Veda enlisted Howorth to develop and execute a two-week media strategy to release the results of its 2011 Credit Management in Australia, a report providing insights into how global and local economic factors are affecting the credit management processes of Australian businesses. Veda conducted the survey amongst 220 credit managers from a cross-section of Australian industry. Veda works closely with a large proportion of Australia’s credit professionals which gives the company a detailed understanding of local credit management issues within a national and global context.

Our approach:

The hot topic in Australian media in the week and days leading up to the launch of the report was the announcement by the Reserve Bank of Australia to drop interest rates in December and whether the big banks would pass it on – which was seen as a welcome relief to businesses – especially small and medium sized enterprises – and consumers.

The Howorth team spotted the opportunity to capitalise on the announced rate cuts by linking the credit management report to the topic. We worked closely with Veda’s spokesperson Moses Samaha, Head of Commercial Risk, to craft an interesting story for media on these topics. We also advised Veda to bring in a third party spokesperson, and as a result were able to work with Terry Collins, CEO AICM to strengthen our story even further.

The results:

We targeted selected business and financial media for a preview on the report setting up two interviews with Sky Business News and AAP ahead of the official launch. This resulted in 29 pieces of editorial across TV, newswires and online in the week following the release of the Credit Management in Australia 2011 report. Articles reported on the results of the report as well as giving Veda’s view on the state of credit management in Australia.

Highlights included:

• An 4 minute interview on Sky Business News with Moses Samaha;

• Moses Samaha and Terry Collins featured in tier one media targets including AAP, Daily Telegraph, The Australian, Herald Sun, The Age, etc.

• As a result from our outreach, Veda received a number of requests for more information from government agencies such as the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation, and from Credit Managers across a wide range of industries in Australia and New Zealand.

The challenge:

DHL Express enlisted the Howorth B2B team to develop and execute a media strategy to release the results of the 2011 DHL Export Barometer, the annual survey into the health of the Australian export economy.

Conducted by independent researchers and supported with analysis from Tim Harcourt, Chief Economist of Austrade, the Barometer provides insights into factors impacting Australia’s exporters by conducting in depth research across range of industries including agriculture, manufacturing, mining, tourism and professional services.

Our approach:

Hot topics in the Australian media in the weeks leading up to the launch of the Barometer were the negative impact that the strong dollar and online retailing were having on Australian businesses.

The Howorth team spotted an opportunity to capitalise on this by linking the Barometer findings to these topics but adding new elements to the conversation – the growth opportunities that online commerce was presenting Australian businesses and highlighting that exporters were maintaining employment levels despite the challenges presented by exchange rates.

The results:

Over 60 pieces of editorial across TV, radio, print and online were generated in the two days following the release of the Barometer.  Highlights included:

• An eleven minute interview on Sky Business News with DHL’s Gary Edstein and Austrade’s Tim Harcourt.

• Gary and Tim featured in tier one media targets including The Australian Financial Review, The Australian, Sydney Morning Herald, The Age, Herald Sun and Daily Telegraph in addition to news.com.au, SBS news online, yahoo7 and ninemsn.

• International coverage across the London Stock Exchange website, NASDAQ.com and the Dow Jones international news wire.

mySmart CTI is an Australian company that saw a burgeoning market for energy efficient solutions, as early as 2001, when the business was formed.  The concept of green buildings was once deemed ‘new age’ and the challenge was in educating potential customers about energy efficiency. For some, it can seem overwhelming – business owners seeing both time and initial costs as barriers to making the switch.

Howorth has helped mySmart CTI to further enhance its reputation as a leader within the industry, building long term equity with key customers, partners and stakeholder groups. The campaign to-date has taken a phased approach:

• Phase 1: Educating target audiences about the issues, obligations and opportunities associated with sustainable practices.
• Phase 2: Demonstrating the effectiveness of mySmart CTI solutions through case studies, showcasing both the features and benefits of mySmart CTI products and projects.
• Phase 3: Elevating mySmart CTI’s profile through the use of opinion-driven content, by providing commentary on topical and regulatory issues.

mySmart CTI Managing Director, Peter Garrett, said the PR program had shown tangible results:

“There were several examples of leads directly attributable to PR in 2010,” he said. “The heightened awareness of our products and services has made a real difference in having conversations with customers.”

“We are working with Howorth to educate the industry, and our prospective customer base, on the energy efficiency issues directly relevant to them; to help them get the most out of their surroundings, while remaining environmentally responsible.”

The campaign has delivered coverage for mySmart CTI across a range of business titles, including The Sydney Morning Herald, The Age and Open Forum, and industry publications including Sustainability Matters, The Circuit and Electrical Solutions.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.