Company: Xerox
Agency: Text 100
Timeframe: 2006
Xerox has long been labeled as a "copier company," and after six years of effort by Xerox Global Services to be recognized for its consulting services, the division is becoming
one of the most critical arms of the company. The PR team used the success of Xerox's consulting services to educate the media, industry analysts and customers worldwide via
enhanced services offerings, acquisition, customer announcements and thought leadership initiatives with the aim of promoting Xerox as a trusted advisor in the document management
and consulting services business.
The project was centered around getting "recognition from media and analysts that Xerox Global Management is a key player in the services market," says Carl Langsenkamp,
director, Technology and Services Public Relations for Xerox Corporation. "We needed to change that mindset" regarding former attitudes that Xerox would solely "cover us from an
office standpoint," Langsenkamp acknowledges.
Changing people's perception of Xerox as more than just the "copier that sits in the corner of the office" was the greatest challenge, says Erin Humphrey, vice president of
Text 100 Public Relations.
Furthermore, there are "always challenges when changing the mindset of the media," Langsenkamp adds. A vital component to the campaign was educating reporters by taking them on
on-site visits and inviting executives to events. "It was all an educational effort on our part to make sure they understood the message we were getting across," Langsenkamp says.
The "Beyond the Box: How Xerox is Moving from Hardware Vendor to Trusted Advisor" campaign, which began in 2006, centered on how Xerox is more than just print - but instead is
a firm proficient in providing document consulting services worldwide to companies of all sizes. The campaign also focused on the expertise of Xerox Global Services' executives as
an asset among the company, its customers and the service industry.
The PR team formed three focal objectives to illustrate that Xerox is moving "beyond the box:"
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Gain recognition by the media and analysts that Xerox Global Services had arrived as a key player in the services market;
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Develop thought leadership events to position Xerox as a trusted advisor; and,
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Open a direct communications line with current and potential customers to learn about issues most relevant to their businesses and what types of challenges they
face.
Even prior to a written comprehensive plan, the team assessed the services space by reviewing analyst reports and industry intelligence to determine where Xerox Global Services
measured up against its competitors. Evaluation of current industry issues impacting Xerox customers determined that security would be a key focus for customer education in
2006.
The campaign strategy was to leverage customer touch points at events and in blogosphere with PR initiatives that would eventually showcase Xerox's services-led solutions to
customers, the media and analysts.
"We made a commitment to improve the customer experience," Langsenkamp says. The campaign "centered around our customer," he says. "Core to this is to let the customer know we
are there as their consultant and their advisor."
Events included the announcement of several services-led customer contracts such as a $36-million, seven-year agreement with the University of Calgary, a $17-million, four-year
business services renewal contract with InterContinetal Hotel Group (IHG) and an undisclosed-services-led contract with Medco Health Solutions; the launch of an eight-city North
American Security Summit series that helped position Xerox as a thought leader on data protection; strong media coverage of Xerox's acquisition of e-discovery company Amici, LLC;
and announced expansion plans of Xerox's global imaging capabilities and the signing of new customer AOL at Xerox's 2006 Industry Analyst Briefing in New York City.
Other tactics included the sponsoring of eight Security Summits in cities that included Boston and Chicago to educate more than 400 total attendees about the latest threats
facing organizations' proprietary information. Xerox executives and Xerox's data protection expert David Drab, a former FBI agent and authority on economic espionage, led the
series, which helped gain credibility and gave people a taste of overall security message, Langsenkamp says.
The series "wasn't just what Xerox sells," Langsenkamp says. "It's about going to customers in different cities and telling them problems they may face from a security
standpoint." It "focused on half of security problems any big customer would face and the second half was Xerox-centric opportunity for us to tell our story," he adds, noting that
it "wasn't a hard sell, giving them information they needed no matter if they were Xerox customers or not."
The series provided a unique opportunity to gain insight into customers' current and future needs of Xerox and generated more than $5 million in additional revenue, including
the signing of Raytheon in Boston. Kwon Chin, analyst at the Framingham, MA-based firm IDC, summed up the series: "Xerox is clearly performing a public service by educating firms
on the pervasive threat of losing intellectual assets."
Additionally, Xerox unveiled a blog, bigilittletblog.com, to steer discussion in the IT space and strengthens Xerox's position among other industry players in the services
market. The blog, themed "Big I, Little t," tied the concept to Xerox's core belief that the focus of IT should be on Information - not just technology - and featured commentary
from Xerox Global Services experts. The blog provided a direct line of communication to Xerox's customers and industry influencers, and "started a lot of good activity and
generated traffic from outside of just the traditional avenues," Langsenkamp says.
The campaign resulted in "terrific outcomes," as media coverage totaled 500 articles targeting customer-centric, services-led messaging, Langsenkamp says. Each Security Summit
garnered press coverage from media and/or analyst attendees, including The Wall Street Journal, eWeek, Intelligent Enterprise, Globe and Mail, Seattle Post-Intelligencer,
Federal Computer Week and analyst firm IDC. The announced acquisition of Amici, LLC generated 72 media mentions, including USA Today, Albany Times Union and Yahoo!
Finance. InfoWorld and Global Services Magazine wrote exclusives on the AOL and global imaging announcements respectively, and on-site interviews at the Industry
Analyst Briefing generated 17 articles.
Approximately 5,328 visitors worldwide have participated in the blog, providing Xerox with a voice in the IT discussion and a direct line of communication with current and
potential customers and industry influencers. The firm also won the prestige of Public Relations Society of America's Silver Anvil Award for Marketing Business-to-Business
Professional and/or Financial Services division.
Despite the campaign's success, "the work is certainly not done, as the brand will continually evolve," Humphrey says. The company will continue to see core elements throughout
the upcoming years, she adds.
When it comes to creating awareness and educating the media amidst preconceived legacies, it's important to keep a few PR pointers in mind. The number-one tip: Your customer
always comes first, Langsenkamp says.
"Go to your customer first," he says. "Understand what they want from you, and translate that into a way to get to the media" through a variety of outlets, including blogs,
press releases, etc.
Improving customer experience by listening and engaging them is equally important. "You can take traditional and non-traditional forms of media and translate them into an
educational effort they'll really understand," Langsenkamp adds.
Additionally, "with any PR campaign, flexibility and adaptability are the key to success," Humphrey says. It is necessary to change PR tactics along the way to react to changes
within the industry. "Now more than ever, it is imperative for a PR team to be flexible and agile; ultimately, they must be cognizant of the ever-evolving space within which
they're working," she says.
Simply altering messages to more clearly differentiate an offering, given an announcement from a competitor, can attain this notion. "Other times, it's a larger change to the
original thinking," Humphrey adds.
CONTACTS:
Carl Langsenkamp, 585.423.5782, [email protected]; Erin Humphrey, 585.697.7787, [email protected]
Thinking Outside The Box
Xerox Corporation is well-known for its photocopying services, but it has more than a few tricks up its sleeve that many consumers aren't aware of (for example, who knew that
Microsoft's Bill Gates and Apple's Steve Jobs both interned there together before starting their own companies?).
To move beyond its one-dimensional reputation, the PR team followed these re-branding best practices:
- Put the customer first.
- Evaluate current industry issues before executing an initiative.
- Direct energy to multiple consumer touchpoints.
- Tweak messaging to differentiate offerings from the competition's.
- Remain flexible and adaptable.
- Engage customers, listen to their feedback and address concerns.