Tigercomm is the leading PR, marketing communications, and public affairs firm at the center of the cleantech industry.

Solar Energy Industries Association

The Challenge: The Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA) identified the long-term extension of the Investment Tax Credit (ITC) as its top policy priority for 2008. It needed an aggressive earned media campaign to help achieve that goal. 

Tigercomm responded to the challenge by:

• Designing and executing a 12-month, earned media campaign to secure on-message news stories and editorials in congressionally important states. We generated hundreds of news stories and 15 editorials in targeted news outlets including: The Arizona Republic, The Cleveland Plain-Dealer, The Denver Post, Las Vegas Review-Journal, New Hampshire Union-Leader, The Palm Beach Post, San Francisco Chronicle, and San Jose Mercury News.
• Writing and submitting op-eds from SEIA board members in the following states: CO, FL, NH, NV, PA, OH, TN, and TX. We also had letters to the editor published by The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post.
• Arranging two different media tours with SEIA board members while the ITC was debated in Congress.
• Successfully pitching five editorials calling on Congress to extend the ITC to The New York Times.
• Working with Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman on three columns that called on Congress to extend the ITC.
• Conducting media interview training for SEIA board members and arranging media tours for them, resulting in more than 10 on-message print and wire stories.
• Pitching and securing a feature story in the National Journal that profiled the leadership of SEIA's president during the ITC debate. 
• Overseeing the production of a staged paid media effort that included a 12-page insert in the Washington insider publication Politico, timed to coincide with the influential Washington International Renewable Energy Conference (WIREC). We also handled additional print ads in target states for SEIA and other clean energy advocates.

Results:

Despite long odds, the ITC passed on the 17th vote. The landmark legislation expanded the 30-percent federal ITC for both residential and commercial solar installations and extended it for a full eight years. It is widely considered the most significant federal policy ever enacted for the solar industry.