Blooming the Box We’re All Talking About: The PR Behind Bloom Box
Appearing nearly paper thin, Bloom Energy's fuel cell which comprises the Bloom Box
“In the world of energy, the Holy Grail is a power source that’s inexpensive and clean with no emissions,” began CBS’s Lesley Stahl, touching off a frenzy of media attention – a firestorm seemingly as controlled and well calculated as the technology itself. The 60-Minutes segment would be the beginning, the launching pad for a PR blitz that feeds on mystery, intrigue and our insatiable need to learn the secrets of the Bloom Box.
The Bloom Box, a futuristic miniature power plant, has captivated our attention and set our minds racing. A couple of small cubes no larger than a loaf of bread are able to power a U.S. home according to Bloom Box creator Bloom Energy. Group multiple cubes, or fuel cells, together and you can power entire corporate centers. It's already happening.
Bloom Boxes deployed at Ebay headquarters
At almost $800,000 for an entire "energy server," these Bloom Boxes already adorn the lawns of major American companies: FedEx, Wal-Mart, Staples, Ebay, Bank of America and Cox Enterprises – each of them going “off the grid” to produce their own energy. But how? We all really have no idea. And that’s just fine in the evolving world of new public relations.
The media campaign surrounding last week’s official launch of the Bloom Box is the genesis of Outcast Communications, a small firm barely 13 years young with offices in San Francisco and New York. And while short on information, the Outcast strategy is long on results so far. “It’s about seeing the world as what it can be and not what it is,” the exuberant and wildly joyful Bloom CEO KR Sridhar said as he led a fascinated Lesley Stahl through his laboratory. “It works!” But Sridhar is not alone.
Today more than 100 companies and research firms are building fuel cells and several have found similar success. A Business Week article reveals that Sprint is gobbling up hydrogen-based fuel cell patents at record speed with the idea of deploying the technology at cell phone towers. Bloom Energy may have hit the media stratosphere, but the race is tighter than we now understand. To win this race and create the appearance of dominance, at least for now, Bloom Energy had to strike first, before its competitors.
Bloom Energy’s PR machine isn’t addressing the staunch criticism coming from some like Sam Jaffe of IDC Energy Insights, an energy consultancy. “While the Bloom gurus have handled the PR process masterfully, they forgot to mention a few other things about their Bloom boxes,” Jaffe writes in a blog post entitled “Four Things Bloom Energy Forgot to Tell the World.” Citing drawbacks including real questions on efficiency and environmental impact, he says Bloom “garnered an inordinate amount of the Internet and the media’s attention.” And it should have.
Bloom Energy's CEO KR Sridhar
While Jaffe may be right on, the truth is no one is talking about efficiency or supposed environmental impact. Bloom Energy launched its box in the middle of a cold winter amid high energy bills - maybe one reason we’re talking about the idea of creating our own energy in our back yards. We’re talking about the prospect of going “off the grid.” And we’re talking about the Bloom Box.
The folks over at Outcast Communications have thoroughly succeeded. They’ll just have to keep the box blooming over time. Thomas Alva Edison likely saw the same challenge.
Not 130 years ago Edison burned his first light bulb. History suggests his technology was not the best. It was not the most efficient. And those bulbs weren't cheap to illuminate. But his bulbs were first. And in just a year Edison was powering up 10,300 bulbs for more than 500 customers nightly in Lower Manhattan. Those bulbs busted the competition and from them grew the mega-corporation we now know as General Electric.
GE's got fuel cells too. But different from Bloom Energy, GE's PR machine is still quiet.
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