When Benjamin/Weber Shandwick took on Quantum Corp. as a client in late 1999, the PR team faced a complicated task. Quantum had just purchased Meridian Data and had acquired
that firm's unique data-storage product, called Network Attached Storage (NAS). Trouble was, most reporters and potential customers in the tech industry had no idea what NAS was
or how it worked.
On the plus side, Quantum already had significant credibility as a leading player in the data-storage area. The PR team hoped to leverage that name to create a new product
category around NAS and to position NAS as the top product in that new category.
The Strategy
The key attributes of NAS are ease of use and quickness of installation. To get that point across, the agency decided to make product reviews the centerpiece of its campaign.
If the media could actually use the product, the inherent strengths of NAS would make the case for both the category and the product.
"Whenever you are building a category there are three things you have to do," says Laura Taylor, SVP for Benjamin/Weber Shandwick. "You have to educate the media who don't
understand the category: What are the benefits? What is this solving? Then you have to influence market adoption and, third, you have to build brand preference." With NAS, all
those points could be hit at once through product reviews.
How did they get reviewers to test-drive NAS? In order to win ink in trade journals and business publications, the PR team (comprised of four Benjamin/Weber Shandwick employees
and Quantum's internal team) did a lot of old-fashioned pavement pounding.
"We made the reviews editors the VIPs of our program," says Group Manager Jodi Baumann. "We didn't just call and pitch. When there is a new product or feature we actually
physically sit down with the reviews editor. We bring them the product and make them a part of our tour."
With a $60,000 budget, the PR team began in Oct. 1999 to solicit reviews and continued the effort through the end of 2000.
The Safety Nets
When the success of a PR campaign rests on product reviews, potential pitfalls loom large. "The biggest risk, of course, is that you can get a bad review," says Baumann. Thus
the agency took steps to mitigate that risk as its campaign unfolded.
First of all, the PR team didn't send out demo product to just anybody. Reviewers were screened to ensure that they had the appropriate expertise and the necessary testing
facilities to show off NAS in the best possible light. "We needed to make sure that it was not set up to fail," Taylor says.
Once reviewers made the cut, the PR team made sure they were well-equipped to test-drive the product. "We put together some really excellent documentation, in the form of a
reviewer's guide. It is very short and sweet, and it tells them exactly what the key features are," she says. "We also included tables testing against competitors' products, and
we tried to guide the reviewers in how they should conduct their tests."
The agency also coordinated closely with Quantum to make sure reviewers could get help easily if they needed it. "We produced documents for Quantum explaining the process,"
Baumann says. "We needed to be sure that there would actually be product available for review when we needed it."
PR agencies "can't do it on their own," says Taylor. "To Quantum's credit, they had a stellar internal PR team and they were very much behind our effort."
Once the good reviews started coming in, the agency followed through with a full-blown PR effort, including news releases, contributed articles and a vertical program targeting
key markets.
The Results
In the wake of Quantum's NAS push, a significant corporate networking market has emerged. Gartner's Dataquest forecasts the workgroup NAS market will reach $1.8 billion in
2003, up from a mere $45 million in sales in 1999.
Within that new category, Quantum has established itself firmly as the leading player, with a whopping 85 percent market share. Quantum's product has scored some 50 reviews in
top-tier industry publications since October 1999.
More to the point, product is moving. In the fourth quarter ending Dec. 31, 2000, sales of Quantum's server products surpassed $20 million - an increase of 1,000 percent over
the same quarter in the previous year. During that same timeframe the number of resellers grew from 100 to more than 2,000. (Contacts: Baumann, Taylor, 415/352-2628, [email protected])
Agency Profile
- Benjamin/Weber Shandwick
- Founded: 2001, as a result of a merger of Benjamin Group and Weber Shandwick
- HQ: Campbell, Calif.
- Major Clients: Hewlett-Packard, Agilent, Brocade Communications Systems, Mentor Graphics
- Est. Billings (2001): Silicon Valley, $13.1 million (net fee income)
- Number of Employees: Silicon Valley, 60
- Staff on this Campaign: Daniel McKean, VP; Laura Taylor, SVP, Jodi Baumann, group manager; Luis Lorenzana, account supervisor
- URL: http://www.WeberShandwick.com
Campaign Stats
- Timeframe: 1999-2000
- Budget: $60,000