Who Do You Think You're Fooling, Invenergy?

 Now who do... who... who do you think you're fooling?

I got notice yesterday that Invenergy is sending this letter out to landowners along GBE's route.  There's a lot to argue about in this letter, in particular this imperious statement by Invenergy:

"Grain Belt Express will be seeking regulatory approval for this plan, which would also allow for project construction to proceed prior to approval in Illinois. In the meantime, as the proposed changes do not affect the approved route, project development activities are proceeding based on existing regulatory approvals.”

It sort of makes your head hurt, right?  "We need regulatory approval for a new plan" but on the other hand "we're proceeding to try to negotiate an easement based on the approval of our old plan."  Sounds to me like Invenergy doesn't have a valid approval for its current plan.  The route has absolutely nothing to do with it!

And then I got to the end of the letter.  The last paragraph positively smacks of poorly concocted propaganda.

Positive Energy: Pass it Along

Finally, 2020 has brought some significant challenges to the world. We believe that Positive Energy is needed now more than ever. Grain Belt will bring affordable power for families and businesses, jobs for workers, and local investment in school districts, and public services - that's positive energy. With everything going on in 2020, we want to pass along positive energy to you, and hope you do the same. These days we all need it.

For more information about the project visit the project website at www.GrainBeltExpress.com
and Follow us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/GrainBeltExpress.

What in the world does any of that have to do with landowner notification or easement negotiation?  Not a thing.  It's an incongruous insertion that's maybe supposed to have some psychological effect on the landowner reader... a little bit of "feel good" siphoned off the national coming-together in the initial days of Corona.  Sorry, Invenergy, that ship has sailed.

Did Invenergy and its PR contractors have a virtual meeting lately where landowner distrust and hatred were discussed as a problem to solve?  Did they cook up a new marketing slogan to deploy on landowners in order to make "feel good" happen while reading a letter talking about acquiring easements, and distract the landowner to engage with GBE for a positive reason?  Geek out, public relations geeks! 

The new branding statement is "Positive Energy."  It's capitalized like a proper noun.  It's designed to pop up with annoying frequency in GBE's marketing to landowners in order to replace all those hateful thoughts about GBE with Positive Energy!

Convinced that Positive Energy was some poorly designed marketing ploy, I took GBE up on its invitation to visit their Facebook page because I was pretty certain I'd find a glowing roll out of Positive Energy on social media.  I wasn't disappointed.  In fact, the whole exercise made me laugh for hours.

On GBE's Facebook page, there was this video. *

With everything going on in the world right now, we couldn’t think of a better time to focus on the positives. We’d love to hear your stories. We’ll start – We’ve been working with landowners across the country to build clean, reliable, low-cost energy solutions for communities. Let’s keep that energy flowing! Tell us stories of positive energy being passed in your community.

And someone had already commented to share their Positive Energy story!

Katie Hatfield-Edstrom
I've noticed more of those sidewalk share libraries pop up in our community lately. I love seeing them and so does my kiddo. The idea is so simple...give what you don't need anymore and take what you do. I've also seen small community pantries with non-perishables and small farmer stands. In times like this, it is nice to see people thinking of how they can share and help others out. I guess the food and books are just the Positive Energy that feeds our souls these days!

Isn't that interesting?  Miss Katie had capitalized Positive Energy in her comment.  Now what random person would be so cued into the marketing scheme of capitalizing the catch phrase like that?

I found it completely irresistible. 

Turns out that Katie the Commenter works for HDR.  HDR is a "strategic communications" contractor "that works to help our clients manage the social and political risk associated with infrastructure development."  HDR does this by "...specialize[ing] in grassroots education and outreach through existing social groups in communities. Our teams leverage web, video and social networking and are experienced with wide-scale media campaigns that include targeted digital, print, television and radio material."  Katie is the "Strategic Communications Power Sector Lead & Senior Coordinator" at HDR.  Her skills are:  "Katie is a skilled communication strategist that has expertise in message construction, audience analysis, and is trained in facilitation. Prior to her tenure with HDR, Katie was a university professor, specializing in public communications, campaigns and social movements, and media communications. As a senior coordinator, she is responsible for leading strategic communication efforts for our clients. Katie practices her understanding of communication while leading local, regional, and statewide projects. She excels in leveraging existing communication strategies, while employing fresh tools and technologies to achieve the best possible outcome for our clients."

Considering that Katie was the only commenter, and had her comment answered by "Grain Belt Express" saying "We love that!", I got a little curious about who was using the "Grain Belt Express" account as their sock puppet.  So, I asked:

Make sure the branding slogan is in caps, Katie from HDR, Grain Belt's public relations contractor.  Nice touch!  I just hope some other HDR employee is using the GBE profile, and you're not talking to yourself.

Suspecting what was about to happen next, I preserved this comment thread...  And wouldn't you know it?  GBE deleted my comment and Katie uncapitalized the words "positive energy" in her post within minutes.  If I was totally off base with my theory, there was no reason for Katie to edit her post (and it does say "edited") and certainly no reason to kill my post like a surprising hidden rattlesnake.

So, I renew my question... Who do?  Who?  Who do you think you're fooling, Katie, HDR and Invenergy?  Your attempts to change landowners' feelings about GBE don't seem to be working.  I'm not sure you really understand the problem you're trying to solve.

You've got to get up pretty early in the morning to fool a farmer.

Positive Fail.

P.S.  No hard feelings, Katie (because I know you're reading this).  I've been eating PR geeks for breakfast for more than a decade now.  You're certainly not the first.

*UPDATE:  Whoops!  It looks like Positive Energy has died an early death.  Invenergy/HDR/Katie simply deleted the entire Facebook thread about Positive Energy yesterday.  Positive Energy has been chucked out with the garbage.  However, it looks like Invenergy found something new to use while it was rooting through the trash yesterday.  Stay tuned!