Walking across the floor at Solar Power International conference and expo in Anaheim, it was easy to imagine strolling through a Turkish market. But instead of the visual whirl of textiles and scent of exotic fragrances, the air was abuzz with the earnest pitch of more than 900 solar vendors selling their wares from their branded tents. Welcome to the great solar bazaar.

The territory is solar and there are thousands of companies scrambling to stake a claim. An overpowering whirl of sound-alike solar names (just get ’sun’ or ’sol’ in there) is reminiscent of the Internet bubble when it was just enough to have dot com in your name, never mind the business model. This is clearly an industry in the “tornado” as Geoffrey Moore characterized it in “Crossing the chasm”. It is a dynamic phase in the technology adoption lifecycle and solar is, after all said and done, a technology in search of a commercially viable future.

In tornado phase, the branding imperative is simply to get the name out there and build awareness. It’s all about the technology. Incremental increases in solar panel efficiency are claimed as major differentiators. The collective imperative of the whole industry is cost reduction in pursuit of the holy grail of grid parity – and the inevitable rush towards commoditization, and then oblivion for most.

The great solar shakeout is surely at hand.

Economically, it’s been a seminal year for the entire industry. The housing bust and the credit crunch have put tremendous pressure on manufacturers worldwide to cut costs. The stage is set for a leaner, meaner industry. Very few startups will be around in three years. Technological innovation is not commercial viability.

Another distinguishing feature of Moore’s tornado is the emergence of categories and deep segments. Companies with powerful brands move in to dominate those categories with presence and scale. In the case of the Internet the category winners are Cisco (networking), Google (search), Oracle (RDBMS), SAP (ERP), etc. Brand then becomes the great differentiator built on a superior end user experience. Technology is conversation about product features.

In the solar energy delivery chain the race is still wide open. At B2C end of the spectrum several strong regional/national brands will emerge that forge a strong bond with residential/commercial customers based on consultation, service and trust. But trust is the main issue. Watch for a retailer like Home Depot to start selling residential solar systems and contract with local installers.  They have a trusted brand. Installers currently are doing nothing discernible to add value to the relationship.

At the B2B end Applied Materials already has a strong awareness and respect and also has a major commitment to a future in solar. The challenge for the Applied’s, Sharp’s and Kyocera’s is to leverage a brand which is known for one thing into a market that is related, but distinctly different in its customer characteristics.

SunPower is doing an interesting job of attempting to build awareness across the entire spectrum of categories, from residential to utility scale, albeit in select markets.

In its 2008 annual report SunPower acknowledges the importance of branding: “In today’s economic and competitive environment, brand is becoming an even more important differentiator and a significant competitive advantage.” Fine as far as it goes, but can SunPower’s awareness building be sustained across such a wide industry sweep when other brands begin to dominate narrower categories? Awareness, aided or unaided, is not brand building. Ask the founder of Pets.com. The guess is that SunPower will eventually coalesce its business focus and brand building on a narrower category it can dominate in and scale

So what about branding in the solar industry? What’s it’s role? Does it have a role?

The big branding mistake lies in the belief in that it’s all about awareness and PR. Awareness won’t get you very far if you have no proposition beyond solar. Branding, especially in a technology-based industry like solar, is a framework for thinking about your reason for being as a business.

Branding is a way of continuously sensing people’s desires and rapidly delivering compelling value to satisfy those desires. It’s about being constantly on the lookout for ways to connect with people and “go deep” into your relationship with them, and their relationship with you and each other. It’s about new processes, new business models, new ways of thinking, and new ways of interacting.

Forget about trying to differentiate through incremental technological advances. Today’s breakthrough is tomorrow’s commodity. Stay tuned in and connected to the living, breathing marketplace of your audience’s fears, challenges, and aspirations, and build your brand around that.

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Alan spoke at the Solar Power International Conference last week on Building Brand Recognition. Please contact Anant Sanchetee at anant@riechesbaird.com for a copy of his presentation.

I would like to thank all attendees of my speaking engagement on Building Brand Recognition at the Solar Power Conference in Anaheim earlier this week. We walked away with an array of opinions on what the future of solar energy could look like for solar companies and their core audiences. I look forward to keep the discussion going at this blog

For those who requested copies of my presentation or leave behind, please contact Anant Sanchetee at anant@riechesbaird.com or call at 949.586.1200.

Thank you.

As the solar industry matures, the importance of building a strong brand built on a compelling and differentiating value proposition becomes vital to success. Participants in this session will learn from a brand expert about the value of branding as it relates to the solar industry, what a brand is and why it is more than just PR, and how to brand your company successfully.

More details at: http://s36.a2zinc.net/clients/sepa/sepa2009/public/SpeakerDetails.aspx?FromPage=SpeakerList.aspx&ContactID=2578&IndexInList=18&SortMenu=103005

Political, social and environmental consequences of climate change have become global concerns. Renewable energy sources, such as wind and solar, would seem to have certain future as part of our national energy future. The alternative energy industry is a nascent one; traditional energy companies are some of the most profitable and powerful on earth. It is likely that the two will work side by side in creating America’s energy future. It is also likely that one will become part of the other, just as the Internet, once hailed as the alternative business model to traditional bricks and mortar businesses, found a viable future as an essential new channel for those companies it once threatened to displace.

The challenge for renewable energy companies is how best to position themselves in the energy equation before the technologies become swallowed up in someone else’s brand.

There are elements of the same Internet zeal in certain quarters of the renewable energy industry that doing a disservice to its future. Renewable energy is the only future. The only way. The rejection of nuclear is part of this. Critics of nuclear power argue it is not a renewable energy source. It is not “green” they say because the waste must be stored for hundreds of thousands of years.

No energy source is perfect. No single energy source will solve our problems. Nuclear energy is an essential part of the mix.

Read the reference Reuters article at:

Seize nuclear or miss targets, investment: IAEA
Reuters
Investment in renewable energy and efficiency programmes would allow countries to meet emissions targets without nuclear, they say. (read more of the news article)

For such a small company, Nansolar has done a remarkable job of building its brand since its founding in 2002. Much of the credit has to go to CEO Martin Roscheisen for evangelizing the company and its technology with a lot of noise. Time magazine went so far as nominating Nansolar’s technology one of the top 50 best inventions of 2008.  The question has always been:  is there any substance behind the noise?

Read the related NY Times article at:

“Since its founding in 2002, Nanosolar has raised a lot of money – half a billion dollars to date – and made a lot of noise about upending the solar industry..” (read more) – Sept 9, 2009 – NY Times