Most solar mounting system suppliers were co-located on the third floor of Moscone West at Intersolar North America. To achieve high booth traffic, companies had to differentiate themselves from neighbors.
Sloped-roof mount supplier SolarRoofHook.com once again used the services of Chef Anton, whose magic evokes laughs and puzzlement. A number of companies used the oldest (and possibly best) trick in the book and supplied attendees with coffee and, later in the day, beer. HatiCon Solar collected business cards for an iPad drawing. Candy was distributed at about 50% of booths.
The most effective booth marketing techniques left customers with an impression, such as biggest, fastest or best, and inspired this photoblog. Take a look:
Fastest time. KB Racking asked passersby to take a shot at assembling its roof mount with nothing but manual tools and verbal direction.
Best tattoos. OK, the spiderwebs are not real, but the novel marketing idea is great. Spider-Rax is new to the mounting industry, and President Xiomara Roman says attendee response at Intersolar was incredible.
Most soccer fans (tie). Schletter, provider of big mounting solutions, also offered soccer fans big screen TVs to watch the World Cup.
Most soccer fans (tie). TerraSmart, provider of ground screws, also used soccer as a way to increase booth traffic. Evidently, there were plenty of fans to go around. Yingli Solar on the first floor was a sponsor of the World Cup, and they may have had the largest crowd of all.
Most animated booth. QBotix manufacturers a robot that glides around on a rail, from tracker to tracker, typically adjusting tilts by small increments. At Intersolar, the robot adjusted a dual-axis tracker with sweeping movements, gathering the attention of passersby.
Best mask. Well, as non-traditional marketing goes, these masks from Sakata were a hit. A little weird, attendees couldn’t help but put one on and take a picture.
Most co-branding. Quick Mount PV‘s patented elevated water seal fits just about any L-foot. Here, see for yourself.
Biggest tracker. Mechatron is new to the U.S., but the’ve already made a big impression. One of its dual-axis D170 evolution trackers can hold 27 to 30 kW of panels, and they brought the whole thing with them to Intersolar. Expect to see it again at Solar Power International.