Fueled By
Kansas
Kansas Corn was looking for a partner to help them promote the sale of ethanol in the state of Kansas, specifically targeting the Wichita market at first, with plans to expand to the entire state. The project included coming up with a creative campaign, and a communications strategy that would increase the sale of all biofuel offerings, but specially focus on the E15 blend, which can be used by 90% of vehicles on the road today.
​
After visiting with Kansas Corn about our process, we got to work on their communications plan by identifying their target audiences and personas prior to developing the look and feel for the overall campaign. Since the the higher ethanol blends that were to be promoted were Kansas grown, processed and consumed, we wanted to encourage Kansans to support local when it came to fuel consumption. From this, Fueled By Kansas was established to provide educational pieces regarding the benefits of Kansas-made ethanol while also encouraging fuel purchasers to consider selecting higher ethanol blends when fueling up.
From creating the fueledbykansas.com website, which included the development of a fuel calculator, to developing content used in a series of paid media including Google, YouTube, and social, we were able to help Kansans understand the benefits of higher ethanol blends while saving money at the fuel pump.
Once we established a presence for the brand, we began working to create specialized branded content for specific fueling stations which included a variety of signage and materials.
The results of the initial campaign were very positive in terms of sales, but we were plagued with online trolls and needed to pivot our messaging. We needed something people couldn’t argue with.
​
In the fall of 2019 we then pivoted our approach from focusing on education to that of emotion when we launched the "Hey Girl" campaign. While we were still providing the educational information we wanted to provide consumers, we also knew that we needed something that would be memorable. Our "Hey Girl" campaign consisted of three videos that aired on television stations from Wichita to Western Kansas, on a digital billboard that ran routes in Wichita, Central Kansas and Manhattan, KS, as well as on social.
Elements from the "E15 Hey Girl" campaign were also applied to t-shirts, hats, hose talkers, and pump toppers.
We have also assisted in promoting a number of fueling stations across Kansas that offer higher ethanol blends by creating postcards, billboard advertisements, and social media events to help continue to promote Kansas-made ethanol as a fuel choice to consider.
