It was far from common just two years ago to identify an electric utility with a senior executive responsible for proactive marketing activities. Today, such people are relatively easy to find. Often they report directly to the CEO.
The waves of utility downsizings and corporate reorganizations have brought the realization that electricity will need to be sold, serviced, and strategically marketed to customers large and small. Positions that have disappeared in various administrative and technical support areas are showing up in marketing, often for the first time, according to a focused survey of 25 utilities.
At least two utilities have hired executives to ply their significant experience in consumer packaged goods; a handful of others have reached out to the telecommunications industry for the savvy honed in the telephone wars since the breakup of Ma Bell.
Even more telling is the growing number of electric utilities that separate marketing from sales and customer service. Pacific Gas and Electric Co. recently placed one vice president in charge of sales and another in charge of marketing. The most common title for the marketing chief at utilities is senior vice president of marketing. Where there isn't such a person, sometimes the CEO himself brings the marketing sophistication to the boardroom. That's the case at LG&E Energy, where Roger Hale draws on his experience as former marketing officer at Bell South.
Recasting DSM