Nigeria

Exploration in Environmentally-Sensitive Locations

Energy

Abuja, Benin City, Ibadan, Lagos and Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Solutions

Challenge

An energy company was struggling to gain local support for an upcoming provincial referendum that would allow exploration in environmentally-sensitive areas. The company’s messaging to voters about the many local economic-benefits of expanded drilling and its comprehensive environmental risk management program was not swaying voters as less than 20% of the population supported expansion.

Solution

A  Madison Springfield multidisciplinary team comprised of social scientists and local researchers carried out a research study on the voting-aged population. The study revealed three distinct audience segments that could be persuaded to vote "yes" on the drilling referendum. Segment-specific campaigns were designed and executed to include engagement of the key influencers for each target segment. Lastly, a "war room" was established to monitor key behavioral measures such as attendance at company-sponsored events, social media activity, and prevailing economic conditions.

Result

 Madison Springfield's data-driven recommendations enabled the client to precisely and effectively target those audience segments that would support the referendum. After the launch of the engagement campaign, monitoring of prevailing attitudes and behavior revealed a steady increase in support of the company and its activities. For example, enrollment in a company-sponsored apprenticeship program more than doubled. On election day, the referendum passed easily.