To deepen member satisfaction and foster a stronger connection to the value of cooperative membership, Fort Collins, Colorado-based PVREA embarked on a campaign last year, the Poudre Valley Difference,  led by Strategic Communications Director Sam Taggart.

Using a multilayered approach leveraging in-house expertise, behavioral data and employee activism, the campaign hit the right note with members, resulting in higher satisfaction and engagement and a stronger connection to the co-op.

For their efforts, PVREA is the 2025 recipient of the Edgar F. Chesnutt Award for Best Total Communication Program, presented May 13 during NRECA's Connect Conference in Kansas City, Missouri. The award, the highest honor bestowed by the Spotlight on Excellence Awards program, is named for Edgar F. Chesnutt, manager of corporate communication for Arkansas Electric Cooperatives from 1961 until 1987.

“This wasn’t just a communications team project,” said Taggart. “It was a co-op-wide effort. Our colleagues live out the Poudre Valley difference daily. We just needed to say that in a way our members could understand and connect to.”

As other utilities faced backlash for rate hikes and service issues, PVREA leveraged accomplishments cited in its Path to 2030 Strategy Map, an organizational blueprint focused on enhancing the co-op’s strengths in value, dependability and exceptional service. 

Using competitive rate analysis, data from the Institute of Electrical Engineers and American Customer Satisfaction Index® (ACSI) benchmarks, “we found the facts that differentiated us from other utilities and would resonate with members,” Taggart said.

“We had to stop being modest about our strengths of continued affordability, nationally ranked reliability and best-in-class service,” said Taggart. “Our team came together to celebrate and share the work we’ve done so well for so long.”

Internal feedback helped identify member touchpoints, ensuring the campaign connected at every level, while internal events and communications ensured everyone told the same story, Taggart said. Empowering employees “enabled us to get our message out in way more ways than we could alone with just traditional communications channels.”

The campaign met its objectives. “ACSI scores hit their highest levels, community feedback was overwhelmingly positive, and employee engagement was through the roof,” he said.

“Changing perceptions is probably the hardest of all campaign goals,” wrote a Chesnutt judge. 

“This campaign had a big task to accomplish and with such careful and thorough planning, you were able to pull it off, which is quite a feat.”