“With First Wind’s new website, we wanted to make sure that users had multiple opportunities to find out about First Wind’s unique personality, and it looks like that’s exactly what is happening,” said Ted Page, Principal and Creative Director of Captains of Industry. “The new media center is a great example of how good web content like our videos can help make a website more dynamic and interesting for viewers.”

Captains of Industry has been working with renewable energy companies since they became the agency of record for First Wind in 2007 The Captains assisted in rebranding the company, formerly known as UPC Wind in 2008, and currently provide First Wind with strategic communications counsel, web and print design, and videos.

Captains of Industry has a dedicated clean tech marketing communications group that helps companies in this thriving sector speed their growth through effective storytelling. Captains of Industry developed the branding for Deepwater Wind, a leading offshore wind energy company, and is now working with, Alteris Renewables, the leading installer of solar and wind in the Northeast.

About Captains of Industry
Captains of Industry is an independent marketing and filmmaking company with expertise in renewable energy and viral marketing. The agency has created memorable work for clients ranging from First Wind and Deepwater Wind to Dunkin’ Donuts, Bose Professional systems, Akamai and SolidWorks. In a BusinessWeek CEO Guide to Online Video, two of Captains’ campaigns were ranked among the top ten created nationally. Learn more at www.captainsofindustry.com or follow us on twitter @CaptainsBoston.

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• Environment. Going solar gives me the power to do something about global warming.
• Money. I will eventually save money on my electricity (perhaps right away, based on the state and financing options).
• Energy independence. We as a country are too reliant on foreign fuel. Solar on my roof is my own personal power plant.
• Statement. Solar on my roof makes a bold statement that I’m doing something to help the environment, and that you – my neighbors – can follow my lead.
• Cool factor. Ironically, this massive ball of ultra-hot burning gas called the sun is the coolest power source on earth. It makes me feel like a cooler person just because I have it.
• Hate. My utility has been making me angry for years. Having solar says to them, “eat my sun.”
• Status. My environmental credentials are…
• Passion. I believe passionately that my country should never again fight a war for oil. Power from the sun is my way of saying, “enough.”
• Hedge. Having a solar installation helps me lock in a rate for my power, so I won’t suffer as much from rising electricity rates over the years (see “hate” above)

Not long ago, before the days of generous federal and state subsidies, the environment was the dominant single driver for going solar. The very early adopters for solar tended to be green in two ways: they had money to throw around, and they wanted to stop global warming. That equation has changed. Today, two factors in combination are the main drivers:

Money and Environment. I can save money and help the environment at the same time. So, why wouldn’t I? Many or all of the other factors play a role in the decision, but these appear to be the top two. Incorporating money saving and environmental preservation together is critical to the success of any solar marketing campaign in 2010.

Volkswagon’s FunTheory is a fantastic idea. If a behavior as simple as taking the stairs instead of the escalator can be changed simply by turning the stairs into something as fun as a piano, then what other improvements to our daily lives can encourage by making dreaded tasks fun? I’m thinking in particular of global warming, and how we use energy (after all, I work for a marketing agency that deals with a lot of renewable energy clients).

It seems like most of the marketing for energy conservation and renewable energy revolves around two things: combating global warming, and promoting the economic benefits of renewable energy. Neither of these is fun. Is there a way that we can make conserving energy exciting, rather than something we’re doing so we can save the planet or save money? I bet if your lights said “Thank you” and sighed with relief when you shut them off, we’d turn them off more.

Does anyone have any other ideas for how we can make conserving energy fun? I would love to hear them!

Boston, MA: November 18, 2009 – Boston marketing agency Captains of Industry has published their manifesto on their website as a downloadable e-book. The manifesto is made up of 9 distinct ideas:

1. Websites are now TV channels.
2. You don’t need a Big Agency. You need a Big Idea.
3. Chaos is where brilliant dreams are born.
4. Great work comes from understanding.
5. The biggest risk you can take as a marketer is to be safe.
6. The age of advertising based on interruption is on its way out.
7. You’re always talking to one little buckaroo.
8. Service matters.
9. Fun and business are not mutually exclusive.

“With more people tuning out traditional advertising that’s based on interruption, clients are looking for creative ways to tell their stories and engage people. That’s what the manifesto is all about,” said Ted Page, Principal and Creative Director of Captains of Industry. “By sharing these ideas, we hope that we can help businesses connect with their customers.”

Anyone interested in reading the Captains of Industry Manifesto can do so on the Captains website, or can download the pdf.

Captains of Industry would like to invite people to comment on their manifesto on facebook or on twitter.

About Captains of Industry
Captains of Industry is an independent marketing and filmmaking company with expertise in renewable energy and viral marketing. The agency has created memorable work for clients ranging from First Wind and Deepwater Wind to Dunkin’ Donuts, Bose Professional systems, Akamai and SolidWorks. In a BusinessWeek CEO Guide to Online Video, two of Captains’ campaigns were ranked among the top ten created nationally. Learn more at www.captainsofindustry.com or follow us on twitter @CaptainsBoston.

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In addition to being a funny video, Stephen Colbert’s argument brings up some related questions about marketing for renewable and clean energy companies.  There is an intense debate going on in the country, and it seems like the only people participating in that debate in full view of the public are the politicians (and funny talk show hosts).  There is a real opportunity for clean energy companies to step forward and add their experience to the debate of what should be done about global warming.  No one is better suited to discuss the economics of clean energy than the people who are actually creating jobs in solar, wind and other renewable technologies. When Americans see that renewable energy puts more money in the pockets through jobs and other economic development in their towns, and they also understand the true costs of gobal warming, the tide will turn towards renewables. And any company that can become a nationally-noticed figure in this debate can become a real powerhouse – for both change and profits.

David Everett of KaOoga! Media talks about the Death of Advertising, and where he thinks the opportunities are in marketing for web and mobile. Thanks for coming to the Wake for Advertising, and for sharing your thoughts with us, David!

David DeSmith, the Director of Marketing for Southworth Development, talks about how he will miss his good friend the pica, now that advertising by interruption is dead. Stay tuned for more thoughts from other guests at our Wake for Advertising about where marketing and advertising are headed in the future!

We’d love to hear your thoughts on how the party went, and how we should all move on in this post-advertising world. Let’s all take part in the conversation together!

I’m sure that many people will deny that advertising is dead. Just look at all the ads that are still all over the place. This is a huge industry, right? To those who deny that advertising is dead, I would remind them that according to Elizabeth Kubler-Ross’s seminal work on dying, “The Five Stages of Grief,” the first stage is, in fact, denial. We all want to believe in the status quo, but the reality is that things are changing so rapidly that the old ad model has, as John Cleese might have said in the Python’s parrot sketch, “Gone to meet its maker,” “Passed on,” and “Would be pushing up daisies if you hadn’t nailed it to its perch.” The main culprit is new media technology combined with rapid changes in how we interact with each other and the world, which is closely tied to generational shifts in the use of this media. Advertising based on interrupting someone’s entertainment or news gathering experience is going away quickly.

Instead of advertisers spending a fortune to reach for customers the old way, they are making content on websites that is genuinely of value to just the right people, who subsequently reach for them via Google – all at a fraction of the cost of the old way of placing ads. David M. Scott’s excellent book, “The New Rules of Marketing and PR” has plenty of examples of why this phenomenon is today’s marketing reality, so I won’t go into huge detail here. But I will say that, even as an “advertising” professional, I still experience unbridled glee when I TiVo past dumb car commercials when I’m watching Mad Men or Lost.

Here are reasons why I think the death of the old way, and the birth of the new way, represents a wonderful and exciting opportunity:

Great storytelling is more important than ever. You can put a video on YouTube or your website that tells your company’s story in a way that’s moving and exciting. Or make a podcast that unfolds with the power of classic radio drama with Orson Wells.

Your website is your channel, so you don’t have to pay to put your story on someone else’s channel – unless you want to. We’ve gone from 3 major networks, to hundreds of cable channels, to millions of websites. Every one of these websites has the potential to be its very own channel, which means you can reach an audience at extremely low cost. This is especially relevant for B2B marketers who need to appeal to a niche.

Fun is king. Comedy videos are watched more on the web than any other kind. Infusing your marketing video with comedy helps leverage your customers’ viewing habits for your competitive advantage.

Global reach, without the global reach costs. When I pledged to eat my shorts on YouTube if my agency didn’t win a solar account, I was struck by the fact that within an hour – literally one hour – of posting the video on www.solarshorts.com and sending a notice out to my LinkedIn groups, I received emails from solar industry professionals from around the world, from Australia to Germany (and we won a solar account, by the way. Thank God – those burnt shorts smelled awful).

More connecting. Real conversations. Less shouting. I remember when I was starting out as a junior copywriter at McCann in New York back in the 1980s. The agency had big accounts like Coke and AT&T. The work was, frankly, dull as dishwater. The agency used a lot of jingles, so while the official motto of McCann was “Truth well told,” the joke around the company was that it should be “Truth well sung.” Despite all this, the advertising worked fairly well, as far as I could see. Why? I suspect it was largely due to the fact that the clients spent vast amounts of money on media spending. They kept shouting their messages to a relatively captive audience using TV commercials, and if they shouted the same shit often enough it stuck. Today, if we do our job right, a video or some other web experience gets people talking about it on Twitter or Facebook, and email links spread the word for us. Sometimes it’s only a whisper, but that’s all it takes.

So, we’re having this party – a wake for the advertising we knew so well (October 29th). But it’s not an occasion to be sad. We’re celebrating all the great things advertising was, and more importantly looking to the future. Let’s get together and hoist a few Guinness. We will sing Oh Danny Boy. And through it all, as we grieve for our old friend, we can console ourselves with the knowledge that today, Advertising is in a better place.

Captains of Industry, a marketing and film-making firm with about a dozen staffers, is moving from Watertown to Boston’s historic Faneuil Hall area.
“Watertown has been very good for us,” agency cofounder and executive producer Fred Surr said in a statement, “but it’s time for us to be a Boston agency again.”

The agency said in a press release: “Captains of Industry, founded in 1997, began on Newbury Street in Boston and moved to Watertown in 2003 to accommodate its growing staff. The move back to Boston is being driven by the need to be closer to Boston-based clients, make it easier to recruit new talent, and reduce the consumption of fossil fuels that lead to global warming.”

In addition to design and account service, the new Boston office includes a full in-house video production facility.

The company said it works with such brands as Bose Professional Systems, First Wind, SolidWorks, and Constellation New Energy.
(By Chris Reidy, Globe staff)