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* ComEd has a new TV ad running in Chicago. The Adelstein Liston spots started last night on cable TV news stations and will run through next Tuesday in the evenings. Rate it…
posted by Rich Miller
Thursday, Oct 13, 11 @ 5:26 am
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Effective ad. I don’t like the ComEd bill but I am in favor of an update to our smart grid (I just think ComEd should pay for it because it’s not the ratepayers fault that the power companies haven’t bothered to update this 100-year-old infrastructure), however it makes the problem of the lack of a smart grid the forefront here. And the best part is that it doesn’t try to demonize any one politician or political party or alienate anyone.
This is much more effective than some ad I just saw on “Morning Joe” from the Clean Coal folks attempting to scare me about the big bad Obama EPA killing jobs (an opinion of which I disagree but will not further elaborate upon so as not to set the comments off on some national politics tangent).
Comment by hisgirlfriday Thursday, Oct 13, 11 @ 6:44 am
They left out the part where we find the varmints that stole the infrastructure money and string em up.
Comment by MCgone Thursday, Oct 13, 11 @ 6:46 am
It’s good, but also points out that Com Ed has always been more interested in piling up profits over improving its own product.
Comment by Wensicia Thursday, Oct 13, 11 @ 7:04 am
Funny how they have money for this full court ad blitz but apparently none to do the infrastructure upgrades they want taxpayers to underwrite…
Comment by Anonymous Thursday, Oct 13, 11 @ 7:26 am
It is almost a carbon copy, thematically speaking, of the spots the cable TV industry ran when they came around looking for changes in billing regulations from the legislature. Exact same strategy, and it’s full of half-truths. There was nothing stopping the utility from improving it’s own infrastructure all along. They just want somebody else to pay for it. But the worst part is the whole smart grid things is really a trojan horse for evading regulation. Regulation the utility PROVED it deserved to have, due to poor operating practices.
Comment by Gregor Thursday, Oct 13, 11 @ 7:29 am
As far as ads go, this is an effective one.
Comment by The Captain Thursday, Oct 13, 11 @ 8:29 am
Shameless. They throw away our money on self promotion and charity groups so their executives can look good and get good seats at the opera, then they come back crying poor and complaining they can’t do the job we pay them for in the first place.
Comment by too obvious Thursday, Oct 13, 11 @ 8:31 am
First I think its a pretty silly and ineffective ad that is inaccurate. 44 other states don’t have “smart grids.” 44 other states are evaluating if their are benefits to these very expensive investments through pilots, many of which were funded through federal money. They are also running these under their “SmartEnergyIL” front group - which is similar to what they did back in 2007 with the CORE, when they were trying to stop the General Assembly from ending their “reverse auction” scheme that jacked-up election rates.
Second - After the BGA report on how ComEd and Ameren have given Millions in campaign contributions, you would think they would be laying low. But, no they are spending Millions (they spent $1.4 Million on ads in the Month of May alone) more on advertising and TV ads. I wish I had their advertising budget.
Comment by SportShoz Thursday, Oct 13, 11 @ 8:44 am
Great imagery in that ad, and definitely a great job of skewing the truth here.
But SportShoz is right, 44 states have a smart grid? Wrong. Zero states have a smart grid. At least not the fully robust smart grid that ComEd is talking about here. Though I guess that’s kinda the point, with these rate hikes, Illinois WILL have the nation’s first, pioneering smart grid system, and that’s good for all of us. If we’re willing to pay for it.
Comment by Senator Clay Davis Thursday, Oct 13, 11 @ 10:00 am
Unlike the cable industry ComEd is regulated by the ICC for what they charge on rates. It is because the current system has not allowed them to recoup a large amount of infrastructure improvements in the past that the infrastructure is lacking. Without some change like this bill we can expect similar bad service and outages.
Comment by Charlie Sheen Thursday, Oct 13, 11 @ 10:02 am
All advertising is some form of exaggeration but it’s no exaggeration that Illinois has a habit of falling behind other places and living in the past. Many folks say they believe in modernizing ant to modernize the electric grid but then seem unwilling to take the steps needed to attract the investment to make such a big transformation. If we focus on alleged imperfections in the smart grid bill rather than looking at the big picture needs then we will just keep spiralling down. Let’s get this show on the road and we fan fix any problems as we go along.
Comment by EconDude Thursday, Oct 13, 11 @ 10:26 am
“It is because the current system has not allowed them to recoup a large amount of infrastructure improvements in the past that the infrastructure is lacking.”
Wrong.
ComEd was granted 99.8% of its requested capital investments in 2010 and 99.5% of its requested capital investments in 2007.
Its the other costs that they fight like cats and dogs over there…
Ad was good. Easy to understand.
Comment by Lincoln's Penny Thursday, Oct 13, 11 @ 10:36 am
–All advertising is some form of exaggeration but it’s no exaggeration that Illinois has a habit of falling behind other places and living in the past.–
For example?
Comment by wordslinger Thursday, Oct 13, 11 @ 11:00 am
If this was really about improving their infrastructure and moving towards a “smart grid” then way did ComEd reject the ICC’s proposal (HA#3 to HB14?).
This is a rhetorical question of course as the reason is it doesnt guarantee them the higher profits they would get under SB1652. Its never been about the system - its always been about the money.
Comment by SportShoz Thursday, Oct 13, 11 @ 11:31 am
Wordslinger would like some examples of Illinois falling behind (including deferred smart grid investment without needed legislation): (1) certainly one of the worst state and local fiscal situations including pension funding and state payment backlogs; (2) massive deferred maintenance of roads, bridges as well as mass transit deficits; (3) hemorrhaging corp HQs and now struggling to keep the Merc/Bd of Trade HQ and Sears; (4) poor relative population growth; (5) little or nor real progress in urban schools; (6) deteriorating public higher education; (7) opaque politics and government. Please — no mas!
Comment by EconDude Thursday, Oct 13, 11 @ 1:03 pm
Good ad. I look forward to the iVictrola.
Comment by Cincinnatus Thursday, Oct 13, 11 @ 1:13 pm
I think that’s a great, on target, highly professional ad. The imagery makes the key point which then readily sticks in the brain (with a little help from the voiceover guy, too). We’ve have had almost zero problems with outages where I live–none have ever lasted more than a couple hours– so I probably have a more favorable view than many others do about Com-Ed. I think having an updated grid makes sense. It’s the 21st century.
Comment by Responsa Thursday, Oct 13, 11 @ 1:23 pm
Once again, ComEd distorts the facts or outright lies to the public so they get their way and continue business as usual…they’ll never change their tune unless they are compelled to…I give the ad a fail on all counts…
Comment by Loop Lady Thursday, Oct 13, 11 @ 1:24 pm
The ad is a good start to educating the general populations about the need for a modern electrical system, regardless of what the bill does or does not do.
In terms of how it fits in a legislative strategy it is 12 months too late. The issue frame is all over the place as you can see by the comments above. It would have made more sense to generate publicity about the issue before introducing a bill. Commonsense to many, but not all.
Comment by CLJ Thursday, Oct 13, 11 @ 2:21 pm
ComEd should be embarrassed to run an ad like this…admitting they haven’t maintained modern operations. They should feel free to go ahead and upgrade their technology. They don’t need the General Assembly’s approval to spend money. I’m sure they didn’t pass a bill to get approval to pay for this ad or to make their campaign contributions.
Comment by Mountain Man Thursday, Oct 13, 11 @ 4:30 pm
I do not like it.
I find the music and the cowboy yelling “yah” irritating. Furthermore, if I know nothing about the problem, the ad is not providing the info I need; it is simply trying–feebly–to convince me that we need to keep up with the Joneses during tough economic times. Therefore, it did nothing to motivate me “to modernize OUR system” by going to their website. As a matter of fact, I took pride in seeing through the emphasis added on the word “our”, which reeks of insincerity because that tactic is so overused…when something reeks of insincerity. It also has some really weird “too simple and yet too sophisticated combination” to its overall approach that does not appeal and again, makes me feel like someone is trying to pull a fast one on me.
The glance the woman reading a book at the end gave the guy sitting next to her, pretty much summed up my feelings, too.
Comment by Anonymous Friday, Oct 14, 11 @ 12:57 am