It’s Not Always About Ads

Challenge:

The UK EV charging market was highly fragmented due to borough-level infrastructure and intense competition. Our client struggled to gain traction and initially sought a traditional marketing plan to increase market share. However, our consumer-first approach revealed that the real issue wasn’t awareness but consumer behavior. Because home chargers were rarely considered in advance, buyers typically made rushed, unresearched decisions based on whatever was immediately accessible after purchasing their EV. Additionally, dealerships lacking incentives did little to introduce better options.

Approach:

Rather than competing on visibility alone, we embedded our client’s charger into the decision-making process at two critical points: dealerships and high-EV-adoption regions.

We partnered with emerging EV brands and independent dealerships lacking existing charging alliances, securing first-mover advantage before competitors could establish exclusivity. To drive engagement, we structured an incentive program that aligned with dealership sales models, ensuring active promotion of our client’s charger. Using Commitment Bias, we integrated it into dealership workflows, making it the default recommendation rather than an optional add-on.

Simultaneously, we leveraged EV registration data to target high-adoption areas, focusing outreach where buyers were most likely to need a charger. To shift consumer behavior, we reframed home charging as a pre-purchase decision, using Pre-Suasion to encourage buyers to book a consultation before finalising their EV purchase. A geo-targeted bidding strategy maximised impact by concentrating marketing spend on EV hotspots, ensuring messaging reached the right audience at the right time.

Outcome:

By redesigning the consumer journey instead of relying on traditional advertising, we transformed how and when buyers made charging decisions. This ensured our client’s charger was chosen at the most critical decision-making moments, leading to:

• 50% increase in dealership-led charger sales

• 20% increase in customer acquisition through a refined digital marketing approach

This asymmetrical strategy positioned our client as the go-to choice in a crowded market, creating a sustainable competitive advantage.