Windstory #19 - Motherf*ckin’ wind farms
On Vatenfall's campaign with Samuel L. Jackson and the search for alternative narratives in the wind energy sector.
Hello everyone and welcome to a new issue of Windletter. I'm Sergio Fernández Munguía (@Sergio_FerMun) and here we discuss the latest news in the wind power sector from a different perspective. If you're not subscribed to the newsletter, you can do so here.
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Windstory is the articles section of Windletter, where we publish single-topic analyses and share interesting stories from the wind energy sector.
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Today we bring a Windstory about Vattenfall’s recent offshore wind marketing campaign. A campaign that featured the stellar performance of Samuel L. Jackson and which I sense has been a success given the virality it has achieved on social media.
Motherf*ckin’ wind farms
Traditionally, large electric companies (the so-called utilities) have been rather conservative in their communication campaigns. For large companies, from traditional sectors, and with many decades of history (sometimes even centenarian), it is not at all easy to deviate from the usual discourses. Nothing ventured, nothing gained, but nothing lost either. And that, for many, is already more than enough.
However, we are living in a moment in which the narrative of the fight against climate change seems to be starting to show signs of fatigue. It is increasingly difficult for these messages to connect with part of society. Or at least, that is my impression.
Nowadays, much of the discourse about emission reduction and climate change is built from confrontation, placing the focus on everything we are doing wrong. And although that approach may be necessary, it sometimes also generates rejection.
If we want renewable energies, and especially wind power, to become a “popular” technology, transversal to any political ideology, I believe we must also look for new approaches and new ways of communicating.
It is not about replacing one approach with another, but about complementing them with others that can coexist.
📢 Windfarmed, Vattenfall’s latest campaign
In this context, Vattenfall has surprised everyone with an advertising campaign that departs from the usual narratives and institutional tone. And it has done so with a commercial starring the iconic actor Samuel L. Jackson, whose direct, provocative tone with a dose of humour manages to capture attention from the very first second.
Beyond the “transgressive” nature of the commercial (at least by the standards of the sector), which even uses swear words with a humorous touch (in fact, Vattenfall has published a censored version and an uncensored one), the campaign proposes a new approach to the role of wind farms in the marine environment.
The fight against climate change continues to be the first of the arguments in the commercial, but other aspects are added, such as the fact that the farms can become artificial reefs and be used for other economic activities such as seaweed cultivation.
The website that Vatenfall has created for the campaign is very attractive, with some rendered images of the wind farm and underwater life.
In the following video they explain in detail the integration of seaweed cultivation in the wind farm:
According to Vattenfall, the seaweed they are cultivating between the turbines of their Vesterhav Syd wind farm (Denmark) is not only edible: it helps absorb CO₂, cleans the water of nutrients, and serves as habitat for marine fauna.
I couldn’t help but really want to try the seaweed snacks, but they are not for sale. At least not the ones from the commercial, although the manufacturing company does sell similar products online (all of them sold out).
If someone from Vattenfall can manage to send me a package, I promise to do a review 😁.
The truth is the packaging is really cool. It will end up being a collector’s item.
The mentions of habitat regeneration are undoubtedly a clear confrontation to the amount of news and media noise that has arisen around wind farms (especially in the United States) and their impact on the marine habitat, especially on whales. However, to this day there are no scientific studies that demonstrate a causal relationship between offshore wind and cetacean mortality.
Although it is fair to acknowledge that impacts from noise during construction are indeed known, in particular during monopile driving, which can cause temporary alterations in the behaviour of whales and other marine mammals.
By the way, as if that were not enough, the campaign fits Samuel L. Jackson like a glove, since he studied marine biology, which gives him a real and personal connection with the message he conveys.
In short, a different marketing campaign, one that departs from the usual tone of the industry and allows the message about the benefits of offshore wind to be redirected to other areas. Because let’s admit it: the sector tends to be rather boring and takes very few risks.
While writing this Windstory, I started trying to recall which are the best commercials and campaigns in the wind and renewable energy sector... and I ended up compiling a few that are worth it. I will share them in a future Windstory.
If you don’t want to miss it, subscribe. And if you have any campaign in mind that you think should be included, do not hesitate to write to me 🙂
By the way, I would love to know what you think of this kind of articles, a bit less technical and a little removed from Windletter’s usual content. So, whether you liked it or not, I appreciate the feedback.
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Disclaimer: The opinions presented in Windletter are mine and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.