Goal: In fall 2004, the A&R Edelman PR team for communications chip manufacturer Atheros Communications Inc. heard rumors that Intel was going to introduce a tri-mode WiFi chip that would compete directly with Atheros' market-leading product. The rumors pegged the launch to take place in several months. On a Tuesday morning in September, however, A&R Edelman's routine daily coverage tracking turned up a Reuters article leaking a crucial piece of information: Intel would launch the product in just three days.
Immediately the PR team contacted Atheros and proposed a swift pre-emptive outreach program to the top business and wireless trade press. The objective of the campaign was to infiltrate press coverage of Intel’s new tri-mode WiFi chip launch with references to Atheros' market leadership and product success.
Challenge: The most obvious challenge was the tight turnaround time. The A&R Edelman Atheros team had just two days to pull off the feat. Compounding the pressure, the team was already in full gear running a tour for another Atheros announcement. Time and resources were short.
Strategy: The A&R Edelman team developed key messages to provide reporters with solid information about the market landscape, the technology behind tri-mode WiFi chips, Atheros' role in the market and the impact of Intel’s announcement. The messages were based on the team's deep knowledge of Intel’s position in the industry and its technology. They highlighted issues of importance to readers, like Atheros' strong rapport with the top purchasers of WiFi chips, the importance of having viable choices to Intel and Atheros' technical advantages. A&R Edelman crafted these messages into crisp speaking points and sent them to Atheros for approval.
Meanwhile, other team members created the target list of journalists, noting the individual preferences and predispositions of the key journalists covering Intel in the WiFi market. Having worked closely with many of these journalists for years, the team could predict how likely they were to write about the Intel launch and from what perspective.
The team offered the journalists strong Atheros spokespeople along with market data, proof points and customer references to make sure Atheros would be included in the stories. This was a great opportunity for Atheros to show off its strong customer base, thanks to a solid and successful ongoing customer program the PR team had developed over the prior year.
Results: Within two days, the team had set and executed briefings with 29 of the most influential journalists in the industry in publications such as WirelessWeek, Network World, Network Computing and eWeek, and targeted vertical publications in the Atheros space. By the time the Intel news hit, a full 75 percent of Intel's announcement coverage carried Atheros messages and/or direct quotations from Atheros executives.