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.

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.

Steely thought leadership and stakeholder engagement

Steel is strong, yet Australia’s leading steel company, BlueScope Steel, had a less-than-acceptable media presence in vertical industry media. That is before Howorth designed a public relations program built around a thought leadership and stakeholder engagement strategy.

Part of Howorth’s public relations program was a campaign that resulted in over 50 media clippings over a six month period to promote BlueScope’s XLERPLATE®brand.

The importance of this media presence is underlined by key factors:

• All of the coverage was in-depth, rather than merely BlueScope or XLERPLATE® brand ‘mentions’
• The company’s credibility was enhanced through extensive use of technical education and thought leadership articles authored by its staff
• 3rd party endorsement of BlueScope was communicated through the use of case studies, where numerous industry partners and customers were featured and quoted.

Howorth’s public relations campaign successfully enhanced BlueScope’s industry leadership credentials across the vertical industrial sectors of most importance to it: mining, engineering and construction.

Howorth did this by discussing issues of importance to Australia’s steel-using community in the media and value-adding to stakeholders’ knowledge and expertise.

Content generated for media was also used in an upgraded direct mail customer newsletter, which was revamped with stronger, more valuable content. This delivered additional ROI for BlueScope and resulted in an integrated communication program, leading to a more pronounced impact on stakeholders than would have otherwise occurred.

The content was customised to users’ interests, adopted a hard-nosed journalistic approach and featured the perspectives of multiple stakeholders.

As such, the newsletter had more of an industry, as opposed to a purely BlueScope-oriented, perspective. This embracing of different perspectives and partnering with different stakeholders reinforced BlueScope’s collaborative approach to business and its inherent importance and value to the industries it is involved in.

Content developed for the newsletter was of such a high standard that the media embraced and used the copy. Examples of publications that featured coverage were Manufacturer’s Monthly, Mining Monthly, Materials Australia and Building Contractor. Other examples of media coverage included:

• ConstructionIndustryNews.net
• SupplyChainLogisticsNews.net
• International Longwall News

The campaign has generated a considerable degree of momentum with the media’s appetite for BlueScope content being stimulated and stakeholder awareness and advocacy on the rise.

Photography company snaps up key media coverage

Through target audience prioritisation, Howorth’s business to business public relations practice reached over 10 million Australians for iStockphoto by securing eight media interviews for its visiting Chief Operating Officer, Kelly Thompson.

Coverage was dominated by media considered top-tier by iStockphoto’s priority marketing and graphic design stakeholders:

• The Sydney Morning Herald and its online version
• The Age online
• The Brisbane Times online
• a seven minute live-to-air interview on Sky Business News discussing its groundbreaking business model (broadcast three times)
• an interview and podcast on SmartCompany.com.au
• two cover stories in top photography magazines

Howorth also facilitated Desktop Magazine, one of Australia’s top design publications, writing a feature on iStockphoto’s vector illustration art and Virgin Blue’s in-flight magazine, Voyeur, featuring a lengthy interview with Kelly.

Getting results
The client was thrilled with the results.

“Thank you immensely for your hard work. We are all thankful and impressed by your ability to reach this number of press,” said Kara Udziela director, public relations at iStockphoto.

Because of Howorth’s ability to emphasise Kelly’s unusual background and iStockphoto’s ingenuity, the Australian media embraced him despite having nothing new to announce and their scepticism towards visiting overseas CEOs and COOs.

Howorth’s strategy of target audience prioritisation paid off in quality coverage from top tier and target audience-relevant media.

iStockphoto revolutionised the photography industry by providing affordable images for creatives and an avenue for profit for photographers, catapulting it into becoming the world’s busiest image marketplace.

NRMA Kokoda Project: PR highlights successful HR

Howorth is a tech PR agency, right? So why did NRMA Motoring & Services hire Howorth to run a corporate public relations campaign?

Howorth offers both technology and business communication and was engaged to promote a unique human resources program called the NRMA Kokoda Project.

The PR strategy resulted in an influential profile raising campaign executed through business, consumer and vertical media.

About NRMA Kokoda Project
The Kokoda Track is a muddy jungle trail linking the North and South coasts of Papua New Guinea. It was the scene of bitter fighting between Australian and Japanese forces during World War Two and crosses some of the most rugged terrain in the world.

It was also chosen as the perfect location to stage a leadership exercise by NRMA Motoring and Services, a mutual company with 2 million members and 1,400 employees across Australia and New Zealand.

Devised by leadership consultant Bruce Hayman, the NRMA Kokoda Project employed a reality TV approach to solve a typical HR problem: encouraging a large workforce to work better together.

Howorth’s PR Solution
When the project finished, Howorth was engaged to work with NRMA’s in-house public relations team to generate coverage in leading business, consumer and regional media.

Playing to the strengths of the project spokespeople, interviews appeared across television, radio, print and online media, including the Australian Financial Review BOSS magazine, ABC radio, Sky News Business Channel, Qantas Inflight Radio, WIN TV, Canberra Times, Human Capital and numerous local and regional titles.