By GREGORY ZELLER //
A financial-solutions provider with a billion-dollar energy-efficiency record and a long list of satisfied clients has completed its biggest makeover of all: its own.
Two decades after launching its mission – help school districts and municipalities rein in energy and facilities-maintenance costs, turn those savings into proactive capital improvements – the Smithtown-based ECG Group has rebranded as Energia, with the help of Huntington-based media hub Brandtelling.
Launched in 1998 by founder George Lawrence, the ECG Group completed 125-plus energy-savings projects through the end of 2021, with a combined budget exceeding $1 billion – work that resulted in more than $56 million in annual energy savings, which dozens of school districts have converted into sustainable, sometimes critical facility improvements.
Its unique expertise in helping districts stretch their dollars all the way to 21st Century energy efficiency gave the firm a multistate presence – with operations in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Jersey, North Carolina and Pennsylvania – and a healthy shine.
Kendra McQuilton: A matter of perspective.
But “we knew we needed a fresh perspective,” said CEO Kendra McQuilton, a 21-year employee who succeeded Lawrence, her father, as owner in 2016 (a rare distinction in the engineering sector).
“Our original company name had been around for more than 20 years,” McQuilton told Innovate Long Island. “We have rebranded to better reflect our passion, direction and expansion into new markets.”
Doubling the risk of this particular rebrand was the new name, chosen by the CEO and her team. McQuilton really likes “Energia,” which she believes “expresses movement and direction” – ideal qualities for her always-evolving operation.
“In Latin, it means both ‘human energy’ and ‘energy efficiency,’” the CEO added. “We feel it’s perfect to reflect the bold new directions and aspirations we have for the company.”
Unfortunately, the international energy space is filled with forward thinkers who agree completely – many with similar agendas. There’s Energia, stage name of Hiroshima, Japan-based Chugoku Electric Power Co., which focuses on the development of new energy sources; there’s Dublin-based Energia, a major-league Irish power utility, and CPFL Energia, Brazil’s second-largest private group of electricity generators and distributors. The list goes on.
While the “Energia” waters are crowded, it really was the right fit for the rebrand, according to Brandtelling Principal and “Chief Brandteller” Arthur Germain.
“We did feel what Kendra was saying – it was a strong name,” Germain said. “We wanted a name that meant ‘energy’ and meant ‘strength’ and added to the idea of transformation.”
And above all else, the rebranding ace – who led his own successful shop through a recent corporate remodeling – was determined to stay out of the alphabet soup. Acronyms are “really confusing,” Germain noted, especially in the engineering space, where they’re also plentiful.
“We wanted to get away from using another acronym in an acronym-filled sea,” he said. “Who’s the end customer here – school superintendents? Municipal administrators?
“Do they understand what ‘ECG’ stands for, or even know what an EPC is?”
Arthur Germain: Acronym acrimony.
That’s an Energy Performance Contract, Germain noted, and the answer from McQuilton et al was “no.” So Brandtelling embraced “Energia,” characterizing both a business in motion and a business with transparent goals.
“Let’s make a brand promise of transparency and transformation, and let’s really mean it,” Germain added. “And best of all, it’s not an acronym – it’s an actual word.”
Brandtelling’s work included a new website design and new logo that evokes a butterfly wing, the chief brandteller said, with a color scheme representing the earth, sky and sun, all of which “represents the brand promise.”
The Huntington shop has received “really positive feedback” on the Energia project, according to Germain, who is now working with the Smithtown innovator to “convey that excitement and new message” – including ensuring that long-term customers know precisely whom they’re dealing with.
“Is everybody going to understand who Energia is on Day One? No,” Germain noted. “We have to work forward to get school districts and everyone else to understand this is the same company they have relied on and respected for years.
“But the new name is more reflective of their mission,” he added. “The new brand is more reflective of the promise they make.”
With the new visuals and refreshed messaging in place, Energia is indeed refocusing on its mission to help schools, municipal governments and other organizations achieve short-term savings that lead to new HVAC equipment, solar energy technologies and other long-term economic and ecological wins.
“Brandtelling quickly proved to understand where we were and where we needed to go, and provided the right support to get us there,” McQuilton said. “Brandtelling was a great partner in helping us tell our story.”
