www.dollyblake.com

"Hi Chaz, I just wanted to say a huge thank you for your help in getting my very first bit of press (Daily Mirror). It was so exciting to see the web address printed in a national newspaper and as a direct result I got sales, which was fantastic. Loaded magazine are also featuring my egg cup set for a mother’s day page, again this is directly as a result of your help. Thanks again. Caroline"

ADS Tech - Marketing Team

"Thanks for this and all your efforts throughout the year. Its been a great help to have someone so enthusiastic" - UK Sales Manager

"Thank you for your efforts and hard work. It has been wonderful having you on our team" - Director of Marketing Communications

"We just had a review here on PR in the UK. You were reviewed at 5 out of 5 stars" - General Manager

Background

ADS Technologies (www.adstech.com), a world leader in Universal Serial Bus and IEEE-1394/FireWire solutions, appointed CBC as its PR agency in 2002. The company's success to date has been fuelled by its ability to introduce niche or high-end technologies to the consumer marketplace, with quality devices sold at a reasonable cost.

The Challenge

As the adoption of USB and FireWire technology continues to grow, ADS Technologies finds itself in an increasingly crowded marketplace. As such, the ability to differentiate its products from competitors' solutions was identified as a key PR goal. At the same time, the company wanted to develop and strengthen its brand, so that its products were more easily recognisable in the eyes of consumers, as well as potential retail and distribution partners.

The Solution

CBC tackled both strands of the PR campaign simultaneously, and thus sought to raise awareness of ADS Technologies' products with consumers as well as with influential industry contacts. To bolster the company's profile with consumers, the PR campaign focused on putting ADS' products on the desks of News Editors and Reviews Editors across a wide variety of the company's target publications. To help strengthen the brand, CBC also placed a number of ADS products as competition prizes for reader prize draws – including its nationally recognised World Cup competition – in return for editorial coverage. At the same time, CBC led a strong trade-focused campaign to gain the attention of potential retail and distribution partners. CBC arranged meetings with a number of publications that cater to this market, such as PC Retail and Microscope, and introduced key company spokespeople to the relevant trade journalists who cover this area.

The Results

On the consumer side, ADS enjoyed comprehensive, widespread press coverage – including a number of highly positive product reviews – in the majority of its media targets, both online and in print. Notable highlights include coverage in FHM, IT Week, Channel 4, Computer Buyer, Computer Shopper, PC Pro and The Observer. Articles also appeared in a number of important trade magazines as a direct result of the meetings organised by CBC, and thus helped to position ADS as an attractive choice for key Channel partners. In fact, following the publication of these articles, ADS signed retail and distribution agreements with both Ingram Micro and Dixons.

View results chart >

Background

Since 1998 CBC has acted for Dane-Elec as its PR company to help promote its brand name and products in the UK. Dane-Elec is a global brand for flash and DRAM memory and flash memory based products and is therefore mostly known in the UK for its memory cards and card readers.

The Challenge

The Dane-Elec Zpen (a wireless scanner pen) had already been released in other countries (France, USA), but which had not been pushed in the UK and didn't represent the usual product range of Flash and Dram memory.

The Solution

CBC planned a launch event which a wide variety of journalists would want to attend as the Zpen is useful for lawyers, students, doctors, PA's and business people. The launch event would include a small lunch with a select group to introduce the Zpen to them. In the afternoon a private capsule at the London Eye was hired, followed by drinks in a nearby pub.

The Channel Five Gadget Show had also been contacted regarding the Zpen. The Zpen was featured in a Peripheral test in which a focus group tested three products and then voted for their favourite product. To make sure the usage of the Zpen and its benefits would come across to all members of the focus group, CBC sent a member of its PR team that was familiar with the product to assist and explain the product to everybody in the group. This lead to success on the Gadget Show as the Zpen received best product with 84% of the vote.

The Results

The launch had a good response and feedback from the attending journalists with online coverage the next day. The Zpen had not just online coverage on big websites such as Computer Shopper, Coolest Gadgets, Bios Magazine, Mobile Computing News, Computing, but also in the LondonCareers supplement and newsletter of the Independent, the Brussels Airline In-Flight Magazine and Men's Health, with more printed coverage in psychotherapist, female, student, lawyer and computer publications still to come.

The Zpen coverage on the Gadget show caused an immediate run for the product, increasing sales from 15 sold products per week to 2000, which is an increase of over 130 times run rate. As more printed coverage will follow during the summer shortly before the big back to school promotions in September this number is likely to grow within the next few months.