WaterFX

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How do you build excitement around a sustainable farming technology that, while in pilot stage, has the potential to provide relief to a dire situation? Startup WaterFX wanted communications support to help launch a new platform for solar desalination inside the agricultural market and build relationships with the local ag community, utilizing a technology that leveraged concentrated solar panels (CSP) and off-the-shelf desalination systems.

WHAT WE DID

WaterFX had an innovative cleantech spin on servicing the ag market, but hadn’t yet fully understood how to tap into their desired audience, or fully access their target market. We helped them leverage the opportunity, despite their small size, by addressing a years-long drought affecting farmers throughout California’s Central Valley, and threatening the world’s largest patch of Class 1 soil.

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We designed a messaging session to articulate the company’s value, highlighting the “open source” nature of their business model, as well as jumpstarting their innovation in a region faced with the severe agricultural impacts of drought. We generated positioning for their launch, focusing on the value provided to farmers, and the system’s scalability and reliability. And finally, our team designed their website and marketing materials, facilitated with local ag representatives, and launched the pilot project in the Pinoche Water District, in Firebaugh, CA. Connecting the pilot to a major obstacle relevant to local farmers positioned WaterFX favorably, and framed their project as an innovative solution to a seemingly unsolvable problem.

WaterFX built strong relationships inside the ag industry and with Central Valley growers, increased demand for product, and during a peak drought period became a poster child for solutions at the intersection of energy, water, and food. The company was highlighted in more than 20 mainstream, cleantech and ag-related publications throughout the launch period, with coverage positioning them as a hopeful technology to remedy an urgent environmental situation while protecting food security and access.

 

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