What would you do if you were an unknown U.S. subsidiary of a major Japanese company trying to build buzz around an equally unknown product?
Buffalo Technology was in a pinch as it made plans to go to market with a new wireless networking device after two unsuccessful attempts to launch products in the United
States. The company hired Integrity Public Relations, a California-based firm, to help launch a new company and its brand new product into a burgeoning market.
The company wanted its new AirStation to beat similar devices (from major U.S. competition like Cisco, Intel and 3Com) to market. AirStation is designed for the SOHO (small
office/home office) user. Telecommuters and other home office workers plug the AirStation into an Ethernet or cable modem, put a wireless card in their laptops, and can wander
their homes while maintaining their Internet connection.
Buffalo wanted to get to market in time for the fall and winter technology tradeshows and the holiday gift-giving season.
"It's actually pretty big now," says Ken Hagihara, president of Integrity PR, "but when Buffalo was launching, it was a new concept."
Building Expectations
Integrity went into the campaign knowing it would be a tough sell since the target audience, home office users, were largely unaware of the existence of such a product. Plus,
Buffalo wanted to roll out the campaign in time for holiday gift-giving, and it had only retained Integrity in September. So the firm set realistic goals: reviews of the Buffalo
AirStation in three major computer-related pubs; product mentions in two major business pubs; consumer coverage in two top-tier metropolitan newspapers; product coverage in two
business/financial newspapers; product reviews in three major industry Web sites; and coverage on two major consumer Web sites.
The agency team also knew it would have to work hard to convince the client that the hoped-for coverage was important. While Buffalo knew its two previous attempts to reach the
U.S. market had fallen flat, the Japanese parent company was not a PR believer.
"The company still to this day believes whatever works in Japan works in the U.S.," says Hagihara. "They really didn't believe in PR."
The team began a "grassroots" review program, placing a review unit in the hands of a few strategic reviewers whose coverage could reach targeted mainstream media. One Web
site, Practically Networked, reviewed the product, leading to a request for a review unit from Newsday's technology columnist, Lou Dolinar, who produced two feature articles.
Those stories got other mainstream media outlets interested.
Hagihara and his team then worked to persuade the client to cough up the dough to sponsor press events at major tradeshows. "We had to twist their arms to do the press event,"
he says.
Although Buffalo had spent more than $1 million on their floor presence at the Comdex show in Las Vegas, company execs balked at the $7,000 investment to sponsor the press
event.
Hagihara eventually persuaded execs to sponsor the ShowStoppers press reception at PC Expo in New York in September, and the Comdex reception.
The press receptions not only increased sales inquiries and media coverage of the product, they got Gary Krakow of MSNBC.com interested in the product. "He took the product and
saw the value, and the day after the press event, it popped up on the cover page - it knocked all the news off the front page of MSNBC.com," Hagihara marvels.
"Gary was telling me that was the first time ever that a technology story took the cover page."
The next day, Buffalo's president called Hagihara in a panic: The phones were ringing off the hook, and the company didn't have the infrastructure to handle it.
Results
Beyond the MSNBC coup, Integrity's campaign beat its goals in a big way. Seven computer publications reviewed the product, three business publications covered it, a financial
paper picked it up, 11 industry and business Web sites covered AirStation, four technology sites covered it, seven consumer sites picked it up, and a video review was broadcast to
an estimated 495,000 travelers on Delta Airlines.
Plus, sales were up 150 percent as a direct result of PR (essentially the only campaign going at that point), and Web site traffic increased 200 percent.
(Contact: Ken Hagihara, 949/768-4423)
Campaign Stats
Timeframe: September-December, 2000
Budget: A $3,500/month retainer with an additional budget of $500/month for expenses. $8,000 was allotted for each media event to cover sponsorship fees, printing costs, travel
and other expenses.
Working Cross-Culture
The dramatic difference between Japanese and U.S. markets was not only evident in the parent company's dismissive attitude toward public relations. Engineers with the company
misrepresented the product to Hagihara, resulting in some angry run-ins with media who discovered the product did not in fact do what Hagihara and his team told them it did.
"We had to educate them on how to manage their image. They lie to me, and I represent it to the media, the media will find out," Hagihara says.
He also wishes the company had had more time to develop manuals for the U.S. market. As it was, the manuals had been translated straight from Japanese and "we were always
taking hits from the media. Editors would say, 'It's a great product, but the manuals really stink.' We were trying to get them across the board to understand how things can
really affect their image."
Platinum PR Awards
Integrity PR received a PR NEWS Platinum PR Award Honorable Mention in the Media Relations category for this campaign.