Spark Renewables is not your typical energy company. Project-driven by nature, they develop, own and operate utility-scale solar, wind and storage projects across Australia. Each of these projects — from the Wagga Wagga Solar Farm to the Dinawan Energy Hub — is like a standalone business with its own community stakeholders, regulatory frameworks, and strategic communications needs.

When they approached REMAP, Spark was on the cusp of significant growth. They were:

• Managing multiple complex infrastructure projects across regional Australia.
• Preparing for a major acquisition by Malaysian energy giant Tenaga Nasional
• Looking to attract top-tier talent in a competitive job market.
• Needing to win over local communities wary of renewable infrastructure.
• Under increasing pressure to demonstrate high standards of community engagement to both investors and regulators.

Their brand and digital presence, however, weren’t reflecting their capabilities — or their ambitions. As one stakeholder put it, the brand either looked like a scrappy high school startup or an impersonal corporation. Neither option was going to win hearts and minds in Wagga, Wentworth, or Kuala Lumpur.

 

Our Approach

 

A Growth-First, Channel-Agnostic Mindset

REMAP doesn’t just build websites or post on LinkedIn. We work at the intersection of strategy, creativity and performance. For Spark, this meant taking a step back and asking a fundamental question:

“Does your brand, as it exists online today, help solve your biggest business problems?”

The honest answer was “not yet”. But with the right approach, it could.

We started by redefining how Spark’s brand came to life across their digital footprint — simplifying the palette, softening the tone, improving the experience, and making the whole ecosystem more credible, human and engaging.

 

Website & Brand Refresh: Designing for Trust and Clarity

Our first priority was the Spark Renewables website. We knew it had to do more than just provide project updates — it needed to be a hub for transparency, education, and reassurance for both investors and the public.

 

What We Did:

 

• Visual overhaul: We simplified the colour palette to reflect clean, green energy — with a stronger sense of place and calm. Visual elements included subtle Indigenous artwork motifs, used respectfully to acknowledge local communities and land custodians.
• User experience redesign: We restructured site navigation, improved mobile responsiveness, and built clearer pathways to key information.
• Content optimisation: We elevated the language across the site — reducing jargon, clarifying messages, and making it easier for people to find what they were looking for.
• Resource Hub: We created a centralised hub for downloadable PDFs and community information, ensuring stakeholders could access the latest details on each project.

The result? Dwell time increased by more than 75%, bounce rates dropped significantly, and community stakeholders spent more time engaging with content.

 

LinkedIn Strategy: Balancing Employer Branding with Investor Relations

Spark’s LinkedIn channel had to serve two audiences simultaneously:

1. Jobseekers: in a market where Spark needed to recruit 20+ new staff in under 12 months.
2. Investors: Tenaga Nasional evaluating the brand and its visibility in the lead-up to a potential acquisition.

 

Our Strategy:

We developed a dual-purpose content framework that supported both objectives:

• Talent attraction: Human stories from the team, project updates, and “day in the life” content helped build employer credibility.
• Investor appeal: High-quality imagery, thought leadership and milestones reinforced Spark’s market potential.

To help the internal team contribute more actively, we ran content training workshops with Spark staff. They learned how to capture strong visuals and videos using their smartphones in the field, which we then polished, captioned and scheduled as part of an ongoing content calendar.

This user-generated content approach made Spark’s communications feel more real, more local, and more dynamic without requiring a full-time videographer.

 

Facebook for Community Engagement: A Hyper-Local Approach

Unlike many corporate players who try to “own the conversation” on social media, Spark’s role was more nuanced. In regions where new wind or solar farms were being proposed, tensions could run high. One poorly phrased post could go viral for the wrong reasons.

REMAP’s recommendation was clear:

“Don’t try to dominate the conversation — support it.”

We collaborated with Spark to establish a modest yet effective Facebook presence, supported by a clever workaround: content kits for local Facebook admins.

How it Worked:

For each regional project, we created pre-approved posts and visuals tailored to that local area.

Our team contacted the administrators of active Facebook community groups (e.g., Wagga locals, Wentworth Shire news, etc.).

We provided them with the content kits and encouraged them to publish updates and tag Spark’s Facebook page.

This decentralised strategy allowed Spark to maintain visibility in key discussions without the risks associated with high-frequency posting. It positioned the brand as a quiet, helpful contributor, not a faceless corporation trying to control the narrative.

 

Email Marketing: From Mailing Lists to Community Tools

As Spark began to build deeper relationships with regional communities, they needed a robust email marketing engine to keep locals informed.

Using Mailchimp, REMAP designed and delivered targeted newsletters for different projects, providing updates on consultation phases, construction timelines, and community events.

 

Key Moves:

 

• Redesigned newsletter templates with better visuals, clearer messaging and strong CTAs.
• Segmented lists to ensure that only the most relevant people received each update.
• Integrated deep links to the Spark website, where users could read complete reports, download PDFs, or register for events.

Open rates improved by over 50%, and click-through rates rose by 200%, proving the content was hitting the mark. This wasn’t just marketing — it was meaningful public engagement with measurable results.

 

Strategic Communications Support

What made REMAP’s work with Spark so effective wasn’t just the execution — it was the thinking behind it.

Every piece of content, every web update, and every campaign was designed to address Spark’s two biggest business challenges:

1. Tackling the NIMBY factor — by building empathy, transparency and a sense of community involvement.
2. Readying for acquisition — by ensuring Spark came across as credible, sophisticated and investor-ready at every digital touchpoint.

 

The Outcome

REMAP’s partnership with Spark Renewables helped them:

• Project a more credible, unified brand across all digital channels.
• Engage meaningfully with local communities in a risk-aware and sensitive manner.
• Attract top-tier candidates during a rapid recruitment phase.
• Position themselves favourably for a successful acquisition.

All without adding new headcount internally or outsourcing multiple suppliers.

 

What We Learned

When you’re building the future of Australia’s energy supply, your communications strategy matters just as much as your technology.

Spark’s success shows what can happen when you treat your website, email and social media not as “nice to haves” but as strategic levers for growth, trust and transformation.

Want to work with a growth agency that knows how to tackle big-picture challenges, not just post pretty pictures? Let’s talk.