opportunity
In 2006, rising energy prices were driving renewed interest in solar energy — but a critical shortage of polysilicon, the fundamental material in solar cells, was keeping costs high and dampening market enthusiasm. Dow Corning, a globally integrated provider of silicon-based materials to all segments of the electronics industry, had developed a revolutionary new feedstock material that would help address the problem — and they asked Loomis Group to help develop a launch plan for their marketing effort.

Named PV 1101, the new complementary feedstock material was the first silicon material derived from a metallurgic process and offered on an industrial scale. The material had been tested in customers’ manufacturing environments and shown to deliver the same performance characteristics as polysilicon in solar cell manufacturing and efficiency.

idea
As Loomis Group developed a strategic plan for the PV 1101 launch, it became clear that the true value of the product could only come out in in-depth editorial coverage, or in reports by knowledgeable industry analysts. The first order of business, therefore, was to introduce media and analysts to the product well in advance of the official launch date so they would have time to develop solid coverage.

We knew, moreover, that the launch had to be global, to reach solar cell manufacturers in Asia, the U.S. and Europe. The timing of the 21st European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference in Dresden, Germany, was a perfect opportunity to reach media and customers from all parts of the world. With an eye toward building the credibility of PV 1101 as a production-worthy option, Loomis Group ensured that messaging included not just the material’s outstanding characteristics, but also Dow Corning’s successful six decades of silicon development expertise.

execution
With our global strategic communications plan in place, Loomis Group developed a very informative product introduction news release as well as critiqued and contributed to Dow Corning’s presentation slides. Loomis Group began pitching advance interviews with key spokespersons from Dow Corning’s Solar Solutions Group, provided materials to the media audiences, and conducted interviews under embargo until the official product introduction on the Dresden conference’s opening day.

Loomis Group’s focus was equally divided among China, Taiwan, Korea, Europe and U.S., while Dow Corning’s operation in Japan opted to handle that market on its own, using the materials that we developed and translated for them.

influence

• Loomis Group secured 22 interviews with editors and analysts. Publications and organizations included:
  Photon International, Renewable Energy Access, REFOCUS, Renewable Energy World, European Photovoltaic Industry Assoc., Solar Energy Industries Assoc., Electronic News, Electronic Business, EE Times, SolarPlaza, Micro-Electronics (Taiwan), Compound Semi Opto Tech (China), CompoTech Asia (Korea), The Electronics Times (Korea), Electronic Business China, DigiTimes (Taiwan), Power Supply Information (China), Energy News (Korea), Prometheus Institute
• Loomis Group garnered 49 press clippings in the first three weeks after the formal launch on September 4, 2006.
• The PR campaign generated more than 140 million opportunities worldwide to view Dow Corning’s PV 1101 news in the solar industry’s most influential media outlets and analyst reports.
• Market response has been so strong that Dow Corning’s production capacity for PV 1101 is on allocation, and the company is ramping up additional capacity.