Work from home, or not? Driving conversation through research
June 18, 2009 by Derek Lau
Filed under Case studies, Featured Content, Technology
Working from home (or not) is a hot topic for the Australian workforce. With this in mind, Howorth worked on a public relations research project that aimed to drive conversation around the issue of working from home – and find out just which side of the fence Aussies sit on.
For Citrix Online – a technology company focused on enabling remote working via web services – Howorth constructed a public relations program around a research project that compared and contrasted the attitudes of workers and small business owners in Australia, the US and the UK.
Results from research polling company WomanTrend™ Inc. revealed a significant desire to work remotely. In fact, nearly one-fifth of Aussie workers would take a five per cent pay cut to work from home.
Using these findings, Howorth employed a tiered public relations strategy to position Citrix Online as a thought leader on remote working. Howorth engaged with key technology, consumer and small business media outlets to successfully:
- Seed the term ‘Web Commuting’ as an answer to ‘Telecommuting’
- Launch a comprehensive research report titled ‘Worldwide Workplace: The Web Commuting Imperative’ – which included trends relevant for the Australian media
- Used third party expert commentary from experts Joseph Sweeney, Advisor, IBRS and Bevis England, Director of Telework New Zealand
Through media outreach, Howorth successfully raised awareness around remote working trends and achieved more than 20 pieces of online, print, radio and media coverage including:
- News.com.au
- The Australian Financial Review
- Smart Company
- NOVA 96.9
- 2GB Sydney
The media outreach also drove social media coverage via blogs on local small business websites and Twitter chatter. Resulting interviews included discussion around the benefits of remote working technology including Citrix Online’s GoToMeeting, GoToMyPC, and GoToAssist.
Business engagement with…chocolate! Citrix Online
May 15, 2009 by Derek Lau
Filed under Case studies, Featured Content, Technology
To encourage businesses to transition in-person events to an online environment, Howorth worked with Citrix Online to successfully create an Online Chocolate Tasting experience, led by Australia’s most acclaimed chocolatier, Kirsten Tibballs.
The initiative brought together more than 40 of Citrix Online’s customers and prospects from Australia, the UK and USA. Several Australian journalists also participated. In addition to multiple qualified sales leads, the event resulted in coverage within traditional online and social media (including real-time comment by Twitter users).
Traditionally an in-person event, we used the latest version of Citrix Online’s GoToWebinar service to bring the tasting alive online. Each attendee received a box of tasting chocolates in advance of the webinar, then logged on from the comfort of their desk to learn about the art of chocolate tasting online.
Audio enhances the sweet experience
To enhance the tasting experience, we used the integrated audio feature of GoToWebinar to play music from various cocoa bean regions. The music gave attendees a greater appreciation for the chocolate and the region where it was produced.
Questions were put to the moderator throughout the session and snap polls were taken to ensure participation throughout the webinar.
Journalist Dan Warne of APC raved about the initiative, “The webinar was VERY impressive. I was amazed at how the software installed itself onto my Mac using the Java applet in the browser and the webinar itself was flawless in terms of sound and video quality. Truly impressive.”
The Online Chocolate Tasting marked a world first and was so successful that Citrix Online plans to run a similar event in the UK and USA. Howorth conceived the idea, located the chocolatier and managed all invites, logistics and rehearsals to ensure that the event was a complete success.
Shrinking holiday leads to growth in brand presence – Citrix Online
May 15, 2009 by Derek Lau
Filed under Case studies, Featured Content, Technology
To lift Citrix Online’s brand recognition amongst businesses and consumers, Howorth raised Citrix Online’s profile, and that of its GoToMyPC software, by showing thought leadership on the issue of work/life balance. The initiative generated over 130 media placements.
Media coverage appeared across a number of television programs including Channel Nine’s Nightline, National Nine News, Channel Seven’s Today Tonight, as well as featuring on prominent drive time radio programs on 3AW, 2UE and ABC radio.
Additional coverage highlights include:
An effective approach
Howorth helped Citrix Online gain the coverage by, initially, commissioning research with an independent firm to examine the number of interruptions employees experience in their jobs whilst out of the office. This occurred in the run up to the summer holiday season, when most Australian employees take personal leave.
Called Shrinking Holiday Syndrome, the research found that nearly three out of four Australian full-time workers were interrupted or called back to office during their holidays.
Taking this insight, Howorth then launched the research, with a key message to organisations being to ‘get with the times’ and provide employees with remote working technology to alleviate Shrinking Holiday Syndrome.
Howorth coined the term Shrinking-Holiday Syndrome, defined as the encroachment of work into people’s personal life, the stress of not being able to take care of work issues remotely and the physical act of travelling into the office during holidays.
