What do you do with a tiny microprocessor that holds the Guinness Book of World Records title for being the world’s smallest Web server? You form a company and bring Rainier on board to promote and brand the new technology. An entrepreneur, inventor, and business-savvy financier came together with Rainier in 2000 to launch a yet-to-be-named company to commercialize the connectivity solution, build brand awareness of the new technology, and drive sales into 2001.
Rainier walked Ipsil through the naming process, eventually settling on Ipsil for several reasons: the domain was available, you can pronounce the five-letter word, and Ipsil was short for IP on Silicon. Rainier’s corporate launch approach was to pre-brief the industry analyst community (which would also give Ipsil references for their first round of VC funding), then brief the targeted trade editorial community for maximum exposure on the corporate launch date.
Results: Tiny technology, tiny startup, huge PR coverage
Response to Rainier’s outreach surpassed all of our goals. Ipsil’s technology was well poised to be a major technology player in the burgeoning world of information appliances and industrial automation, and Rainier honed in on these two areas for maximum impact. With Ipsil’s solid business model and time-tested technology, Rainier sparked the interest of the industry analysts in an East/West Coast tour as well as several conference calls. For the editorial community, a mere mention of the buzz words “connectivity” or “information appliance” opened phone lines and office doors for lively discussions of Ipsil’s technology and the future of the markets.
In six weeks, Ipsil went from being a “non-existent” company to headlining the front page of Mass High Tech. Ipsil’s website received more than 60,000 hits in the first 3 weeks, and sales leads came pouring in – Ipsil received more than 100 calls requesting product availability and pricing information within a month of the launch.
Rainier coordinated additional interviews and handled all media and analyst-related requests for Ipsil, resulting in print and online coverage in ECN, EDN, Embedded Technology, Design News, eWeek, Information Week, and The Embedded Internet Times.
Additional coverage followed in analyst reports from several research firms, including “The Network Convergence Trend” by Illuminata and “Internet Home Automation” by Cahners In-Stat. An implementation of Ipsil’s FlowStack technology was detailed in the Storage & Servers Solution Guide, and Circuit Cellar Magazine created a series of connectivity articles and a contest based on Ipsil’s technology, commencing with a cover story and Ipsil-bylined contributed article. In a major coup for the tiny startup, Rainier pitched and caught the attention of Red Herring superstar, Rafe Needleman who featured Ipsil in his hugely popular “Catch of the Day” column.
Value: PR results in Venture Funding
The media attention swirling around Ipsil helped pave the way for the enabling-technologies arm of Schneider Electric Ventures to make a capital investment in the startup. Schneider’s aim was for Ipsil to incorporate low-cost Internet connectivity in Schneider’s energy, building, industry and infrastructure products and applications. Perhaps the most gratifying observation of Rainier’s PR program for Ipsil came from the editors at Circuit Cellar Magazine who noted in their coverage, “Ipsil is a company that demonstrated a flair for PR early on.”
Results: Spectacular coverage, awards & ownership of a new market segment
As a result of Rainier’s PR campaign, the new Fujitsu product received major coverage in key industry publications including Light Reading, Telephony, Xchange, Telecommunications, Lightwave, and EE Times. An independent analysis firm rated Fujitsu’s coverage as having a “higher impact” than the company’s competitors, with more than 50% of the coverage rated as “very positive.”
Rainier’s analyst relations work resulted in outstanding quotes from industry analysts including Heavy Reading’s Sterling Perrin, Infonetics Research’s Michael Howard, and IDC’s Eve Grilliches.
Most important was that FNC and Rainier were able to control the industry agenda and establish PONP as an entirely new class of equipment. Editors and analysts now refer to the category by the very name FNC and Rainier created (see sidebar).
The publicity helped catch the attention of Frost & Sullivan who awarded Fujitsu a Product Differentiation and Innovation Award, recognizing a “significant contribution” to the industry’s degree/rate of technical change.
Editors and analysts at Light Reading gave Fujitsu the magazine’s Leading Lights Award for best new product, beating out hundreds of heavily scrutinized entries (including fellow finalist, the Apple iPhone). The product was also nominated for the Leading Lights Award for “best marketing.”
“I have come to rely on Rainier to help ensure that Fujitsu’s name is top of mind with editors and conference organizers alike, who in turn, communicate our messages to customers and prospects,” said Bob Laurent, senior manager of media relations at Fujitsu. “As the result of our work together, Fujitsu is regularly quoted in the relevant feature stories of Top Tier publications in our industry.”
Tactics: Comprehensive planning for a wide-ranging media tour
Rainier played a key strategic role in helping Fujitsu executives to clarify and articulate the FLASHWAVE 9500 platform’s significance in the telecom market ecosystem. Together, Rainier and FNC prepared detailed Powerpoint presentation that crystallized Fujitsu’s messages, and the team embarked on a methodically executed series of analyst and editor briefings.
Results of the analyst briefings were incorporated into the messaging as the tour unfolded, adding credibility to support the company’s claims about the product. The tour was supported by white papers, a no-holds-barred Q&A document that prepared FNC spokespersons for the worst case, and a comprehensive briefing book that left no detail to chance.
By the time they found themselves in front of editors at the most influential magazines, Rainier had Fujitsu executives completely prepared for success. “We consistently rely on Rainier’s industry expertise, strategic advice, and creative PR tactics to deliver results,” says Fujitsu’s Julia Pitlik.
In its year-end roundup, Light Reading showed Rainier’s PR campaign had engineered a real change in market perception:
1. “Optical networking is back and better than ever”
2. “Fujitsu is an optical networking pioneer”
3. FW9500 is one of top ten optical stories of 2007
4. PONP need/trend is #4 optical story of 2007
Results: #1 market share, revenue increases in declining market, and a big contract win
- By the end of 2008, Fujitsu had achieved metro WDM and ROADM market leadership in North America. With revenues rising 14% compared to a market decline of 4%, the company outperformed the market, and increased its share in this segment by nearly 3 points to 31.5% ― more than 10 percentage points higher than its closest competitor.
― According to data from Ovum, a leading telecom research and advisory service firm
- In June 2008, Verizon confirmed it had selected Fujitsu’s FLASHWAVE 9500 for deployment in its FiOS backbone. Verizon CTO Mark Weigleitner specifically noted that Fujitsu’s FLASHWAVE 9500 marketing campaign was “very well thought out.”
