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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.
Airespace Case Study: Rising Above the Noise to Establish a Market
Leader
Airespace is a Wireless LAN (WLAN) switch vendor
vying for the lead in a crowded wireless market. Engage PR began working
with Airespace in May of 2003, after the
company's initial product launch.
The Goal
As the nascent WLAN market had yet to experience significant customer
traction, WLAN startups were still struggling to differentiate their
products. Though Airespace was the first WLAN
startup to ship product and announce a live enterprise customer, the
company was being lost in the hype and noise of the WLAN market. EPR's objectives were to highlight the radio frequency
(RF) expertise of Airespace's leadership team in
order to differentiate the company's approach from the rest of the startup
pack, and to significantly increase Airespace's
media coverage versus its primary competitors.
The Approach
By differentiating Airespace's leadership and
strong technological approaches to solving WLAN problems, EPR was able to
highlight Airespace's product benefits vis-à-vis
the other WLAN startups. The strategy:
- Create a name for Airespace and establish them as the WLAN switch
leader in the enterprise market
- Focus on executive team's
wireless/RF expertise to establish competitive differentiation versus
the other WLAN vendors, whose backgrounds were mostly wireline
- Leverage executive team's
wireless/RF expertise to educate media and analysts, as well as secure
contributed articles
- Highlight successful
enterprise customer deployments and leverage customers as references
for articles on enterprise WLAN adoption
During the spring of 2003, the WLAN hype had become so
frenzied that editors were avoiding the space altogether. Regular, proactive
calls - without pitching news - served as important first
steps in establishing a stronger rapport with key editors. Engage PR helped
educate these editors on wireless and RF issues by making Airespace's executive team highly available to the media
as resources. The agency also positioned Airespace
executives as resources for speaking panels and contributed articles,
providing further market education.
The Results
Engage PR used Airespace's role as an educator
and resource to the media to position them as a key company that editors
contacted for market, customer, and trend story input. The results:
- Raised average press hits
per month from seven to more than 90 in nine months, compared to an
average of 40-45 hits per month for its leading competitor
- Built strong media
relationships through consistent follow up with wireless editors
- Pitched and secured a
standing weekly column, the "Wireless Wizards," in Network
World
- Achieved 30 press hits
for Airespace's series C funding, including NY
Times, Wall Street Journal, and San Jose Mercury News
- Increased visibility that
complemented a solid product offering, leading to successful sales
efforts and customer traction
The Takeaway
In a crowded market, promoting a client's strengths and distinctions through
consistent dialogue with the media is imperative. The ability to leverage a
client's expertise to educate editors helps ensure name and product
recognition in a hot market.
Pedestal's Line-Powered DSLAMs:
A Telecommunications Magazine
"Hot Technology"
Pedestal
Networks is a broadband startup with a mission to be the first company to
make affordable broadband universally available. Engage PR began working
with Pedestal in August 2003 to support the launch of its flagship
Universal Broadband Server™ (UBS)™ products in October. Pedestal's UBS is a line-powered DSLAM
that solves DSL's distance problem by using patent-pending power technology
that eliminates the need for external power sources. With the UBS, telcos can deploy multi-megabit broadband as far as
50,000 feet from the Central Office.
One of the key contacts Pedestal briefed for the launch was Sean Buckley,
staff editor for Telecommunications Magazine. Sean liked the
practicality of Pedestal's line-powered DSLAM and its ability to solve real
problems that service providers encounter in the field, while at the same
time benefiting users who until now were considered "beyond the
reach" of DSL service. As a result, Sean featured the UBS as the
"Product of the Month" in December 2003.
Building on Sean's interest in the UBS, Engage PR contacted him in early
2004 to discuss which technologies he was considering for the annual
"Hot Technologies" feature. This feature assesses the
technological developments of the past year that made the greatest impact
on both the industry and the general public.
Although the magazine's editorial staff has the final word on which
technologies make the list, Engage pitched Sean on Pedestal's line-powered DSLAMs. Engage also contacted a few key analysts to
recommend that they submit line-powered DSLAMs as
a hot technology for the magazine's annual award.
As a result of Engage PR's ongoing relationship
with Telecommunications Magazine and Pedestal's product strength,
line-powered DSLAMs were named to the "2004
Hot Technologies" list. The recognition of Pedestal's innovative
product design by a leading trade publication provides great exposure and
validates the company as a technology leader. In addition, it provides
great visibility for Pedestal with potential carrier customers. The
"Hot Technologies" list appeared in the April issue.
Ikanos: Showcasing the New 100 Mbps Fx™ Product Line at FastNet Futures
Ikanos Communications develops chipsets that deliver speeds
of more than 100 Mbps over ordinary copper wires. Ikanos
has been an Engage PR client for three years.
In March 2004 Ikanos announced its new fiber
extension (Fx) product family. The Fx chipset is the first programmable silicon solution
to extend Fiber to the Premises (FTTP) and Fiber to the Home (FTTH) services
over copper. Ikanos' technology takes advantage
of existing fiber and copper resources, enabling carriers to deliver
revenue-generating services such as "triple-play" (voice, video,
and data) broadband applications.
Engage PR presented Ikanos' technology to Dave
Burstein, editor of DSL Prime, who understood its significance for
the worldwide broadband market and requested to see the technology in
action. He invited Ikanos to demonstrate its Fx technology at the FastNet
Futures show, March 29-30 in Santa
Clara, California.
Engage PR worked with Dave to help promote the event to key business and
trade editors and secured press attendance from top-tier publications,
including Telephony, CNET, San Jose Mercury News, and Light
Reading to witness this live demonstration of 100 Mbps.
The demonstration was a huge success, captivating the standing-room only
audience. It showcased the transfer of 100 Mbps over regular copper
telephone wiring, proving that the Fx chipset
could, for the first time, make it easy for carriers to deliver 100 Mbps to
every home. The event created a "buzz" around Ikanos'
new product family, resulted in favorable coverage for the company, and
increased traffic at the show - a perfect
outcome for all involved.
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