Suffering from Web Stress?
We work with the European Communications Team at CA Technologies to help develop thought-provoking PR campaigns that go beyond traditional IT PR. A recent example is the award-winning Web Stress campaign which was created to further position CA Technologies as a thought leader and commentator on real world issues in relation to online customer service.
By making the topic of Application Performance Management (APM) come alive by scientifically proving that badly performing websites cause ‘web stress’ CA Technologies generated strong coverage beyond the trade press by making the story resonate with business, national and consumer press in relation to how under-performing websites result in lost business and devalued brands.
The quality and volume of press coverage and online buzz from the campaign surpassed all expectations. The campaign won Best Business to Business Marketing Campaign at the SABRE Awards 2010 and was a finalist in the European Excellence Awards.
Breaking the News in EMEA
For the EMEA PR and marketing departments of US-based companies, the opportunity to take a global lead in key activities and announcements is something to be made the most of. As the EMEA-coordination agency for Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), we were excited to be involved in such a project when its pioneering Virtual Storage Platform was announced at a launch event in Amsterdam.
We worked with our contacts in local PR teams across the region to secure 27 journalist attendees, representing publications spread from Moscow to Madrid. The one-day event featured presentations from senior HDS EMEA spokespeople as well as analysts from IDC, sharing findings from a specially-commissioned report, and a customer to speak about his own experiences in evaluating the new product.
On top of the logistical challenge of arranging and executing a busy day of presentations, briefings and networking sessions for the attendees, it was essential to get the content right. We worked closely with the HDS EMEA team to ensure each spokesperson was delivering the right messages in the most impactful and engaging way.
In the days following the launch, over 100 pieces of coverage were achieved, from 11 countries across EMEA, leading the HDS team to call the day its ‘most successful launch event ever’.
| UK - link one | link two | Germany - link one | link two | Netherlands - link | Italy - link | Spain - link | France - link |
Suffering from Web Stress?
We work with the European Communications Team at CA Technologies to help develop thought-provoking PR campaigns that go beyond traditional IT PR. A recent example is the award-winning Web Stress campaign which was created to further position CA Technologies as a thought leader and commentator on real world issues in relation to online customer service.
By making the topic of Application Performance Management (APM) come alive by scientifically proving that badly performing websites cause ‘web stress’ CA Technologies generated strong coverage beyond the trade press by making the story resonate with business, national and consumer press in relation to how under-performing websites result in lost business and devalued brands.
The quality and volume of press coverage and online buzz from the campaign surpassed all expectations. The campaign won Best Business to Business Marketing Campaign at the SABRE Awards 2010 and was a finalist in the European Excellence Awards.
Taking centre stage in risk management
When Catalysis started working with FICO, the company was well known in the US as the leading provider of analytics and decision management technology. Its presence in the UK, however, was far less established so FICO turned to Catalysis to raise its profile in this region.
Using our close relationships with key finance and business media, Catalysis has transformed FICO’s UK profile and quickly established FICO as a sound commentator in the financial services industry. Within the first four months of engagement, we increased the company’s share of voice in the discussion around ‘risk management’ by 30+ per cent, outperforming key competitors like IBM and SAS by a
ratio of 2:1.
FICO’s executives now feature regularly as commentators on key TV business programmes – recent examples include both commentator and guest host appearances on CNBC’s SquawkBox and Bloomberg TV. This is complemented by a steady stream of coverage in trade titles, national dailies and business publications such as The Times and The Economist.
Launching the world’s first 3D camcorder
Panasonic was the first to bring to market a 3D consumer camcorder. And to communicate this important 3D milestone to the UK national and broadcast press, it turned to Catalysis – its retained PR agency.
With just one week’s notice Catalysis arranged for the UK’s leading consumer technology correspondents to meet with Panasonic to discuss the launch and experience the camcorder first-hand.
Here’s a selection of the resulting coverage, which was overwhelmingly positive.
Establishing journalist relationships for UK MD
Panasonic's UK MD, Keith Evans, is keen to build personal relationships with the technology, business and environment correspondents from the UK national press.
As part of a wider PR programme, Catalysis established a 'meet and greet' programme for Keith, together with a list of pitching angles and discussion topics with which to approach journalists.
In just five months, Keith has already met with eight leading correspondents including Paul Markellie from The Economist, Matt Warman from The Daily Telegraph, Adam Vaughn from The Guardian and Martin Hickman from The Independent.
Most recently, Keith featured in Management Today's Globetrotter column. Meanwhile, Janice Warman at the Daily Mail wrote a full-page round up of Panasonic's green strategy.
Catalysis will continue to work with Keith to further build his media profile throughout 2011.
Communicating messages around technology issues in an engaging, unique way can be challenging. IT companies can struggle to put their own stamp on conversations around almost-ubiquitous topics, but those that can hold a distinct advantage.
This was the objective when we worked with Hitachi Data System to design, develop and execute a creative approach to sharing its insights and capabilities around storage. We did this by introducing Ray, an IT manager for a large global company.
Ray is a cartoon character but his life is far from comical. He faces demands and difficulties that are familiar to IT and storage teams the world over. Through a series of animated videos, we tell the story of the challenges he faces, and how Hitachi Data Systems can help solve them.
By simplifying the concepts involved and presenting them in an innovative format, the animations make a memorable impact and have been used by HDS at events and posted on You Tube, where the first in the series alone achieved more than 3,700 hits.
Intel : Annual EMEA Analyst Relations Summit
Since January 2009 Catalysis has been Intel's EMEA Analyst Relations (AR) agency, ensuring that key industry analysts are fully aware of Intel's technologies and strategy.
In April 2009, Catalysis ran Intel's first EMEA-wide AR briefing day in Central London. It updated carefully targeted analysts on technologies from the breadth of Intel's product portfolio. Catalysis secured over 20 analysts, planning the day to maximise exposure to the relevant Intel spokespeople.
The event was repeated in March 2010, with Catalysis securing 30 analysts from across EMEA. Drawing on experience from the previous year, the event was refined to give analysts even greater opportunity to engage with Intel speakers and explore key issues. The AR day has now become a cornerstone of the programme and is run annually.
As a result of this success, planning for the 2011 session is already underway.
Intel : Customer Advocacy Programme
Creating customer references across EMEA
Intel recognises that a company's greatest advocates are its customers, so places great emphasis on its customer reference programme. In fact, it is a trailblazer in the world of customer reference; and many of Intel's peers turn to it for best practice.
For the last six years, Catalysis has played a pivotal role in Intel's customer reference activity across EMEA, working closely with the in-house customer reference team at Intel, engaging directly with Intel's customers and sales team, and developing high-quality content.
Last year, Catalysis and Intel created over 60 customer references - from written case studies and white papers, to blog posts and videos. Here's an example of a story we developed with KL – Danish local government organisation.