Launching a new online product on two continents is no small endeavor - particularly if you're seeking to stake a claim in an emerging market without any prior branding, proven
credibility, history or customer base. Add a volatile dotcom environment riddled with failed ventures, jaded investors and skeptical analysts, and you've got the challenge APCO
Worldwide faced when it teamed with GlobeXplorer Inc. (GX) in April 2000. The start-up planned to introduce a new technology that would allow e-businesses and consumers to obtain
aerial and satellite imagery of the Earth instantly on the Web.
GX had two feathers in its cap. First, its technology was about to change the way rich media was delivered over the Internet. Second, it had already scored a key partnership
with Sun Microsystems.
Launch activities in three key cities - San Francisco, New York and London - targeted industry analysts, the news media and prospective customers in the travel/leisure, real
estate, agricultural, government and insurance industries. Leveraging its partnership with Sun, GX staged two "Digital Journey" events in Menlo Park, Calif. and London. Sandwiched
between these events was a two-day analyst and media briefing in New York. Key collateral materials used during meetings and events included a CD-ROM demo, corporate marketing
brochure, fact sheets, a Q&A sheet, printed invitations and a presentation folder.
On the media front, exclusives were offered to The Wall Street Journal and advance opportunities were floated to UK morning news programs. To assuage consumer fears about
privacy, pitches to the media emphasized that the age of GX's high-resolution photographs made them useless for illegal surveillance - but invaluable for environmental
studies.
Media coverage subsequently appeared in a bevy of key outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, CNNfn, ABC's "World News Tonight," CNBC's "Pan-European Power Lunch," Time
magazine and BBC. Messages on the GX brand reached more than 367 million people worldwide. APCO estimates the value of the campaign's earned media impressions at $1.5 million - a
900% ROI for the client.
In the month following the launch events, the GX Web site experienced 3.5 to 6.5 million hits per day - a total of nearly 150 million hits.
(Nancy Heffernan, APCO Worldwide, 916/554-3400)
Client: GlobeXplorer, Inc., Walnut Creek, California
Agency: APCO Worldwide, Sacramento, DC and London
Campaign timeframe: April - September 2000 (launch activities concentrated
from Sept. 12-22, 2000)
Budget: $150,000