In 2020, Synergy enlisted GPJ to create a new, interactive way for their customers to increase their energy literacy. With this knowledge Synergy’s customers would become more empowered to make changes which could reduce their energy bills and also build their understanding of when and where they could access greater support should it be needed.
Using design thinking principals, Synergy and GPJ conducted focus groups, customer interviews and online surveys to better understand customer concerns, their current energy literacy, their go-to learning techniques and the games that put a smile on their face. We discovered there was a clear appetite for a game that would help customers improve their energy literacy.
And so, we created Power Up: an educational platform housing fun, WA-inspired, character-based games designed to help customers learn about energy efficiency in a new way. As they play and try to ‘level up’ their characters by earning energy points, customers have the chance to earn online achievements and rewards to incentivise their learning experience.
Both games were developed with five learning objectives built directly into the game mechanics, levels and puzzles. Solving and progressing through the games imbued and reinforced these educational topics about energy.
The pilot surpassed all expectations:
- Over 3,000 customers registered
- ⅓ were highly engaged and on average reached level 5 in the Energy Odyssey game
- More than ½ saved the energy-saving tips
- ⅓ aced the quick quiz questions
- All customers were exposed to activities related to the defined learning objectives to increase their energy literacy, better understand how to read and interpret their bills and better understand new energy technologies and their benefits