International PR Case Studies
The CompAir Quantima compressor global product launch
SUBMISSION FOR PROJECT OF THE YEAR AWARD
Edson Evers LLP, Stafford, UK
Category entered
Business to Business
Project Title
35 days and counting.
Resume
Edson Evers was tasked with the global product launch of a new air compressor called Quantima for its existing client, CompAir. Activities centered on the simultaneous promotion of a brand new compression technology in 13 countries worldwide, to both the technical trade and financial media. However, this had to be achieved in just seven weeks to coincide with a launch event in Italy in April 2008.
SUMMARY
Client Needs
When the project began, there was little media recognition of the CompAir brand and products outside of the UK and Germany. This presented Edson Evers with the unique challenge of securing confirmed April editorial coverage in all of CompAir’s key countries, in just 35 days – even though many journals were close to closing these editions when the project began.
Strategy / Activities
Edson Evers acted as the lead agency and quickly appointed local IPRN agencies in CompAir’s tier one countries. These were:
• Opinion Valley, France
• Twister Group/Perego and Solera, Italy
• C&IC, Italy
The German, Austrian and Swiss activities were coordinated by Edson Evers through CompAir Germany’s in-house PR department.
For the remaining tier one and two countries (UK, Australia, US, Middle East, South Africa, Poland and Serbia), Edson Evers issued press material from the UK. This was issued in local languages, using an email tracking system that enabled Edson Evers to target directly the journalists that expressed interest.
Challenges
It was a major challenge to coordinate the media relations in 13 countries simultaneously, with different time zones, language considerations and differing journalistic approaches. To overcome this issue, Edson Evers created an international, online press office, to enable editors to download information, 24-hours a day. This included a dedicated area for each country, in the local language with information such as press releases, features, images, videos (dubbed in local languages), animations and the local PR contact.
In addition, the new compressor concept was relatively complex, so it was important to explain the technology simply, whilst still promoting the user benefits.
Budget
$43,000 (approx. £30,000) for the complete launch, including all IPRN agency fees.
Media Results
1. Highlights
In France – Opinion Valley achieved an impressive seven editorials in April alone, with a further 15 pieces of coverage to follow.
In Italy - Edson Evers worked with Perego and Solera to organise a customer/journalist event to launch the new compressor. Fourteen journalists from the B2B trade press attended the event and 13 pieces of coverage were secured from May onwards.
In Spain - Edson Evers worked with C&IC to organise a journalists’ breakfast briefing. A total of 35 pieces of coverage were secured between June and September.
2. General
Edson Evers also created an online coverage area to display all press clippings by country. In the first three months alone, this displayed more than 80 pieces of coverage and this figure has continued to rise, now exceeding 200 clippings.
Evaluation
The entire project was delivered on time and on budget and reached CompAir’s target audience of manufacturing/industrial users. This has assisted in the sale of units in each of the 13 launch countries and across all target sectors.
Shortly after the launch, CompAir was sold by its private equity owners to Gardner Denver. The client confirmed that the Quantima launch played a very positive role in the sale process and contributed in a measurable way to achieving the sale value of £190.2 million (approx $269 million).
IPRN Benefits
Quotes to follow from IPRN partners involved.
In particular, due to Opinion Valley’s successful media activities in France and its excellent relationship with the local CompAir sales company, CompAir’s EMEA marketing director appointed the French agency on an initial 6-month retainer contract.
