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Perusing the front section of Friday's Los Angeles Times as I munched my lunch salad, I turned to page 6 and saw something remarkable. No, not another photo spread of the California wildfires or digitally doctored Iranian missile launches, but a full-page ad dominated by an image of a sweeping panorama of solar modules, stretching to the horizon.

At the top of the page, next to the familiar Sharp red type-logo, a small headline reads, "The 21st century is the age of 'photovoltaic,'" accompanied by a paragraph touting the company's solar energy vision. Under the field of panels, in alternating red and green bold-cap type, another title line says, "Don't just see the picture. See the vision," followed by the tagline, again in red and green bold caps (though smaller), "Change your power/Change your planet."

This striking bit of print advertising piqued my interest at many levels. I could not recall seeing a full-page ad promoting solar power presented by a leading PV purveyor. Was it part of a larger ad/marketing campaign by Sharp, and if so, how ambitious was the effort? Was there any significance to the timing of the ad(s)? Which model modules were shown in the picture?


A cropped version of the central image from one
of Sharp's eye-catching PV print ads.


After finishing my lunch, I called Paul Wormser, a senior director of Sharp's solar energy solutions group who I'd met after he made an enthusiastic presentation at the recent Green West show in Los Angeles. He told me what he knew, starting with the fact that the ad was indeed part of a national campaign running in select newspapers. Yes, there were several different ads in the mix, and that another ad had actually run earlier in the week in the Times. And yes, the modules depicted were, as I suspected from looking at the product listings on the Sharp Website, the company's NT-175U1 models, which tout 13.45% conversion efficiencies and incorporate a series of 72 126-square-mm monocrystalline cells with distinctive surface texturing. For more information, Paul suggested that I contact Chris Loncto, Sharp Electronics' PR director based in the company's New Jersey office.

Late Friday afternoon (at least late Eastern time), Chris took my call and filled in more details about the ads. They're part of an international campaign, begun July 7, running in conjunction with the G-8 summit of world leaders, which just took place in Japan. Since global warming and other matters of planetary environmental concern were on the meeting agenda and the event was taking place in Sharp country, the timing of such a solar-consciousness-raising effort must have seemed prime.

Chris told me that there have been four or five different ads running, in several US papers, including the Wall Street Journal, Chicago Tribune, New York Times, and my hometown paper. But the American placements are part of a larger campaign: Ads have also been running in publications throughout Europe and Japan, albeit with some market-specific design tweaks.

The print ads are just part of a national marketing onslaught developed with the Lowe Worldwide agency and represent Sharp's first solar-oriented effort for the US market. Chris explained that a national brand-expansion push starts today (Monday, July 14) with the airing of a new TV solar-power-savvy spot touting the company tagline, "Change your power/Change your planet."

He sent me the embargoed press release and 10 still images from the TV ad. Shots of various solar installations--utility to winery, FedEx to outer space to the home front--are shown, with a very fair-haired astrophysicist named Gerard Fasel acting as the narrator. I'm not positive, but Sharp's new solar-focused TV ad may be the first of its kind from a major PV manufacturer.

Speaking of major, as in major league, the new ad will run five times or so during the broadcast of the Major League Baseball All-Star game from Yankee Stadium, which airs tomorrow (Tuesday, July 15) on Fox. Two other Sharp spots, promoting its LCD TV biz, will also be shown throughout the broadcast. The press release also mentions the launch of a micro-Website called lifesavingbox.com and related sweepstakes giveaways.

Will Sharp's solar-power(ed) TV ad represent an "Intel Inside"-like marketing/branding moment for the photovoltaics industry or instead have jaded viewers reaching for their mute buttons? Either outcome shouldn't have much impact on the company's ambitious gigawatt-scale capacity ramp plans in both silicon and thin-film PV. Or will it?