Last night, millions of Americans tuned in to the 75th
anniversary of the Academy Awards. Celebrity being the current
opiate of the masses, "Oscar's" birthday bash has a big red circle
around it on the media's collective calendar, with coverage planned
weeks if not months in advance among print, broadcast and Web
outlets. But what about companies that have a big anniversary they
want to promote with the media but don't have the luxury of Halle
Berry and Harrison Ford as invited guests? The media often relate
to corporate milestones like paper, silver and golden
anniversaries. Yet it's harder for firms to get the media to pay
attention when the anniversary number doesn't fit into a neat
little package.
SRI International, the technology research and development
company and Silicon Valley staple, wanted a major media splash for
its 55th anniversary in the summer of 2001. The 50th anniversary in
1996 attracted plenty of local coverage, but it was relatively
small scale and did not involve PR elements.
Originally, SRI planned an internal party solely for its
employees. A few weeks later --- went the thinking among members of
SRI's communications team -- the company would then hold a separate
press briefing to plug SRI's 55 years of technological innovation.
These events had to be mounted with an extremely tight budget of
between $10,000 and $15,000. Moreover, getting exposure for its
55th anniversary might be more difficult for SRI since it was
facing a press corps that -- following the Internet bust in April
2000 -- was starting to view technology-related events with a
severely jaundiced eye.
But before SRI could start to execute both events separately,
the company's communications team huddled with its PR firm,
Connecting Point Communications, a San Francisco-based PR agency
that has handled SRI's PR since 1999. Connecting Point was
previously called Phase Two Strategies. After interfacing with
Connecting Point, SRI decided that it could get a lot more bang for
its buck by combining the internal party with a schmooze fest for
the press.
Chris Boehlke, founder/managing partner of Connecting Point
Communications, stressed that SRI had great content that should be
exploited. "We pointed out that the [company] had some wonderful
stories to tell," she says. "It's not how old you are but what you
have to offer."
So instead of a separate press briefing -- which tends to be on
the stiff side -- SRI invited 26 members of the press to its
company anniversary party; 16 showed up, including media reps from
all disciplines, such as print (Scientific American), broadcast
(CNN, TechTV), and several trade publications, including Electronic
Business and InfoWorld.
Of course, if it's not catered it's not journalism, so SRI made
sure to have plenty of food on hand at the party. But the real hook
for the press was food for thought - not for the tummy.
SRI feted the press with real live technology demonstrations
showcasing SRI's robotics, wireless communications technology and a
training simulator for the National Guard, for example. Press folk
love toying with newfangled technologies, which plays particularly
well for broadcast. Indeed, CNN ended up airing a four-minute
weekend feature package featuring interviews with SRI executives,
scientists and SRI alumni.
A week after the CNN broadcast, CNN featured an executive Q/A
with SRI's VP of computer sciences. A real coup for SRI was the
anniversary coverage in Investors' Business Daily, whose reporter
was so taken with a "device that acts just like a bird as it hovers
behind enemy lines, gathering data for U.S. armed forces. Looking
at this display, a reporter grasped for words. "It's, it's, um..."
"Crazy, crazy, amazing stuff," finished Phillip von Guggenberg, an
SRI business development director.
SRI took pains to see that there were no glitches in the system
before opening its doors to the press. "We had to make sure all the
demonstrations were bullet-proof," says Alice Resnick, senior
director, corporate and marketing communications for SRI, "so
reporters can touch, feel and really get under the hood of the
technologies."
Still, gee-whiz technologies only go so far with reporters, who
pride themselves on being professional skeptics. So SRI added some
sizzle to the steak. In addition to all of the technology
demonstrations on the floor, reporters were also able to rub elbows
with computer Boswell Doug Engelbart, who invented the computer
mouse more than 30 years ago while he worked for SRI. But SRI
didn't plug Englebart's appearance when it put out feelers to the
media about the anniversary. This way, there was an element of
surprise, and what the media considered a bonus to all the
gadgetry. Says Resnick: "If the press showed for up for the event
and all we offered was talking heads it would not have been
successful."
Resnick served up some other tips on how to throw a successful
anniversary party with the press on board:
- Don't be self-serving. Showcase something with universal
appeal. - Have the personal touch with members of the press who you
invite. - Be sure to follow-up with a courtesy call with members of the
press who didn't attend the event to see if they want their own
dog-and-pony show.
Boehlke stressed that if the company presents a legitimate
opportunity to the press to run some good stories, the anniversary
should be, in the larger scheme of things, irrelevant. "It's just a
number," she says.
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