What it had to solve
Educate customers in Berkeley, Georgetown and Horry counties to shift appliance use outside daily peak intervals: 3–6 p.m. April–October, 6–9 a.m. November–March.
How it works
Ads follow the two families — grandparents to kids — trying to outpace each other in lowering energy fees by re-timing dishwashers, air conditioners, washers and dryers, under the tagline 'Defeat the Peak. Bank the Savings.' Created and produced entirely in-house by agency of record Brandon (part of TBA Worldwide), shot on a Fisher 11 dolly nicknamed The Daymaker.
What it did
Runs through the end of 2025 across digital OOH, online video, connected TV and OTT, paid social and video ads; the in-house production model was credited with faster decisions and real-time client feedback.
Background
Santee Cooper, South Carolina's largest power and water utility, launched a campaign teaching customers to shift energy use out of daily peak intervals — 3–6 p.m. from April to October, 6–9 a.m. from November to March — so they could control bills once the new rate structure took effect.
The creative device is a light-hearted neighbourhood war: two households, the Santees and the Coopers, compete to see which family can outpace the other in lowering energy fees, with everyone from grandparents to kids re-timing the dishwasher, air conditioner, washer and dryer. The tagline: 'Defeat the Peak. Bank the Savings.'
The campaign was created and produced entirely in-house by agency of record Brandon, part of the TBA Worldwide collective. In-house director Ben Cantrell credited daily check-ins and a Fisher 11 dolly — 'The Daymaker' — with letting the team move fast without laying track; the work runs through the end of 2025 across digital OOH, online video, connected TV and OTT, paid social and video ads.
Why it lands
Rate structures are abstract; a family-vs-family race makes peak hours a scoreboard customers can act on.
Every tip in the ads is a specific appliance at a specific time, so education converts directly into behaviour.
In-house production kept the utility's message accurate while moving at campaign speed — the process was part of the pitch.
What you can take
Utility education lands as entertainment: give a rate-structure change a storyline and a rivalry, and households remember to move the dishwasher.
Since then
The campaign was live from February 2025 with a run planned through the end of the year across digital OOH, online video, CTV/OTT, paid social and video ads in the utility's Berkeley, Georgetown and Horry county service areas.
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