By now, chances are that you have already seen the Solar Gangnam style video from Solar Edge. The ad is very good from three perspectives :
a. it piggybacks on the most popular video of 2012(of all time?), which has crossed 1 billion hits, thereby getting some of easy reflected glory
b. it has some good lyrics(reference to high electricity bill, reverse the meter, etc)
c. it is quite authentic – mainly because the participants in the video are all employees of Solar Edge
For those who haven’t seen it already, the video is below.
[youtube_sc url=WybhbXfUyrY width=650]
The inspiration of this ad can be found in another video which went viral a couple of years back. That video, produced by Q-Cells of Germany, was also produced and performed by Q-Cells employees.
[youtube_sc url=2ZQQMkmWvss width=650]
Another German company, Solar World was one of the solar firms which invested lot of time and resources in brand building. The company had used the legendary American actor Larry Hagman, who died recently. Larry appeared in both print and TV ads for Solar World. One sample is given below.
[youtube_sc url=P5fZqcCX23g width=650]
His ”Shine Baby Shine” ads are a direct take on the ”Drill Baby Drill” slogan promoted by the politicians supporting the American oil industry
(Source : http://hagman.solarworld.de/index.php?id=114 )
By now, you would be wondering what Dolphin babies have to do with Solar. Sunrun, one of USA’s leading residential rooftop PV companies, created a series of ads to change the perception that solar is expensive and only environment protectionists would buy solar. In this particular ad, a couple who had installed solar panels in their home is asked if they put these systems to save the environment and thereby save dolphin babies. You can see the response below.
[youtube_sc url=-HtC03VztyQ width=650]
Fast company, had a very interesting article on the subject titled ” Brilliant Solar Ads Say Screw The Environment, It’s About Paying Less ”.
The other ads in the series can be viewed below.
[youlist pid="PLCF3C8889DDB941B9" width="650"]
Bottomline – A big chunk of the solar industry professionals consider that PV modules are fast becoming a commodities(even though Green Tech Media thinks otherwise) and differentiation through branding is the only way out. Do these ads point to the beginning of that differentiation?