Broad, Years-Long Effort Educates People on Lead Battery Facts, Sustainable Energy Storage

WASHINGTON, Sept. 6, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Battery Council International (BCI), its member companies and its strategic marketing partner, Activated Growth, are proof that years of collective dedication can create successful results. Case in point: BCI has won a 2023 Platinum dotComm Team Achievement Award. The honor acknowledges a years-long program, the Advancing Lead Battery Communications Initiative (ALBCI), to educate policymakers and stakeholders on the facts of lead batteries as a critical, sustainable energy storage solution.

An International Competition
BCI is the premier trade association for battery manufacturers and recyclers in North America. It received the award from dotComm Awards, an international competition that honors excellence in web creativity and digital communications. The Team Achievement Award recognizes a team whose body of work has created significant impact. The awards are administered and judged by the Association of Marketing & Communication Professionals (AMCP), a leading evaluator of creative marketing efforts in the digital realm.

BCI’s Vice President of Strategic Communications, Lisa Dry, has managed the ALBCI program since its launch in 2017. “Receiving the Team Achievement Award for our collective body of work is an honor that resonates both professionally and personally,” shared Dry. “Professionally, it signifies the remarkable power of collaboration, where diverse talents unite with a shared purpose to drive meaningful change. Personally, this award reflects the dedication and passion invested by each team member, underscoring our commitment to advancing the industry. Together, we’ve harnessed innovation and perseverance to illuminate how a brighter, sustainable future is possible with lead batteries. This recognition amplifies the significance of our journey.”

In addition to BCI and Activated Growth, companies receiving the team recognition are Clarios, East Penn Manufacturing Co., Ecobat, EnerSys, Interstate Batteries, Redland Energy Group, Stryten Energy, The Doe Run Company and Teck Resources Limited. 

Identifying Misperceptions and Knowledge Gaps
The ALBCI team included industry leaders and energy storage experts from across the world. Their goal was to communicate the importance of lead batteries to enable informed decisions about the United States’ sustainable energy storage capacity, national security and climate change mitigation efforts.

The team coordinated quantitative research and focus groups with policymakers and other stakeholders to understand then-current misperceptions of lead batteries. Their findings:

• The majority had no knowledge of the critical role of lead batteries.
• The majority didn’t know lead batteries had a 99% recycling rate.
• Perceptions of lead batteries were outdated and, in many cases, inaccurate.

Intense Educational and Rebranding Efforts
The team of individual and trade association experts responded to misperceptions with major educational and rebranding efforts over six years. Today, BCI is the definitive, trusted source for thought leadership on energy storage and lead battery advocacy. Its efforts include:

• Thought-Leadership Pieces: Over 200 thought-leadership blogs and op-ed articles, and news releases, on trending industry topics created to build awareness and educate on the true benefits of sustainable lead batteries
• Mega Website: More than 100 main content pages and 150 informational and education resources (e.g., fact sheets, infographics, reports, social graphics), plus case studies, videos and posters to communicate the facts, applications and innovations of the lead battery industry especially around EVs, renewable energy storage, clean energy and domestic manufacturing.
• Digital Marketing: Targeted social media campaigns driving stakeholders to BCI’s deep repository of downloadable educational materials
• Rebranded Image: A refreshed logo design, colors and tagline that convey the exciting, innovative future of essential lead batteries
• Events: Industry events (e.g., live briefings on Capitol Hill) and participation on panels about battery and energy research, battery innovation, clean energy and energy storage
• Strategic Public Relations Campaigns: Numerous annual awareness campaigns around National Battery Day, America Recycles Day, Manufacturing Day, Earth Day and more

Results Show Engagement Success
The group’s latest accomplishment is the launch of a redesigned website, which recently received a dotCOMM Gold Website Redesign Award. This recognition is in part due to the website’s increase in engagement with key benchmarks. In some cases, these improvements have reached triple-digit growth. Current metrics from the initial three months indicate:

• Session duration up 60%
• Average engagement time up 218%
• Higher-than-ever download and call-to-action clicks

Supporting the Energy Future of the United States
Today’s renewable energy and electrified transportation sectors are driving the nation’s demand for domestic sustainable energy storage solutions. Many experts say this is “The Golden Age of Batteries.”

BCI is committed to helping people understand the facts of lead batteries, a chemistry that powers our everyday lives – and more. Lead batteries are bolstering our country’s energy storage capacity, protecting our national security through domestic manufacturing and offering a sustainability profile that will help mitigate climate change.

BCI’s 2023 Platinum dotComm Team Achievement Award confirms the importance of BCI’s teamwork in advancing a greener, more secure and prosperous future for the United States and around the world.

About Battery Council International. Battery Council International (BCI) will soon celebrate its 100-year anniversary as the leading trade association of the North American battery industry representing more than 125 member companies. Formed in 1924, BCI joins together battery manufacturers and recyclers, marketers and retailers, suppliers of raw materials and equipment, and battery distributors from across North America and around the world. BCI members are committed to responsible manufacturing and recycling processes, and serve as a unified voice for environmental, health and safety stewardship. The organization continues to unite members within the lead battery industry to successfully communicate and protect through education, science and government efforts the most successful circular economy on the planet. With 99% of used lead batteries collected and recycled in the United States and the typical new lead battery containing 80% or more of recycled content, BCI supports the path toward similar sustainability goals for all other battery chemistries. Visit the Battery Council International website.

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SOURCE Battery Council International