This week's strategy: Don't let a successful launch end there. After a launch campaign that landed AK Steel, an integrated steel company, in The New York Times Magazine and on
the "Today" show, HSR Business to Business relied on careful monitoring of the media landscape to keep the client's story alive.
AK Steel, the nation's leading integrated steel company launched its Concept Home in February 2001. The dramatic 11,000-square-foot home is currently under construction and is
being outfitted with AK Steel's carbon and stainless steels coated with AgION(TM) Technologies' anti-microbial compound, which reduces the growth of bacteria, molds and fungi.
Microbe-resistant steel products will be used in "high-touch zones" throughout the home, including handrails, doorknobs, faucets and food preparation surfaces. The heating,
ventilation and air conditioning ductwork will be made of anti-microbial-coated steel.
The PR team was looking for ways to generate a second wave of media attention between launch and completion in Fall 2002. Members of the team read about a study released by
Battelle researchers in June of 2001 (http://www.battelle.org) on the Top Ten Trends in Healthy Homes for 2010. Using this study as support, HSR created a pitch positioning the AK
Steel Concept Home as an early example of several of these trends coming to fruition. The pitch noted that indoor air quality and germ-resistant materials, coatings and fabrics,
designed to provide sterile surfaces, were identified by Battelle as two of the Top 10 Trends in Healthy Homes for 2010 and that the AK Concept Home was a good example of a
project addressing these trends. Research sells. This pitch immediately landed AK Steel in The Washington Post, Home magazine and ultimately on the cover of Popular Mechanics -
along with several other placements. (Kevin Dugan, HSR Business to Business, 513/671-3811, [email protected])