Revive a brand and launch a smartphone – all in a day’s work

Howorth successfully orchestrated Motorola’s Australian comeback, with the PR launch of its new range of Android powered smart-phone devices. Howorth’s objectives?  Simple – create mass-market interest across consumer and technology media, reaching out to consumers looking for a new smart-phone.

Insight

Differentiating a phone from the pack can be difficult, but Motorola’s new Android range of smart-phones held one key ingredient , MOTOBLUR – the first mobile experience to deliver your social life straight to your mobile phone, streaming conversations, friends and widgets right into your handset to provide a never-ending flow of updates.

We understood that the media would need to try out the phone themselves to get the full effect of the MOTOBLUR package, so they could appreciate first-hand how it could link their lives via the web.  As a result, Howorth’s PR strategy was designed to ensure media had maximum exposure to the MOTOBLUR experience – from one-on-one demos and the opportunity to take handsets for review, to a fully immersive and interactive launch.

Creative idea, relentless execution

Rebuilding a brand and restoring consumer confidence is no small feat. Howorth held 12 one to one briefings and handset demonstrations in the lead-up to the event, with outlets handpicked to ensure a wide depth of coverage on launch day.   Media were enticed to explore MOTOBLUR before its official launch included the Daily Telegraph, Sydney Morning Herald, Channel 7, Channel 9, T3, Grazia and Women’s Health.

The focus then switched to the event itself.  Taking over the Cargo Hall at the Overseas Passenger Terminal, MOTOBLUR’s features were unveiled through stunning visuals presented on a mammoth concave screen: embracing our presenters to showcase social streaming as life in motion, a network surrounding us in all that we do.

Outcomes

On the day of launch, Motorola and Optus spokespeople conducted one to one media briefings at the event with key influencers The Australian, iTNews and iTWire.

These interviews, plus our strategic warm-up prior to the event, generated more than 100 pieces of coverage across metropolitan, consumer, technology and business media (print, broadcast and online).  Highlights to date include a demonstration on Channel 9’s Today show, the front page of Australian T3, and pick-up across a range of specialist outlets like Gizmodo, ITnews.com.au, Good Gear Guide, Zoo Weekly, Smarthouse, iTWire.com.au, CNET Australia and GadgetGuy.com.au.

From clink to click: Ancestry.com.au calls up the past

Do you have a convict ancestor? If you did, would you know? In our first project for Australia’s leading family history website, Ancestry.com.au, Howorth led a PR campaign to launch two new convict-based historical record collections to the public. These records (the Convict Registers of Conditional and Absolute Pardons, 1791-1846 and the New South Wales Certificates of Freedom, 1827-1867) complete the journey from arrest to release of almost one third of all convicts transported to Australia.

With more than 2.3 million criminal and convict records now available online, Ancestry.com.au made the entirety of its 15-part Australian Convicts Collection accessible for free for eight days in January 2010.  With the door to the past wide open, we had to convince the public to come knocking.

Insight

Howorth constructed a public relations campaign, tied into Australia Day, to get consumers thinking about how their families originally made it to the Lucky Country, before encouraging them to dig down into their own pasts.

Creative idea, relentless execution

We knew we needed a high-profile partner for the campaign launch, so we secured a national News Limited exclusive for Australia Day itself, which resulted in coverage in all news.com.au sites across Australia.  We also targeted metropolitan radio talk back programs with embargoed material so they could incorporate the story into the weekly plan. Following this initial coverage burst, the release was then issued to all other media.

Outcomes

The response locally for the convict collection was overwhelming, with more than 200 pieces of coverage, including breaking news online across Fairfax and news.com.au, and radio news bulletins. 20 radio interviews were conducted across commercial, AM and community radio, from the ABC to 2GB, with some stations syndicating the interviews across their networks and regions to raise coverage levels even further.  Print coverage included major pieces in the Hobart Mercury, Canberra Times and Sunday Territorian. Through our social media engagement, we also generated 21 ‘Tweets’ on the open Convict Collection indexes, with some of the influential Twitter users having over 1000 followers.

As a result of the PR campaign, Ancestry.com.au received their highest ever unique visitors for a single day on Australia Day (25^th January 2010).

Gratifyingly, the client was thrilled with the results; “The Howorth team achieved results well beyond our expectations. This is a great start to our relationship,” said Debra Chesterton, Managing Director, Ancestry.com.au.

Small gadgets, small budget, BIG results

Howorth began working with Australian family-owned Mac accessories distributor Try & Byte in November last year, briefed to raise awareness of their website via positive media relations.

A distributor of new consumer products aimed at Mac users and general consumers, www.tryandbyte.com.au regularly releases innovative technology to its customers.

With a small budget, we needed to find effective ways to pitch the latest Try & Byte accessories and products into consumer and consumer technology media. We therefore focused on the latest five products available on the site, selecting highly targeted media for reviews and profiles.

Our campaign has so far reached over 4.5 million Australians through media coverage: punching well above the investment.   Coverage has included a cover story in Macworld and articles now running into the double figures across tier one targets like The West Australian, The Courier Mail, Gizmodo, Cybershack, The Sydney Morning Herald, Sunday Herald Sun, Girlfriend and Home Entertainment Magazine.

Microsoft Australia hosts commercial Surface launch

To mark the commercial availability of Microsoft Surface, Microsoft Australia hosted a media launch event to showcase the features of this innovative new hardware device at their Australian headquarters in Sydney on Tuesday, 9 February 2010. Surface is a new multi-touch product, developed as a software and hardware combination technology. The device allows a user, or multiple users, to manipulate digital content by the use of gesture recognition.

The launch produced fantastic results for Microsoft, with 32 key media and analysts attending the event including The Australian, SMH.com.au and CNET. Following the launch, over 40 pieces of coverage were published across a variety of online, print and broadcast outlets, including key metropolitan, consumer, technology and business media targets. Stand out pieces following launch included a five minute, live-to-air interview on Sky Business News’ Tech Report and a live demonstration of Surface on Channel 9’s TODAY program. The show’s technology editor, Charlie Brown, and host Karl Stefanovic demonstrated the Surface product and discussed its potential commercial uses.

Howorth’s primary role was to drive awareness across broadcast, consumer and IT media to strengthen Microsoft’s profile as an innovator and leader in the technology field, as well as to promote Microsoft Surface as a desirable and game-changing product to potential partners and customers. The results of Howorth’s PR strategy helped generate an extremely positive buzz around the launch event. The coverage that appeared in the days following positioned Microsoft as an innovative company and highlighted the collaborative and inventive features of Microsoft’s new Surface unit.

Following the launch, Microsoft Australia Developer Evangelist, Michael Kordahi praised Howorth’s efforts by saying, “Howorth deserve some major credit for delivering a successful launch. They not only delivered, they delivered with the highest of standards and passion. Despite the very aggressive timeframe of the launch, they provided a-class service.”

How do you get distributors x-cited about steel?

In the face of challenging economic conditions, BlueScope Steel asked the Howorth business-to-business/corporate public relations practice to help build distributor awareness of its Australian manufactured XLERPLATE® steel plate products, converting them from passive referrers to passionate champions of the range.

Steel producers and on-sellers had an extraordinarily tough year in 2009, with sales and revenues falling as global demand for steel weakened and import competition increased. While the public relations campaign needed to communicate the core brand values of XLERPLATE® (quality, flexibility, diversity), we needed to deliver these messages to a sales-savvy audience without them being rejected as marketing ‘clutter.’

Howorth’s insight was to package up new product information within a wider marketing campaign, challenging distributors to take part in ‘Operation XFACTOR’.

We took updated sales collateral, developed e-communications and a striking X-Factor website to cover off all channels, ensuring that distributors could not help but be exposed to XLERPLATE® steel.  Once the buzz had been created around the product, a three stage online competition created strong incentives for participants to review and retain key product information, with Red Balloon vouchers rewarding those who successfully completed a ‘Quest for Quality’ around the plate’s key features and benefits.

Howorth worked with Random Studio and Alpha Salmon to deliver the PR campaign, including the development and design of marketing collateral and website. Participation rates have been strong and initial feedback has been overwhelmingly positive:

“I wish our marketing department thought of this a long time ago”
“Really clever concept…”
“Appreciate all of the new info. Thanks so much”
“Quality information”

The first phase of the PR program will continue through to May 2010 – Howorth is also in discussions with BlueScope Steel about subsequent phases of the campaign.

Microsoft Tech.Ed 2009

There are few technology events that match the scale and prestige of Microsoft Australia’s ‘Tech.Ed’. Howorth/ Microsoft public relations team continued its proud collaboration in co-ordinating this event in 2009. It was a huge year with several key announcements coming from the software leader including:

• The largest Windows 7 test environment with 2,500 netbooks given out to conference attendees
• The Windows 7 commercial launch
• Microsoft Office 2010 technical preview

Key challenges in the public relations program included:

• Managing through a year of economic uncertainty and communicating the educational value of Tech.Ed to businesses during a time when justifying the release indispensable IT staff for three business days can be especially challenging.
• Complex logistical requirements :

1. The travel and accommodation arrangements for 21 attending media
2. Ensuring that media had access to the spokespeople they required to tell the best stories

The Howorth/ Microsoft public relations team spent many long hours ensuring the event went off without a hitch. Aside from standard media relations Howorth assisted in a number of key areas:

• Analyst relations
• Blogger outreach
• Social media monitoring

Despite the challenges, the joint team delivered a successful event that exceeded expectations of internal and external stakeholders and media.

TED Prize: What Does Compassion Mean to You, Australia?

Australians on Compassion from TED Prize on Vimeo.

Technology, Entertainment and Design are the three words that make up the acronym TED so it’s likely the founders of TED would agree that Ogilvy Public Relation’s new campaign on behalf of the organisation had fulfilled the purpose behind the name.

The TED organisation, a small non-profit group, began in 1984 as a conference bringing together people from the worlds of technology, entertainment and design. Since then it has grown to a major disseminator of ideas, conducting regular conferences in Europe and America and awarding the annual TED Prize, which grants the ‘’wish’’ of its recipient. In 2008, religious scholar Karen Armstrong’s wish was for the world’s major religions to come together in recognition of the principle which is at the core of all faiths – compassion.

At the heart of the campaign is the Charter for Compassion, a document crafted by people of all religions which was launched in November with the Dalai Lama and Archbishop Desmond TuTu as its first two signatories. It is intended that people will access the website to join the charter and show that the overwhelming voice in all religions is one of compassion – not negativity or violence.

In Australia in mid-November, the Ogilvy PR 360^o Digital Influence team created a 3 minute video featuring prominent Australians saying just what ‘’compassion’’ meant to them. Those giving their thoughts ranged from celebrity chef Neil Perry through to influential food and marketing bloggers. The video was completed in a day and a half and was sent to around 200 bloggers and Twitterers. It was picked up by news.com.au and run on its Web sites throughout Australia.

Showing the pervasive reach of social media in Australia, to date more than 20,000 viewers have seen the video, driving traffic to the Charter for Compassion Website – charterforcompassion.org – and getting people to affirm the charter. And, hopefully, helping to make the world a more compassionate place.

Livewire social network for seriously ill Aussie teenagers

Howorth ensured Livewire – www.livewire.org.au – was the website on everyone’s lips after officially launching the groundbreaking new online community in Australia. The PR campaign led to an immediate 25% increase in membership on launch day and invitations of support from like-minded not for profit companies.

More than 250 stories were placed in a wide range of media across every state in Australia – and even across the globe. Considering Google ranked Livewire as ‘the most searched story’ on launch day, this in no surprise. Highlights included

• Print – The Daily Telegraph, The Australian Financial Review, mX and suburban and regional news in NSW, QLD, VIC, SA and WA.
• Radio – more than 166 stories, inc luding coverage on every ABC station across the country
• Online – more than 55 pieces of coverage across news.com.au, yahoo.com.au, australianit.com.au, couriermail.com.au, heraldsun.com.au, smh.com.au, theage.com.au and more
• Bloggers – overwhelmingly supportive postings from Mum and Dad, tech and health bloggers
• Livewire ranked as ‘the most searched story’ on Google on launch day

As the first initiative of its kind, Livewire provides a free, safe and supportive online social network for Australians aged between 10 and 21, currently living with a serious illness, chronic health condition, or disability. It is a way for Australia’s sickest teenagers to understand that they’re not alone and support does exist for them.

Key steps

Howorth ensured the Livewire story was blasted far and wide across the country by devising a strategic media and blogger engagement plan. Key steps:

• Pre-negotiated interviews with AAP, Radio National, The Daily Telegraph and news.com.au to drive news interest on launch day
• An exclusive launch event featuring the Hon. Senator Conroy, Minister for Broadband, Communications and the Digital Economy and Jill Weekes, CEO of The Starlight Children’s Foundation, for over 150 media and corporate partners
• More than 50 interviews organised post-event to drive momentum across radio, print and online news
• Blogger outreach to establish brand evangelists and generate positive word of mouth

Livewire were thrilled with the results of the campaign

“The Howorth team was appointed at short notice. The particular expertise of Vida and her team was their comprehensive knowledge and contacts within the media industry, particularly with online media which was a key strategic area we wanted to target.

“The Howorth team went over and beyond our expectations, and we were delighted with the level of media that was generated. They were always available and, most importantly very quickly established a thorough understanding of what Livewire is all about and what we were hoping to achiev.,”

Omar Khalifa, Managing Director, Livewire.

The Great Information Glut

Information is a key asset for every organisation. But how many companies feel that they are choked with dealing with too much information and are struggling to manage this data?

To differentiate Hitachi Data Systems from its competitors and raise its profile, Howorth worked with Hitachi to develop a technology public relations campaign that would provide insights into this business issue. The result was an independent research report titled “The Great Information Glut”.

The Great Information Glut: key findings
Hitachi Data Systems commissioned an independent study conducted by Sweeney Research, which found that one in three organisations across Australia and New Zealand is struggling under the excessive growth of digital information and the management of that information. This has prompted Hitachi to call for an “information intervention”, calling on organisations to take a big picture look at existing systems and improve them to better manage growth, reduce costs, improve utilisation and enhance information governance.

Armed with these findings, Howorth was able to devise a media strategy that would maximise the reach this news. To provide a well rounded story, Howorth sourced third parties to get their perspectives on the research. This included Professor Susan Williams, Information Management Specialist, Business Information Systems at the University of Sydney as well as Hitachi Data Systems customer Austar. This approach helped journalists gain a deeper understanding of the key findings and implications for organisations across Australia and New Zealand.

As a result, significant media coverage included:

• Sky Business News (live-to-air interview)
• The Australian Financial Review
• Adelaide Advertiser
• New Zealand Herald
• BNET

Beyond the looking glass: building a case for compliance

The Australasian Compliance Institute (ACI), the peak professional body for compliance, was beginning from the ground up in establishing a strong mainstream media presence, via a public relations campaign, with the view to becoming the thought leader in compliance.

Howorth worked with the ACI to develop a thought leadership platform underpinned by media relations activities – against the insight that in the current economy, it’s not increased regulation, but effective implementation of regulation, that’s important.

Talking points for the resulting public relations campaign were developed around the notion that while instinct by governments may be to increase regulation to restore confidence and stability, this is not necessarily the answer. Rather, it is the responsibility of both government and business to drive economic recovery by demanding professional behaviour that delivers more than black-letter law requirements – this is what compliance is all about.

Howorth has worked to capitalise on this insight to raise awareness of the importance of a trained and experienced compliance/risk professional within an organisation – a role that had previously been little known and understood. In turn, the public relations campaign raised the profile of the ACI as the peak professional body representing these professionals.

By tapping into topical issues, including regulatory reform in the financial services sector, governance in sporting clubs and levels of executive pay, Howorth has communicated the ACI’s point of view through ongoing media relations activities.

The public relations campaign has resulted in prominent Tier 1 media coverage in publications including The Australian Financial Review, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Australian and Business Spectator.

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