|
Although not well known outside our industry, public relations has its own Awards season glamour and no honor is more prestigious than the Silver Anvil. Our version of the Oscars is given annually in a number of categories by the industry’s trade association, the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA). What makes these particularly meaningful is that the accolades are shared between client and agency, as opposed to the many other awards given out to PR agencies only, in relatively hermetic settings that feel much more self-congratulatory.
This year, despite being one of the smaller agencies competing, we received another Silver Anvil at last month’s awards ceremony in New York City. That the win was in the Marketing Consumer Products category has special significance for us: we started Access in 1991 with the pioneering objective of effectively using mainstream media to communicate the benefits of technology to the consumer. 16 plus years later, the goal is the same but the Internet has fundamentally altered the traditional media landscape and launched a whole new media environment. We earned this Silver Anvil together with our client, Intuit, for the “Just Start” program we developed to launch the company’s new QuickBooks Simple Start 2008 small business accounting application. (note: we showcased the Just Start launch in our February edition of Inside Access, which you can read here.) Our program reflected and leveraged these dramatic shifts, incorporating strategic use of PR 2.0 to complement the underlying traditional media outreach.
Why this award is especially notable is because we’ve entered our sixth year as the agency of record for Intuit, and I believe that the strength of the relationship is based in no small measure on our relentless desire to stay fresh and innovative in the ideas that we present and execute on with our clients. The common denominator for all Silver Anvil winners this year was a strong call to action. As we all know too well, media coverage is not enough; what separates good campaigns from winning campaigns is what the media coverage motivates its audience to do. The theme of our Just Start program encouraged people to pursue their entrepreneurial dreams, to turn aspiration into action, to “just start” the business they’ve always wanted to create, and the measure of the campaign’s success was quite tangible: more than 200 million media impressions across print, radio, blog, and broadcast coverage, which translated into 279,000 downloads of QuickBooks Simple Start 2008 in the first week of its availability.
We were very proud to stand beside our Intuit clients and accept the award with them. It reflects the spirit of collaboration we work toward in all our client relationships.
Susan G. Butenhoff, President & CEO
susan@accesspr.com
|
|
The Drinks Were Sloe,
Action Was Fast
Gin connoisseurs across the country, raise your glasses! Plymouth Gin’s highly anticipated and award-winning Sloe Gin is now available in thirteen markets across the United States. To announce it’s US debut, Access staged bi-coastal launch parties in New York and San Francisco, for media and influencers in the spirits world, including top bar owners and bartenders in New York City and San Francisco.
In order to establish the appropriate perception for our client’s brand, we set about creating an image and vibe that would reflect Plymouth’s distinction and tradition and showcase it is a trendsetter in the cocktail world – leading a resurgence of classic cocktails and an appreciation for well crafted libations. We selected The Back Room in New York and Bourbon & Branch in San Francisco, both of which are special, authentic locales renowned for their mixology.
The obvious key for success with events like this rests with the strength of your media RSVP list. Scintillating conversations over sophisticated spirits against a backdrop of refined urban style are one thing…if the media isn’t present to record the happenings the ensuing vacuum is not good for either agency or client. Our stellar media relations specialists lived up to their advance billing; joining us for our parties were folks from diverse, demographically strategic publications including 7x7 Magazine, Complex, DailyCandy, Food & Wine, Gourmet, GQ, Men’s Fitness, Paper, San Francisco Chronicle, Saveur, Splendora, and Town & Country.
Plymouth’s Head Distiller was our guest of honor at both the New York and San Francisco events and together with the respective mixologists offered up educated insights on the distilling, aging, presentation, and serving of fine spirits, to the delight of the guests and continued edification of the media.
With the events behind us, we concentrated on the actual introduction of the product into the marketplace, working to secure coverage timed to the arrival of Plymouth Sloe Gin in select bars in mid June. We drove ongoing media momentum, with platinum coverage hitting in key markets like New York (The New York Post), San Francisco (The San Francisco Chronicle) and Washington DC (The Washington Post) as well as in national publications like Newsweek.
And next time you’re out on the town and pondering what cocktail to order, ask your bartender for The Wibble or the Gin Genie– you will be glad you did!
|
| |
|
|
 |
|
|
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.
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
A Start-up
Takes Flight
Silicon Valley start-up, VoloMedia, a provider of ad-insertion and measurement technology for downloadable audio-based media (think podcasts), retained Access to develop a launch strategy focused on creating visibility with the advertising and entertainment executives who would be their primary customers, In a nascent but increasingly cacophonous space where new technologies, products, partnerships and wildly exaggerated marketing claims were appearing with greater frequency, it was essential for VoloMedia to establish mindshare retention in key media outlets favored by and strongly influencing the purchasing decisions of these key executives.
Access’ media outreach strategy was simple but elegant, It’s foundation was grounded, as all of our campaigns are, in solid research. Among our findings, which formed the basis for the validation proof points we deployed in speaking with media, was recent news from several companies including Timex announcing ad buys on highly targeted podcasts (in some cases on the VoloMedia network.) This lent enhanced credibility to our messaging around the inevitable rise in downloadable media and the game changing business benefits of ad insertion measurement tools.
First research, then a well-planned, focused outreach to key influencer media. Among our first targets was The Silicon Valley/San Jose Business Journal, where initial coverage would establish VoloMedia’s bona fides with the technology community and help us launch the third element of our strategy, thought leadership positioning.
The resulting full page feature profile we delivered was a huge early win, generating excitement within the company and with investors as well as with current customers and the sales force out cultivating new leads. We then began building a stronger profile for CEO Brian Steel as an industry thought leader, securing speaking opportunities – via clever positioning of VoloMedia’s value proposition and ongoing, persistent dialogue with show organizers – at events including NewTeeVee Live, Red Herring Conference and Digital Hollywood Spring 2008.
Further broadening our media outreach to embrace key purchasing decision influencers and executives, we then secured a feature article in Billboard Magazine that showcased podcasting as a platform growing in influence with advertisers. The investment of time we made with VoloMedia early on in crafting, refining and bulletproofing strong messaging to take into the marketplace paid off, as all our key messages around market growth, trends, features and functionality, and business benefits pulled through in the article.
The Billboard hit was an important first milestone in getting VoloMedia in front of its target audience of entertainment and advertising executives and influencers. Volo is the Italian word meaning “to fly”; VoloMedia is beginning to soar and Access has helped give wing to its flight.
|
| |
|
