakeholders: customers and the public, shareholders, employees, and the regulator, Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC), Meralco, has implemented these communications programs primarily targeted at customers:
A Christmas destination called “Liwanag Park” featured brilliant display of lights, innovation and tradition. It engaged Meralco customers by creating a delightful experience for every Filipino and is tied to Meralco’s Christmas social responsibility program that lights up far-flung schools.
A tips and promotions campaign known as “Bright Ideas,” encouraged more efficient use of electricity. The program highlighted the cost efficiency, safety, and convenience of using induction heat cookers and 0.5HP air-cons, making consumers more conscious of electricity usage while enhancing their comfort.
The “Power Up Forums” gathered Meralco’s top corporate customers in both the public and private sectors to update them on the latest power industry trends and relevant services that would enhance customer operations to grow their businesses. Panlilio established the forum to empower customers and to make the partnership with Meralco stronger.
“Accredited Meralco Contractors [AMC],” an accreditation program allowed the selection of the best service providers, contractors, developers, and designers to handle the technical requirements for businesses, which later expanded into residential areas.
A subscription-based service of Meralco that adjusts rates based on “On-Peak/Off-Peak or POP” usage instead of basing them on averages, paved the way for greater cost savings and operational efficiency, especially for enterprises running 24-hour operations like BPOs.
An annual awards event dubbed as “Meralco Luminaries” acknowledged the innovation and excellence in strategy, thought leadership, collaboration, execution and use of technology by Meralco public and private-sector partners toward the nations journey to more energized future. Panlilio conceptualized this program to celebrate partnerships that other customers can emulate and benefit from.
Online touch points—Facebook, Twitter and Meralco web site were established. These platforms opened the communication lines between the company and its customers on a more personal level. Over the years, the move has enabled Meralco to swiftly act on customer reports on power interruptions, hasten processing of new accounts and manage expectations regarding power rates.
The most recent innovation making waves with the public is the new “Meralco Mobile app and Meralco Online” features. The mobile app allowed customers to pay directly to Meralco, wherever, whenever, while the Meralco Online powered up our homes and processed application for Meralco service using a mobile device or computer. With it, you can also report outages and receive updates on resolution, on top of managing your electric service, bills and notifications. The rejuvenated Meralco web site contains all the information the public needs, which are easy to access. Exemplified by Meralco’s hashtag #morepowertoyou, it is easy to see how the distribution utility is truly paving the way for more empowered customers and a brighter future for all.
How do you demonstrate outstanding PR communications strategy, skills and leadership in your organization?
After several strategic planning sessions, internally and with brand planning experts externally, Meralco redefined its brand architecture, adding innovation and customer centricity to its mix. The addition of these two elements altered Meralco’s customer communications materials from “business as usual” to “proactive service” with the goal to offer new services. This new brand architecture permeates all customer communications. To implement these programs, we created the Marketing and Customer Solutions and Innovations office, bringing on board consumer goods and communications people, and partnered with two integrated communications agencies.
In a bold, transformative move, customers were segmented into Corporate, Small and Medium Enterprise and Home and Microbusiness, to differentiate programs, tools, channels, activate previously unexplored touch points. We also organized around these customer segments to ensure end-to-end, seamless servicing.
After Meralco’s experience and success with its award-winning Twitter account and the revamp of its corporate web site, the next digital gamble was Facebook. Started in March 2011 we moved ahead with a Meralco Facebook fan page where customers can freely comment, rant and engage Meralco for customer service. After some calibrated marketing efforts and the gradual buildup of trained customer service staff, Meralco’s Facebook fan page serves as a platform for our customer service staff to answer queries with equal fervor and dedication.
Customer insights generated via market research and trends scanned from global trends have led to the exploration of innovations that will reshape the company’s 10-year horizon with new smart grid-based services: prepaid electricity that will lighten the burden among the masses, an online dashboard that will allow households to monitor their power consumption hourly and hence manage their expense, automated network devices that will allow Meralco to provide estimated times of power restoration and minimize outages, and electric vehicle (EV) charging stations among many. We also hatched the idea of beyond-the-meter services like Meralco Managed Services (MMS) which is a turn-key solution for companies who maintain data warehouses and building management systems.
What are the clear and specific measurements or indicators that showed the long-term and sustainable results or impact of your communication programs for the company and the stakeholders?
The biggest reward for the team and myself as a leader is the achievement of the highest customer satisfaction index for Meralco. “CSI” is Meralco’s survey of its customers across 12 metrics, which measures their satisfaction with Meralco’s services. It is a company-wide effort to delight customers, with communicating to them as the lead tool.
The other big reward is the recognition by a jury of peers. To date, Meralco has garnered 194 Quill Awards (the highest in Meralco’s corporate history) from the International Association of Business Communicators Philippines and 61 Anvil Awards from the Public Relations Society of the Philippines. We also won Quill Company of the Year four times and Quill Company of the Year First runner-up twice. Anvil named us PR Team of the Year in 2017.
Panlilio certainly has the experience and capability to lead the company to greater heights in using communication as a tool to achieve this. His vision has transformed Meralco from a utility company to a customer-centric partner and enabler of growth. But always with a nod to shareholders, employees and the regulator.
What key learnings from your challenging, but filling job can you share with readers of PR Matters?
There are several things I can share with, and they are lessons learned that can very well work with other industries and businesses:
Focus on our company’s reason for being. Our customers should always be our reason for being.
Constantly make our customers well-informed about who we are, what we do, and why we do what we do.
Embrace technological advancements, not only to revolutionize our organization, but the industry where we belong
Look for ways to better respond to and satisfy the evolving customer demands and requirements.
Create transparent messages, and utilize communication tools and platforms and be accountable for our numbers.
Be an inspirational communicator. Bring out the best in every member of the communication team.
Energize. Energize. Energize. It will make our work easier to handle.
In communication, tell the truth, be honest and be transparent.
Be proactive on issues. This way people can see what we are doing.
If we commit a mistake, say that we made a mistake.
Humanize the company through real talk on social-media posts and online newsrooms. Authenticity is very important to maintaining customer relationships. Establish a friendly, approachable social-media voice and have a process in place to be especially responsive during problem situations.
While we can’t always create miracles when attending to crisis, simply being responsive and authentic—telling customers we are working on issues and will be posting frequent updates—goes far in managing expectations.
There are so many things to learn from the utilities industry and Meralco’s experiences when it comes to PR and communication under the helm of Panlilio. And to this writer, these principles resonate: Be transparent, be authentic and communicate often. Be aware, even with the best communication practices in place, there will always be negative feedback, as it’s the very nature of the service business since satisfaction is so subjective.
PR Matters is a roundtable column by members of the local chapter of the United Kingdom-based International Public Relations Association (Ipra), the world’s premier organization for PR professionals around the world. Bong R. Osorio is a communications consultant of ABS-CBN Corp., SkyCable, Dentsu-Aegis Network, government projects among others, after retiring as vice president and head of the Corporate Communications Division of ABS-CBN.
We are devoting a special column each month to answer our readers’ questions about public relations. Please send your questions or comments to askipraphil@gmail.com.