As you’ll read in this issue, 2006 was a banner year for SmartPower. It’s clear we have grown from a small, “model” organization into a nationwide leader on clean energy marketing.  However, for all of our successes last year, 2007 promises to bring even more creativity and innovation to our work.

Throughout the next 12 months, look to this newsletter for regular updates on our work across the nation which will be from Connecticut, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania to exciting developments in South Carolina, Alaska, Arizona, and to who knows where else. An example of this expansion will be the opening of SmartPower Europe – a collaborative effort with organizations on the other side of the Atlantic that are looking to learn and share “best practices” among countries.
 
Of particular excitement this year is our new effort to “brand” energy efficiency to the American consumer.  Working with the Northeast Climate Protection Partnership (NECPP), we will undertake a consumer research effort that will ultimately help us create a consumer friendly message on energy efficiency.  The research performed with the NECPP will follow the same techniques as worked so successfully with our inaugural clean energy research performed four years ago with the Clean Energy States Alliance (CESA).  This promises to be a truly exciting effort and one that we will share with you on a regular basis.

To add to the list of exciting steps for SmartPower and to ensure that we continue to be both marketing leaders with both current and new projects, we will be increasing our staff this year, and we look forward to introducing you to these folks.

The results of our work and our increased presence we believe will be an ever expanding market for clean energy. And with the growth in that market comes solutions to some of America’s largest generational problems -- from global climate change to our reliance on fossil fuels, the growth in the clean energy market will help all of us.  SmartPower intends to lead the way.

We’re obviously proud of our accomplishments over 2006.  But that sense of pride will only last if we can build upon the work we’ve done.  As we enter 2007, we are committed to building upon our successes and making clean energy a truly mainstream product in the marketplace. 

Let’s make more!

Brian F. Keane

It was an exciting year for SmartPower in the state of Connecticut.  We were extremely proud to end the year with a total of 34 towns (35 at the time of publication) committed to the SmartPower 20% by 2010SM Campaign.  We were privileged to work with several new communities across the state, all of which are committed to making clean energy in Connecticut, as well as our nation, a mainstream piece of everyday life.  In addition to the new 20% by 2010 towns, the year brought us many celebrations, including solar ribbon cutting ceremonies which commemorated the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund’s solar installations in towns that achieved the “Clean Energy Community” status.  As we plunge into 2007, we look forward to more of these ceremonies in the year to come. 

One of our favorite events of the year was, of course, Clean Energy Week.  Partnering with the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund, SmartPower produced a week long celebration consisting of four major events that truly recognized the strength and growth of the clean energy industry in Connecticut.  From an awards ceremony to a clean energy challenge between Mayors, Clean Energy Week was an incredible success because of the leadership and commitment found across the state through its civic leaders, municipal and state officials, non-government associations, and thousands of state residents who have signed up to support clean energy.  We move into 2007 in Connecticut with enthusiasm and passion for the exciting events and highlights in the year to come.

The fall of 2006 saw the culmination of 9 months of research and testing come to life with a pilot advertising campaign in Massachusetts and a widely publicized ribbon-cutting of a 10kw solar PV energy installation at the JFK Middle School in Northampton.

The opportunity to work with the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) was certainly one of the highlights for the year.  Our project with the MTC and its ‘Clean Energy Choice’ program was to craft new messages and marketing toolkits that would reach out to those potential customers of clean energy that have not been considered “early adopters”.  As the voluntary market for clean energy evolves, it will be important to seek messages that resonate with those long considered the natural customers of clean energy and those that are a step removed. 

The research eventually led us to “Declare Your Energy Independence” and the ad copy above highlighting our nation’s problematic dependence on oil.  It also was pivotal in helping to create our most recent radio advertisement featuring Jimmy Tingle.  So far this message and the marketing toolkit have been tremendously successful both in Massachusetts and elsewhere in the country.

An added highlight of the fall was our ability to work in collaboration with so many non-profit organizations and political leaders who are committed to clean energy.  SmartPower combined its new messaging with its long standing commitment to collaborative marketing by working with Mayor Clare Higgins of Northampton, the Massachusetts Technology Collaborative (MTC) and the Center for Ecological Technology (CET) to highlight solar PV at the JFK Middle School. SmartPower was also pleased to work with members of the Massachusetts General Court such as Senator Pamela Resor (D-Acton) and Representative Frank Smizik (D-Brookline) for a State House viewing of the critically acclaimed, An Inconvenient Truth.  SmartPower looks forward to continued relations with these clean energy leaders as well as NGO leaders such as the Center for Ecological Technology (CET), Massachusetts Interfaith Power & Light (MIP&L), and the Clean Water Fund.

As an organization founded to help build a voluntary market for clean energy and a group that has seen its marketing campaigns grow in popularity to states in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, South and Southwest, SmartPower was pleased to receive two awards in 2006 and be recognized as one of the leading marketing organizations for the clean energy industry.  The Service Industry Advertising Award we received in the winter of 2006, followed by the recent Green Power Pilot Award from the US. Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy and the Center for Resource Solutions (CRS) clearly demonstrate that SmartPower is the leader in combining state of the art  research, advertising, and on the ground marketing toolkits that actually create demand for clean energy.

From Clean Energy Week in Connecticut to our platinum sponsorship of the 11th National Renewable Energy Marketing Conference in San Francisco, SmartPower used 2006 to remind everyone that consumer marketing is a critical piece to expanding the clean energy industry. Our efforts to build a voluntary market will help to solve many of the nation’s challenges; such as our country’s growing health problems, the environmental damages of global climate change and an overdependence of foreign and rapidly depleting sources of energy.

The mantra, “Clean Energy -- Let’s Make More,” has become a de facto marketing tagline used by countless individuals in states all over the country, This is the result of leadership and collaborative work by SmartPower and countless others.   We are pleased to have ended 2006 with our marketing initiatives well exhibited nationwide.

Listen to comedian Jimmy Tingle's radio ad.

From the evolution of the Clean Energy Communities program in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, to our now often emulated Mayoral Clean Energy Challenge, to the SmartPower/YouTube Ad challenge, SmartPower believes that a marketing toolkit must be creative, flexible, and subject to change and ongoing analysis.

In 2006, the standard bearer for this commitment to creativity was our SmartPower/YouTube Ad Challenge.  We celebrated its unveiling in October and were gratified to know that Time magazine thought enough of the cutting-edge impact that websites such as YouTube have made on Pop-Culture in America by celebrating the American public as its “Person of the Year.”

We believe that realizing the reach of YouTube and understanding the creativity and impact that mainstream America can have in our march toward a clean energy future is what helps make SmartPower the marketing leader for clean energy in the United States. In the end, we believe that our creativity thrives because of your creativity.  In fact, we are betting on it.

What better place to build a strong SmartPower team atmosphere, welcome our newest staff member, Molly Tsongas and work on our professional development than Golden, Colorado and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL).  As a result of our staff retreat to Golden, our investment in team building exercises and professional development at NREL has ensured that SmartPower will work in a growing number of states, win more marketing awards and continue to effectively demonstrate that clean energy is real, it is here and it is working.

Reenergized by visiting NREL’s facilities and learning about the thrilling new technologies that are in store for the clean energy industry, SmartPower we continue to be inspired to create a vision for the future of SmartPower that will serve as the foundation for our anctipated highlights throughout 2007.

While every change to an organization provides a new opportunity, there is no question that the opportunity that was presented to SmartPower on January 18th will have many mixed emotions.

On the 18th, SmartPower will bid farewell to our New England Regional Director, Bob Wall as he opens a new chapter in his professional career, assuming the position of Director of Energy Market Initiatives at the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund.

As many know who read this newsletter or work with SmartPower on a regular basis, Bob has been a major part of our past success.  His intelligence, professionalism, inter-personal skills and most of all dedication to the cause of clean energy has helped SmartPower become the leader in clean energy marketing not only in Connecticut, but also across the country.  His insights, intuition and dedication are truly what makes for a great ‘cause marketer’.

Though we will miss Bob as a member of the SmartPower staff, we are pleased and very fortunate that we will be able to continue to work with him in his new role at the Clean Energy Fund.  Bob will have very big shoes to fill as he steps into the role being vacated by Bryan Garcia, with responsibilities at CEF going far beyond his now collaborative work with SmartPower.  We very much look forward to working with Bob at CEF and maintaining and dare we say strengthening the programs and projects that Bob has driven and helped make a success.

Finally, we would certainly be remiss without noting our sadness that we will no longer be working as closely with Bryan Garcia.  Though Bryan will still be involved in a more limited capacity with CCEF, we wish him all the best as he starts his own next chapter at Yale and elsewhere.

Good luck to both Bob and Bryan and we hope both of you will please always remember…Let’s Make More!