Max Gladwell

SunChips launches new social media campaign with solar message and Facebook widget

If you’ve visited green- and healthy-living sites, you may have seen SunChips ads…assuming you don’t tune out online advertising altogether. The company’s marketing has consistently targeted this demographic. Today, SunChips announces a new social media campaign through Facebook that promotes the use of solar energy at one of its facilities, together with the purchase of renewable energy certificates (RECs) for the remainder.

Have you ever had an idea that seemed like such a good idea, such a bright idea, that you couldn’t believe you hadn’t thought of it before? For us, that idea was using solar power. Seems obvious, doesn’t it? We make SunChips® snacks, after all. So we’ve started using solar energy instead of fossil fuel to help make SunChips® in our plant in Modesto, California. Solar collectors track the sun from dawn to dusk, gathering all the energy they can. We transfer that energy into heat, which helps us produce 145,000 bags of SunChips® snacks every day. So you get a snack that’s not only better for you, but better for the planet as well.

You can download the company’s solar background document to learn more about the technology and infrastructure.

The Facebook widget entitled “Get Green” walks you through a survey of steps you can take to be green, such as driving less, turning the thermostat down or up at night, and shutting off your computer, complete with stats on their impact for both the environment and your wallet. The app seemed a little buggy for us, but the intention is there. You can take the survey multiple times to accumulate new steps. And you can compare your steps with your friends or the entire “Get Green” community.

In our opinion, this is a well-executed campaign and represents an excellent allocation of marketing resources. It engages consumers not only with the brand and product but with the broader environmental ethos in an entertaining yet educational way. It communicates the company’s environmental and CSR efforts, which are tied directly to the product, making it more of a feel-good purchase and setting them apart from the competition. And by virtue of the social media channel, it encourages sharing.