Stories about people not products

DOCUMENTARY BRAND CAMPAIGN

Sunflare develops flexible thin-film solar technology. I created Transform, a documentary campaign that showed the solar panels in real life through people using them to explore, educate, and save lives.

Creative Director

Role
Discipline

Campaign strategy, partnerships, film, photography, production, and earned media.

2018 to 2020

Year

01 / The stories

STØDIG

Two architects converted a retired survival lifeboat into an expedition home and traveled 5,000 kilometers from the UK to the Norwegian Arctic. Nine hundred watts of flexible solar followed the boat’s curved roof and helped make life aboard largely self-sufficient. The partnership produced two films covering both the journey and its off-grid system.

RESULTS

  • 2M+ views on Motor Boat & Yachting’s channel

  • Featured by Yachting World and shared across marine and adventure media

Sarpinz

Branden “Ben” Powell converted a 1972 Pinzgauer into a mobile support vehicle for King County Search and Rescue. Its solar array kept communication equipment, lighting, navigation, cameras, and batteries powered during long missions in the Washington backcountry.

Maui House

Graham Hill built a 1,000-square-foot Maui home designed to live larger than its footprint while operating completely off-grid. Because traditional solar panels would have disrupted the architecture and surrounding views, Sunflare’s thin-film panels were integrated into a color-matched standing-seam roof. Nearly invisible from the ground, the system powered the home around the clock and charged an electric car.

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Honest Eco

Captain Billy Litmer built Squid to offer quieter, lower-impact dolphin tours off Key West. Twelve custom Sunflare panels generated 2,000 watts while weighing one-quarter as much as conventional panels, helping reduce diesel use from 14 gallons per trip to three.

RESULTS

  • Earned coverage in Forbes

  • Gave Sunflare credible real-world proof for OEM and trade-show presentations

RESULTS

  • 60,000+ views on Sunflare’s YouTube channel

  • Covered by CleanTechnica, SpinSheet, and other marine and sustainability outlets

RESULTS

  • The project was featured by The New York Times, bringing Sunflare into architecture, design, and sustainable-living media.

  • 300,000+ views on Sunflare’s YouTube channel

02 / The idea

REAL STORIES. REAL PROOF

Make the person the story and the technology the enabler.

Rather than lead with watts and specifications, Transform began with people. Each film centered on a real mission, problem, or way of life and showed how solar helped make it possible.

Each application was told through two films. The first focused on the people and their story. A Closer Look followed with a more technical view of the product and how it worked within that application. Together, they made the technology relatable while providing the product proof behind each story.

The technical benefits were still there, but they became evidence within the story. Weight mattered on an electric tour boat. Flexibility mattered on the curved roof of a lifeboat. Reliable power mattered during a search-and-rescue mission.

03 / My role

FROM FINDING PARTNERSHIPS TO FINAL EDIT

I created the concept and led its execution.

I served as creative director across all four applications and eight films. For STØDIG and SARPINZ, I led the work end to end—from finding the applications and developing the partnerships to overseeing panel fabrication and directing both films. For Maui House and Honest Eco, I led the creative direction and also contributed to filming and editing the Maui work.

Created for consumers, the films also supported press outreach, trade-show presentations, and OEM sales conversations.

04 / The results

STORIES PEOPLE WATCHED

Product claims became public proof.

Transform took Sunflare beyond the solar category and into marine, automotive, outdoor, real estate and adventure media. Across Sunflare and partner channels, the campaign generated more than four million views. Its featured applications received coverage from Forbes, The New York Times, CleanTechnica, and leading industry publications.

The campaign gave Sunflare consumer reach, third-party credibility, and proven real-world applications the sales team could use in OEM conversations.