Making connections with electrical contractors

NICEIC represents 38,000 registered electrical contractors across the UK.

Registration involves considerable investment from contractors and they must pass rigorous annual assessments. For consumers, it provides reassurance and trust in their abilities in what can be a ‘cowboy’ industry, but there is no legal requirement for electrical contractors to be registered.

Therefore, it’s imperative for NICEIC to provide a robust programme of benefits to ensure contractors reapply and renew their registration. That’s where Think comes in.

We started working with NICEIC on their content programme in 2020, with a brief to make their magazine, Connections, more engaging.

They wanted to showcase technical excellence throughout, and to give contractors the content they craved – case studies and trends alongside practical and business advice. 

The new magazine needed to knit technical content and wider themes together while introducing strong images, clever covers and clear sections to help time-poor readers navigate each edition. It needed to speak the right language, be authentic and include the right level of technical detail. Most importantly, the magazine needed to celebrate the work of contractors to make them proud to be registered with NICEIC – and give them a reason to re-register when the time came.

In order to meet our brief, we reworked the magazine structure and introduced new sections with clear identities.

For example, ‘Check this out’ showcased innovative projects from electrical contractors, and featured hospital refittings during the pandemic; home cinemas, and even ‘serenity zone’ panic rooms for the ultra-rich.

Since then, we’ve worked with Certsure to launch the multi-channel ‘NICEIC Works for Me’ campaign, with the aim of ensuring existing contractors – and potential new customers – know about all of the NICEIC benefits at their disposal, and most importantly, understand the value of registration.

​​By harnessing the help of numerous contractors within NICEIC’s community, we’ve seen a brilliant response to our campaign – the October launch achieved an 80% increase in impressions and a 300% increase in interactions across social media.