SolarCity — Connect the Business

The challenge: SolarCity was accelerating clean-energy adoption across a complex business spanning residential consumers, commercial installations, real estate development, strategic partnerships, public-policy advocacy, and philanthropy. Each audience had different motivations, while larger B2B installations accounted for approximately 70% of revenue.

The reframing: Stop treating marketing as a collection of separate campaigns serving separate departments. Position it at the center of the business, connecting functions and identifying opportunities where their efforts could reinforce one another. For residential consumers, shift the conversation from solar equipment to what “powers your home.”

The transformation: Established an integrated marketing and creative capability supporting residential and commercial growth, partnerships with organizations including Visa, Home Depot, Best Buy, Walmart, and Whole Foods, and GivePower's philanthropic initiatives. Connected brand storytelling, customer communications, and advocacy to make clean energy more understandable, relevant, and engaging.

The strategic point: Marketing creates greater value when it connects the business rather than simply promotes it. Understanding how different functions, audiences, and experiences intersect reveals opportunities that individual departments cannot realize alone.