October 2007

Touchstone Energy $avers Are Perfect Additions to Websites

Hot-Air Balloon Completes Record-Breaking Season

Call to Action for Brand Leaders

Upcoming Events and Web Conferences

Got Sites? Take the SitesAcrossAmerica Challenge!

Co-op Connections Offers Special Limited Time Promotions, New CFL Deal with GE

'Premium Sites' Feature Added to SitesAcrossAmerica.com

Alabama Co-op Honors Linemen with Power & Hope Award

Correction

Share Your Brand-Building Success Stories

Touchstone Energy $avers Are Perfect Additions to Websites


Quick, easy steps to residential energy efficiency are just a few mouse clicks away for co-op members, thanks to a new set of animated applications known as “Touchstone Energy $avers."  The Lightbulb Energy Saver, Kids Energy Zone, Water Heater Energy Saver and Virtual House Tour all provide access to tips and information on energy efficiency that co-op members can understand and implement in their homes. Co-ops will soon be able to access customized links to each individual application that they can place on their Web sites to provide to their members. For now, co-ops are encouraged to link members directly to www.touchstoneenergysavers.com. The logos for the Kids Energy Zone and Touchstone Energy $avers can be downloaded from the Touchstone Energy Web site.


For more information, contact Kristine Jackson-DeJarnette at Kristine.Jackson-DeJarnette@nreca.coop or 703.907.5633.

Hot-Air Balloon Completes Record-Breaking Season


The Touchstone Energy Hot Air Balloon team had a busy 2007 season, making flights on 70 different days, the most since the balloon program’s launch in 2000. The three-balloon fleet made stops at dozens of annual meetings and other community events across the country.

According to chief pilot and Cooperative Balloon Associates general manager Cheri White, the season also included flights in three new states—Wyoming, Tennessee and Washington. The balloon also made first-time appearances at two major national events: the Babe Ruth Little League World Series, held in Andalusia, Ala., and Register’s Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. Pictured at right is the Touchstone Energy balloon in action at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta, an annual tradition for the balloon and the largest ballooning event in the world.

The final stop of the season was at school in Sierra Vista, Ariz. “It was a great flight for us—the students at the school were really excited about the balloon and we were able to take several teachers up for a flight,” said White. “We had a great season of promoting electric cooperatives and the Touchstone Energy brand, and are looking forward to next year!”

For information on booking the balloon, go to www.cbaballoon.com.

 

Call to Action for Brand Leaders

Touchstone Energy Announces Plans for New Patriotic Tribute

In keeping with its annual tradition, Touchstone Energy will honor America’s military with a patriotic video tribute, which will be made available to all cooperatives in early 2008 and debut at the Touchstone Energy Annual Meeting in February. The video will feature a photo collage of co-op members, employees, family and friends, serving in uniform overseas.

Touchstone Energy national staff needs assistance from brand leaders in collecting these photos. Please contribute photos by uploading them to an online FTP site:

The preferred file formats for photographs are .tif, .jpg, or .eps at a resolution of 300dpi. All photos should be saved with the name(s) of the person(s) in the photograph and which co-op they represent in the file name (example: TomSmith_IrwinEMC.tif).
 
For more information, contact Erin Keogh at 703.907.5572 or erin.keogh@nreca.coop.

 

Upcoming Events and Web Conferences


 2008 New and Emerging Technologies Conference (NET2008)

Jan. 30-31, 2008  Westin Hilton Head Island Resort, South Carolina
Pre-Conference events: Jan. 28-29

  
    ---A new Energy Managers’ Summit, up-to-the-minute information on renewable and nuclear energy technologies and valuable networking opportunities are just a few reasons to register now for NET2008. Click here for complete conference details and agenda, or contact Kathryn Momot at 703.907.5707 or Kathryn.momot@nreca.coop.

2008 Connect Conference
May 13-16, 2008  Hilton Portland and Executive Tower Hotel, Portland, Oregon 

 

National SitesAcrossAmerica.com Challenge
Sept. 4-Dec.4, 2007 (see article below for details) 
 
Business Customers Speak Up On Energy & the Environment (Web conference)
November 6, 2007 1:00-2:00 p.m. ET

Site Selectors Tell All: An Inside Look at Why They Choose You or Pass You Over (Web Conference)
November 28, 2007  1:00-2:00 p.m. ET

In the Pipeline: Be in the Know About Your Top Oil and Gas Pipeline Customers (Web Conference)
December 5, 2007  1:00-2:00 p.m. ET (rescheduled from October 2)

Got Sites? Take the SitesAcrossAmerica Challenge!

Midwest Region Leads Competition

As reported in last month’s Brand News, SitesAcrossAmerica.com, Touchstone Energy’s free online database for available sites and buildings, has issued a challenge to Touchstone Energy co-ops nationwide. The SitesAcrossAmerica.com Challenge is an opportunity for co-ops that haven't taken advantage of the tool to get off the sidelines, and motivation for co-ops that have properties listed, but haven't updated them recently, to get back in the ring! During a 90-day period, co-ops will contend, by region, to list as many properties as possible on the site.

Current standings by region:
Midwest--144
Southeast--75
West--65

The Top Co-op Contenders:
Baldwin County EMC, Alabama--45
Kootenai Electric Co-op, Idaho--38
Northeastern REMC, Indiana--34

The Challenge concludes on Dec. 4, 2007. Each participant from the winning region will receive a special Touchstone Energy t-shirt and recognition in Touchstone Energy communications. The individual participant from each region who lists the most properties will win an iPod and will be recognized during the NET2008 Conference in Hilton Head, S.C., Jan. 30-31, 2008.
 
Learn more about the competition and bookmark the page to keep current on the scores. For more information, contact Ryan Schoenike at 703.907.5561.

Co-op Connections Offers Special Limited Time Promotions, New CFL Deal with GE


Touchstone Energy co-ops participating in the Co-op Connections member identity and benefit program have several new promotions to offer their members through www.connections.coop.

Building on an existing deal with Anna’s Gourmet Goodies, cardholders can receive 15 percent off ‘Cup of Carolina’ baskets, which make perfect holiday gifts. Available in regular and large, they feature gourmet baked goods, fresh roasted coffee, cashews and toffee from North Carolina vendors. The offer expires Dec. 31, 2007. Use access code 'TEC1T' when ordering online.
 
Through Dec. 31, Co-op Connections cardholders receive exclusive access to special coupons for free products when they sign up for a membership with premier warehouse club Costco. Cardholders can apply online using the access code ‘22019’ or print out the application form online and take it to a membership counter at any Costco store.

‘Change a Light, Change the World’
Co-op Connections encourages cardholders to take GE’s ‘Change a Light, Change the World’ pledge to replace at least one light bulb in their home with a compact fluorescent light bulb. Once the pledge is made online, cardholders can download a coupon good for $1 off a GE Energy Smart compact fluorescent light bulb, valid wherever GE products are sold.

Visit www.connections.coop for complete details, or contact Scott Bialick at scott.bialick@nreca.coop.

'Premium Sites' Feature Added to SitesAcrossAmerica.com


SitesAcrossAmerica.com, the free online database for cooperatives' available properties, has a new feature designed to draw even more attention to posted properties and help cooperatives bring business to their communities. A 'Premium Sites' designation showcases those properties on SitesAcrossAmerica deemed to be 'shovel-ready,' or ready-for-development. The criteria for this designation was devised by site selection decision-makers with expertise in economic development.

Cooperatives that would like to designate properties already posted on SitesAcrossAmerica as 'premium sites' or post new properties to the can do so by visiting www.sitesacrossamerica.com, clicking on 'submit site info' and entering username: coopsites and password:  buildings.

For more information, contact Kristine Jackson-DeJarnette at 703.907.5633 or kristine.jackson-dejarnette@nreca.coop.

Co-ops Meet With Top Site Selectors

A group of Touchstone Energy cooperatives recently had an opportunity to meet with leading site selectors to discuss industry trends in energy efficiency, regionalism, transportation, site selection decision-making and other relevant topics. The results of the roundtable discussion can be found online.

Alabama Co-op Honors Linemen with Power & Hope Award


Two employees from Baldwin EMC (Summerdale, Ala.) were recently honored with a Touchstone Energy Power & Hope Employee Recognition Award for actions that saved the life of a man in April. Linemen Kenny Foley and Tony Rice came to the aid of James Goree after he suffered a heart attack on a public beach in Gulf Shores, Ala. The two used a portable automatic external defibrillator to bring Goree, whose heart had stopped beating, out of cardiac arrest.

In addition to the Power & Hope Award, considered Baldwin EMC’s most prestigious accolade, Foley and Rice were honored with a special resolution from the State of Alabama commending their heroic actions.

A healthy James Goree (center) was on hand to be a part of the award presentation, along with Baldwin EMC Board President Tom Helton, Alabama Speaker of the House Seth Hammett, AEC Vice President of Government and Economic Affairs Horace Horn, and Baldwin EMC General Manager Bucky Jakins.

The Power & Hope Employee Recognition Program gives co-ops a way to honor employees who respond extraordinarily to aid fellow co-ops and members in challenging times. While the recognition program was conceived on the heels of the 2005 hurricane season, the award is not limited to aid provided during natural disasters.

The award is intended to be a national honor, but is designed to be implemented locally. Once a recipient is selected by co-op management, a variety of design concepts, available online, can be applied to plaques, shirts, decals, patches, lapel pins or any other appropriate medium.

Correction


In the September Brand News, a story on Boone Electric Cooperative’s ACSI score incorrectly notes the co-op’s location as Columbia, Mississippi. The co-op is located in Columbia, Missouri.

Editor, Erin Keogh
erin.keogh@nreca.coop
703.907.5572