Pushing the boundaries - Kevin Peake, marketing director, npower

Peake, 42, is indeed not what you might expect in the conservative world of utilities - especially coming from a company owned by buttoned-up German energy giant RWE. Since joining npower eight years ago from electronics and white goods chain Comet - where he was communications and strategy manager - Peake has spearheaded the energy firm's development as a consumer brand, moving it from the billing focus that utilities have traditionally maintained to a customer-facing approach that is all about engaging people.

In what is effectively a highly competitive commodities market, npower recognises the importance of adding value through services and initiatives such as energy efficiency activities - and connecting with consumers through marketing. "Energy is not particularly interesting," Peake concedes. "That's where promotions and incentives come in. Promotions are a key hook for engaging consumers."

He adds: "We're not flippant about energy - it's a very important thing - but we also recognise the need to cut through in busy households."

He also says that marketing and promotions become essential to growing a business and keeping customers loyal in a sector such as energy where "you have relatively limited contact with them and you don't have shops or anything like that".

When Peake joined the fledgling npower in 2000 as head of brand, his remit was to build recognition of the new company, which came out of the old National Power. "I was brought in to set up the brand, develop it and make it famous as quickly as possible," he says. "The important thing for National Power was they were looking for someone with retail experience. Part of the issue for npower is we try to treat it as a retail business."

One of the first things Peake did was to establish a relationship with the ECB. The energy firm uses the £3.5 million annual cricket sponsorship as a platform for many of its promotions, creating assets such as the "npower girls" - the red-skirted brand reps who attend cricket matches to promote the company. The npower brand achieved huge cut-though in 2005 when England won the Ashes for the first time since 1987.

"If you're good at leveraging and exploiting your sponsorships in terms of internal PR, creating promotions out of it and building assets like the npower girls, you know you're getting maximum value," Peake explains. "We don't leave much untouched in terms of how we exploit things."

The brand's latest cricket-related promotion is this year's "red carpet treatment" campaign, which will culminate with a winner and 11 friends attending an Ashes Test match in a luxury box with numerous extras next summer. The idea is to highlight the national rollout of npower's "home-team" brand - the company's own service arm - which sees its engineers laying down red carpets to protect customers' homes during repair jobs.

The hometeam concept is a proposition that Peake developed as head of customer marketing, the position he held until this month. He says the launch is "the biggest strategic development of the year" for npower and the red carpet promotion is central to building awareness of the service among consumers.

He says the development of hometeam - which piloted last year - is a major part of npower's efforts to take on British Gas as the top-of-mind energy brand. "The agenda I'm trying to set my team is to differentiate and add value from a brand point of view, so that our promotions will really make us a challenger brand against British Gas," Peake explains.

While npower is number four in terms of customer market share in the UK, research that the company commissioned from Millwood Brown places it as number two behind British Gas in terms of brand awareness, he claims.

Building the npower brand has become a driving passion for Peake, who says he generally works 7am to 7pm. "I love the brand because I sort of created it when I first came to npower," he says. "I love seeing how it changes and evolves."

Peake says his other passions include his family - wife Helen and sons Tom, nine, and Alex, six - and lower league football club Torquay United. He says "work hard, play hard" is his philosophy. "I've never been one who thinks that to have a good work/life balance means you have to leave work early. You can work hard, but you can also have a great time with your agencies, your suppliers and your family."

It's a lifestyle that gives him insight into his work: "In the busy lives that people have - and mine is a busy life - you have to make things simple, easy and tangible for people so they get to the point quickly."

QUESTIONNAIRE
- What would you do if you weren't a marketer?
I'd be a photojournalist
- How would others describe you?
Energetic
- What would you do if you won the lottery?
Buy Torquay United
- Favourite band?
Metallica
- Favourite team?
Torquay United
- Favourite movie?
Alien

CURRICULUM VITAE
2008: Marketing director, npower
2000-2008: Head of customer marketing and brand, npower
1995-2000: Communications and strategy manager, Comet
1994-1995: Marketing services manager, Prospero Direct Insurance
1991-1994: Advertising and sales promotion manager, TSB Bank
1988-1991: Product manager new developments, Abbey National.