Crane company lands logos on primetime TV

Locals familiar with American Green Holdings Inc. and www.bidforgreen.com – its online trading post for alternative fuels and related products – may have noticed the company’s logos on the Jan. 10 episode of “CSI: Crime Scene Investigation” on CBS.

The episode, entitled “Bull” and also featuring a cameo by singer Jewel, centered on a Las Vegas rodeo competition in an arena encircled with banner ads. CSI co-producer Phil Conserva, an outspoken biodiesel proponent, decided to replace ads for “booze and cigarettes” with computer-generated ads for American Green Holdings, alongside Wrangler, Dickies, Ford and Cabela’s logos.

Conserva said AgriFuels LLC President Jason Hoar introduced him to American Green Holdings CEO Dale Wiley. AgriFuels is a biodiesel consulting, sales and software marketing company with offices in California and Nebraska.

Conserva, who’s been using biodiesel in his pickup for more than a year, is on a mission to convince Hollywood that film production crews can use the alternative fuel – made from waste vegetable oil – in place of diesel gasoline. To that end, Conserva and Wiley partnered on a pilot project that uses biodiesel supplied by American Green Holdings to power generators and trucks on the CSI set.

The ongoing writer’s strike, however, interrupted the pilot project early on, Conserva said, noting that “Bull” was the last new episode of CSI shot before production was temporarily shut down. As a tip of the hat to American Green Holdings, Conserva worked the company’s logos into the episode, which also included a bull rider named Dale Wiley.

“That was a little payback that I could do for them,” Conserva said in a phone interview. “On TV, we can really … make the impact when it’s necessary because we can reach so many people.”

Wiley said he and partners Russ Gehrke and Rob Wood were happily blindsided by the news that American Green Holdings would receive prime product placement on the popular show. The crime drama has seemingly taken up residence on Nielsen’s list of Top 10 shows based on viewership.

Included in the episode were logos for American Green Holdings, BidForGreen and the EcoOutlaw, a modified Victory motorcycle the company built that runs on gasoline, ethanol-blended fuel or pure grain alcohol. A few days after the show aired, Wiley said the company’s Web sites saw more visitors.

“We didn’t see a big jump,” he said. “We saw a little jump. It wasn’t immediate. But over the next few days, we saw an increase.”

Wiley and Conserva are optimistic the writer’s strike will be resolved soon, allowing the pilot project to move forward. Meanwhile, American Green Holdings continues to build its celebrity clientele.

In November, BidForGreen began fueling tour buses for rock band Styx and lead singer Tommy Shaw’s side project, Shaw/Blades, with biodiesel. The company has provided the same service to country crooners Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard.[[In-content Ad]]