Duke Energy has launched a new storytelling website focusing on people, energy and the environment and on Duke itself. Called Illumination, it grew out of an internal site aimed at employees.
“What we realized is that a lot of the stories we’ve been sharing with employees could be of great interest to either broad or niche audiences outside of Duke Energy,” says co-editor Greg Efthimiou.
He says the goal is to build Duke’s brand and deliver something more than outage updates for social media followers. It’s called “brand journalism.”
“A lot of companies have found, especially with the advent of social media, that brand journalism’s a way to connect directly to the company’s audiences. And for us, we’ll do that through social media and through an email distribution list that we’re building through visitors to our site and people who subscribe,” Efthimiou says.
Other large companies that have set up brand journalism sites include Wells Fargo, Carolinas Healthcare System, Southwest Airlines, GE and Coca-Cola.
Stories on Duke’s site right now include a report on the two-year anniversary of the Dan River coal ash spill, a video showing old coal plants being imploded, a feature on the Tuskegee Airmen of World War Two and a commentary on stargazing and light pollution.
The new site is at illumination.duke-energy.com.
