Planning: Planning for the launch of the Palm Zire television campaign began several months before the official October 7th 2002 launch date. The idea was to make it tempting and easy for hundreds of TV stations to carry a timely story on the hot new product, maximizing airtime through great visuals. For the campaign, A&R Edelman drafted a colorful b-roll script depicting Zire handheld use among the target demographic, from college students to soccer moms to executives. A&R Edelman and Palm then worked with a professional production company to shoot the b-roll. In addition, the team crafted a broadcast-specific press release for distribution over Businesswire's Broadcast Wire for a parallel distribution with the official print version press release.
Approach: Armed with roughly 100 b-roll copies, a brief script describing the major points of the Zire, a handful of sample products and a comprehensive contact list of broadcasters, the Palm broadcast team began pitching the launch, offering brief product highlights with an emphasis on affordability. Timing was crucial to this pitching effort, as the goal was to have b-roll and supporting materials in the appropriate hands in time for stations/shows to have the option of running a story on the day of the official product release.
The team pitched a variety of major national network shows and all network affiliate stations in the top 40 markets.
Results: The Zire launch was Palm's most successful television campaign ever, receiving over 50 television placements on both national and local stations and reaching more than 20 million viewers nationwide. Our tidy pitch resonated with broadcasters nationwide. In some cities, nearly every major network affiliate requested a copy of the b-roll.
Most importantly, according to market-information company The NPD Group, the Palm Zire handheld was the best-selling PDA in U.S. channels during the fourth quarter of 2002 - accounting for 13 percent of all handheld unit sales nationwide. The NPD Group data also confirmed the Palm Zire handheld had the highest sales figures during its first three months after introduction of any handheld tracked by the market-information company. The NPD Group reported that during the quarter more than 228,000 Palm Zire handhelds were sold.
A few noteworthy highlights from the over 50 placements: