Ray the Sheep
Creating a New Breed of Solar Expert
ARRAY Technologies, a global renewable energy company, needed a disruptive campaign to showcase themself as a leader, innovator, and founder in the solar tracking industry. To this end, my team at Gatesman created Ray, a reliable and charismatic champion for the solar tracking industry. Since sheep are used to manage vegetation around solar sites, Ray was a natural choice to tackle heady and technical scientific topics in an entertaining and educational format.
The success of the campaign resulted in greater awareness and an increase in industry share for ARRAY Technologies.
-
Art Direction, Motion Design, Campaign Development, Branding, Social
-
Art Direction and Motion Design: Matt Lawrenson
Creative Direction and Copywriting: Mark DiPietro
CGI and Direction: PARTNER
Commercial Spots
We launched with three commercial spots that introduced Ray to the industry and covered topics such as ARRAY’s domestic content commitment, the value ARRAY products bring to a project, and ARRAY’s hail and wind mitigation system.
These spots launched on industry-specific digital platforms; targeting solar industry leaders and garnered nearly 350K views.
How Ray Came to Life
Real sheep. Extra cute. Expressive ears. Cool hair. Just happens to talk solar.
These five points made up our north star when it came to designing Ray. We worked closely with our CGI team at Partners FX to bring her to life using Unreal Engine. When designing Ray, we knew we wanted her to stand out from the rest of the flock without relying on human accessories like scarves or jewelry. To this end, we gave her a unique hairstyle and a charming caramel coloring to her fur. Her facial features were adjusted to be more human, including forgoing a sheep’s natural eye shape in favor of a more approachable human look.
Campaign Extensions
Off and Running (On Four Legs)
The campaign was supported with strategic media placements in premium solar industry publications, a campaign landing page, the launch of Ray’s social media accounts, and engaging a traveling street team at global solar conferences.
And to boost internal adoption of our new solar spokessheep, we helped ARRAY launch Ray Day, an internal celebration of the first Ray commercial. Employees received Ray-themed swag, an employee guide to Ray, and internal digital materials.
