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Engage PR is a full-service public relations and
communications company with a strong track record of promoting our clients
to market success. For more information, please visit www.engagepr.com.
Here we
showcase how Engage PR's unique and creative
public relations campaigns have elevated our clients and their products in
the eyes of investors, the industry, and the media.
UTStarcom Case Study: The Emergence of a Global Success Story
In December
2002, Engage PR began its relationship with UTStarcom
(NASDAQ: UTSI), a global leader in IP access networking and services.
The Goal
UTStarcom had achieved solid financial success
since its IPO in March 2000, but very few editors and industry analysts
knew much about the company. UTStarcom was seen
as a "one country, one technology company" – a Chinese wireless telecommunications company – by the media, as well as by financial and industry analysts. UTStarcom enlisted Engage PR to drive the company's
corporate public relations program, expand its business presence across the
financial community, and highlight its global market leadership in
integrated IP access technologies.
The Approach
Engage PR's first task was to conduct media and
analyst audits to gauge outside perception of UTStarcom.
After talking with several key editors and analysts, Engage PR identified
three specific goals to elevate UTStarcom's
position in the worldwide telecommunications market:
- Promote UTStarcom as a U.S.-based leader in the global
telecommunications industry, with a strong, consistent financial
history.
- Highlight UTStarcom's technology innovation to position the
company as a thought leader in the market.
- Emphasize UTStarcom's strategic international expansion
through the promotion of customer wins beyond China in developing markets such as Africa,
India, and South America, as well as in the
well-established North American and European markets.
Engage PR began by creating and disseminating quarterly
informational updates to key press and analysts on the company's financial,
technologic, and customer diversification efforts. Engage PR team members
developed relationships with key business press and analysts through
regular dialogue, and Engage PR also encouraged UTStarcom
to engage in regular conversations with the media to keep the market aware
of the company's progress.
The Results
UTStarcom's visibility grew as the market
recognized the company's success as a leading worldwide telecommunications
equipment manufacturer.
2003
Highlights:
- Emphasized the company's
consistent financial success and long-term sustainability. UTStarcom's stock doubled in value in less than
eight months.
- Provided strategic
messaging for all earnings materials, UTStarcom
press releases, CommWorks acquisition
(Q&A, script, and release).
- Consistently secured 3-4
positive stories on UTStarcom earnings each
quarter in top-tier publications, including Bloomberg, CBS Marketwatch, Dow Jones, and Reuters.
- Placed six broadcast
opportunities for UTStarcom executives with financial-based
television shows: Bloomberg TV (three opps),
CNN Money Gang, CNBC Squawk Box, CNBC Company Profile.
- Established strong
relationships with business media and secured feature stories on UTStarcom in the following leading business
publications:
- San Francisco Chronicle, "Chronicle
200," May 2003
- BusinessWeek, "Ringing Off the
Hook in China,"
May 2003
- Time Asia/Time Europe, "Global Tech Survivors," July 2003
- Business 2.0, #1 in "100
Fastest-Growing Technology Companies," October 2003
- Helped the company secure
a SUPERQuest award at its debut showing at
SUPERCOMM, one of the world's most prestigious telecommunications
events.
- Publicized UTStarcom's expansion into North American and
Latin American markets
- Secured contributed
articles highlighting UTStarcom's technical
leadership in Internet Telephony, Telephony and Converge!
Network Digest.
The Takeaway
Regular media and analyst outreach, coupled with consistent promotion of
corporate information and messaging, can help gain visibility for our clients,
ensure accurate press coverage and educate potential investors on clients'
long-term competitive strengths.
Inkra Educates on Virtualization
Inkra Networks, developer of virtualized network
infrastructure, has been an Engage PR client since August 2001.
When Inkra began working with Engage PR, the
primary goal was to educate the press and analyst communities on network
virtualization technology and its value for simplifying the data center by
streamlining key applications such as firewalls, intrusion detection and
prevention, SSL, VPN, and load balancing. Engage PR pitched virtualization
as a Technology Update for Network World in Fall of 2002, but was
turned down as Network World cited the lack of widespread appeal to
their readers.
Throughout the following year, Inkra and Engage
PR mounted an aggressive educational campaign, explaining network
virtualization technology to press and analysts and highlighting the cost,
security, and management benefits of a virtualized network. Engage PR began
by linking network virtualization with the blade server and storage
virtualization trends, enabling press and analysts to develop a context in
which to understand network virtualization. Regular outreach to target
media with updates on data center virtualization standards reinforced this
education process.
Engage PR and Inkra also began discussions with
John Gallant, editorial director of Network World and executive
producer of the VORTEX conference, about network virtualization's role in
the data center. After several conversations, Gallant invited Inkra to the 2003 VORTEX show to speak on the topic of
network virtualization. In Fall of 2003, Gallant informed his readers that
"The New Data Center" would be a main editorial focus for 2004.
Not giving up on the original idea, Engage PR leveraged virtualization's
increased visibility and Gallant's focus on the data center to re-pitch the
virtualization Technology Update, which appeared in Network World on
January 26 and was featured again in the Network World
Data Center
Newsletter. Engage PR also placed Inkra in
standalone product reviews and trend articles in InfoWorld, eWeek, and Network Magazine that featured
Inkra as the leader in network virtualization.
Mirapoint “Faces
Off” with the Competition
Engage PR
began working with Mirapoint in September 2003. Mirapoint provides an all-in-one email security
appliance that integrates anti-spam, anti-virus, hacker protection, and
other advanced email security features. Mirapoint's
approach provides easier management, better security protection, and lower
ongoing TCO compared to competitive solutions that require customers to
integrate multiple software point products on general-purpose hardware.
Engage PR looked for creative opportunities to market Mirapoint's
expertise in email and security, and to position the company against a
growing number of incumbent and start-up competitors. This was particularly
important when Mirapoint recently rolled out a
new line of email security products, called RazorGate,
for the small- to mid-sized enterprise market. Engage PR suggested Network
World's "Face-Off" column as the tool to communicate Mirapoint's competitive advantages over software-based
alternatives. Network World's "Face-Off" column allows
executives from two companies to present their differing viewpoints on a
question in their area of expertise.
Network World accepted Engage PR's idea, "Is an anti-spam appliance a better choice
than anti-spam software?" The Network World editors slated Mirapoint to present the appliance viewpoint opposite
of Brightmail, one of its biggest competitors.
As a leading publication for enterprise hardware buyers, Network World
is a strategic forum for Mirapoint and will help
drive Mirapoint's agenda around email and
security leadership. The article appears in the today's issue of Network
World.
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