Access Communications

Quickbooks Just Start

Fact: Seventy-two percent of Americans dream of starting a business. Tapping the opportunity to reach first-time consumers and get new customers into the QuickBooks franchise Intuit planned to offer its entry-level product, QuickBooks Simple Start for free. To support the free offering, Intuit and Access developed the "Just Start" campaign. The program was designed to ignite an entrepreneurial revolution by speaking directly to the hearts of consumers, inspiring and guiding budding entrepreneurs across the country to pursue their dreams and launch their own businesses.

The combined team implemented multiple elements including compelling survey statistics, a national contest with a $50,000 grant and local events. A multi-faceted media relations blitz unfolded in three phases: Phase 1, the team secured an exclusive with USA Today columnist, Rhonda Abrams. The campaign took off with a big bang as the exclusive appeared on USA Today.com with Intuit's key messaging riddled throughout the piece. The article was the perfect match to spark buzz as it appeared in 50 daily newspapers nationwide. Phase 2 of the campaign focused on targeted pitches and real-life stories about aspiring entrepreneurs that resonated with key demographics, and then seeded to a wide spectrum of consumer media. Finally, in-market events in key small business growth cities further fueled the Just Start campaign as small business experts were on hand to offer advice to budding entrepreneurs who were onsite sharing their small business dreams through testimonials and pledges to join the revolution.

Media coverage included 140 feature articles, 60 national hits and 400 million impressions, with 95% message pull-through. The contest generated over 1,500 entries, 2,500 pledges and realized more than 23,000 votes for the finalists. The business impact was even more impressive: more than 279,000 downloads of Simple Start to-date and Intuit has increased its online community membership by 333%.

Intuit Quickbase: A Rising Star at Web 2.0 Expo

The Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco is the premier industry conference and showcase for what's new and next on the Internet. This year's show was no exception. The tradeshow floor was populated with developers, product managers, entrepreneurs, VCs, marketers and business strategists from the hottest companies in Web 2.0 technology.

It was here that Intuit QuickBase, makers of an elegant cloudware application (software and services that once would have run on a desktop operating system but now run in the cloud: the unbounded, evershifting, intangible collection of servers that make up the Internet), chose to launch its QuickBase Development Environment. The new platform meant developers looking to build Web applications for the small business market could leverage QuickBase's powerful and proven on-demand database combined with the rich interfaces afforded in Adobe Flex. But most importantly, developers would have an unprecedented opportunity to tap into Intuit's dynamic ecosystem via instant access to the millions of users of Intuit's QuickBooks financial software. We were certain this news would be well-received. (Intuit Announces Beta Release of New QuickBase Web Development Platform)

The Access team of media bulldogs secured a Who's-Who of tech journalists and bloggers for briefings at the Expo, including TechCrunch, ZDNet, CNET, TechWeb and GigaOm to name a few, which ensured that the industry influencers had an up-close and personal experience with the new platform. Pre-show and at-show coverage created significant media buzz, and in the eyes of the media and bloggers, QuickBase was poised for success.

As a result of the warm reception from developers combined with the steady drumbeat of MSM/2.0 coverage, including influential ZDNet blogger Phil Waineright - who said, "In recent weeks, there has been a blaze of competition in the Platform as a Service wars - Google, Coghead, Salesforce. But all of these efforts are overshadowed by Intuit's launch of its QuickBase Developer Program." - QuickBase has effectively established itself as a serious contender in the noisy SaaS market and in the process, which was heretofore dominated by a gaggle of unproven upstarts who are no match for QuickBase.

2K Games: Bioshock

2K Games turned to long-time PR partner, Access, to generate a media blitz leading up to the release of BioShock, a complex video game with a niche gaming feel. With the release of every new title, there’s a hope that consumers will grab the game off the shelves without hesitation. At Access, our goal was to ensure BioShock was accessible to every gamer.

The development team at Irrational Games was known for creating intricate and often obscure video games that did not make it off many store shelves. Given this and 2K Games’ strong belief in the title, the PR team spent nearly two years publicizing the release of BioShock in order to transform this complicated gamers’ game into a digestible experience with mass appeal. The PR team was also tasked with securing in-depth feature coverage of the game in national consumer outlets.

To position BioShock for mass consumer appeal, Access began with uncovering the rich history of BioShock’s development. The team leveraged BioShock’s rich back story to create compelling narratives that were used to deliver highly targeted pitches to various segments of consumer publications.

Access also capitalized on our great relationships with influential gaming media in the space to create intimate player parties where journalists could learn more about the unique features of the game and why it was worth their attention. However, we didn’t just want our executives to tell their own story, we arranged for a more powerful interaction, inviting top game developers and producers to the events to provide consumer media with an insider’s education on key aspects of BioShock. This key tactic was viewed by media as a key resource in helping understand complex elements of BioShock, and ultimately resulted in positive media placements in highly coveted consumer outlets, with a significant message pull-through rate.

To hit an important 2K market segment of gaming enthusiasts, Access established exclusive game days in six different cities to reach our most influential gaming reporters. The account team interested media in an opportunity to play through the early levels of BioShock uninterrupted – creating an intimate way for gamers to become enveloped the new game as well as produce an environment for our executives to build key relationships and seed compelling messages around the features of BioShock.

These strategies and tactics ultimately resulted in a hugely successful campaign that enabled us to transcend our goals. The PR team secured coverage in more than 220 consumer outlets, at least 35 reviews with perfect scores and more than 12 awards by gaming organizations and publications. BioShock was awarded a Metacritic score of 96 for both the PC and Xbox 360 versions – the highest ever for an Xbox 360 game. Outlets including Associated Press, CNN, Entertainment Weekly, ForbesLife, Maxim, Newsweek, Playboy, The New York Times, TIME, USA Today, Variety, VH1, Washington Post, and WIRED, not only covered the launch of BioShock, but carried 2K Games’ key messages around BioShock’s originality and next-generation gaming experience.