Case Studies: Product Launch

Situation:

A global communications leader sought a media analysis program to track the launch of a new mobile handset.  The communications strategy to support the product launch was specifically designed to transform the brand’s positioning in the market from its heritage as engineering-driven into a sector-leading design-driven brand. Media coverage was critical in creating enhanced consumer awareness and perception – media analysis was required to measure the shift in journalist presentation of the brand from prior to the launch to post-launch.

Solution:

Report International devised a media analysis program to track and quantify editorial coverage that focused specifically on the bundle of brand attributes that would drive the brand transformation. The program tracked coverage across a number of different regions; determined whether the desired brand attribute maintained a requisite level of coverage after the launch; and provided an analysis of which journalists remained skeptical about the brand change and which endorsed it.

Benefit:

The communications client was able to demonstrate clearly to a wider marketing audience how far PR had effected a change in the image of the brand through editorial media coverage. The detailed journalist analysis enabled the PR team to exploit and maintain positive coverage of the brand transformation, by targeting resources at those journalists with maximum impact, and to identify skeptical journalists for additional outreach.

A critical additional insight from the media analysis indicated that the product was presented negatively for its performance and for certain technical elements. These concerns became more visible over time, and whilst the product had a successful sell-in to distributors, end-user sales were significantly lower than anticipated.