Our planet has a serious trash problem — generating too much, not recycling enough and disposing haphazardly. The U.S. alone produces an average of 250 million tons of waste annually — much of which ends up in landfills where it emits more than 40 billion tons of greenhouse gases each year. Imagine if we could turn all that trash into clean energy?

IST Energy's Green Energy Machine, or GEM, is a compact waste-to-energy machine that converts everyday trash into clean energy. The GEM is an oversized mobile dumpster built to fit in an area the size of three to four parking spaces but made for large-scale trash handling at sites that produce more than two tons of trash daily. The GEM turns all that trash into pellets, which it converts into a clean synthetic gas that is sent to an electric generator producing electricity and gas heat.

IST Energy enlisted Racepoint Group to launch the GEM and attract potential customers. Media coverage needed to tout the GEM's benefits in a way that educated the public about the importance of IST Energy's unique waste-to-energy conversion model.

The Racepoint team elevated the story beyond a simple product launch into the realm and introduced a solution to two serious problems — the need to reduce trash and increase alternative energy sources. Understanding the complexity of the GEM's technology, the team set out to wow the media with an in-person demo. For those unable to see the GEM in person, the Racepoint team developed an online slideshow to tell the GEM story through a compelling narrative with interesting images of the GEM and of the trash and energy problems it was poised to help solve. The team also customized the launch story narrative for each media target, resulting in lots of different media "talking about trash" in different yet compelling ways.

In the end, the launch generated upwards of 200 leads, far exceeding the client's expectation. Prospects specifically mentioned seeing a GEM news story. Local media coverage included the front page of the Boston Globe and a story on New England Cable News (NECN). National print coverage appeared in a "Green Biz" column in BusinessWeek in which the GEM was identified as one of three innovative new green inventions. Online and blog coverage appeared on: USA Today's "Coffee Break" blog, Treehugger, CNet, Geek.com, ZDNet, Green Daily (AOL), and more. Social media sites were equally abuzz with chatter about the GEM and its potential impact on the country's trash and energy crises.