Promote a Project In Order To Reinforce Customer Confidence

The Challenge
A well-established manufacturer of industrial coatings was losing market share to a host of new companies who were specifically targeting the client as a “dinosaur” within the industry, incapable of cutting-edge innovation or personalized customer service.

Objectives
The competition was creating an illusion that our client was no longer a factor within the industry, when in fact they were still by far the leader.  Since a recent research study by McGraw Hill Construction revealed that 77 percent of architects learn about products through articles they see in magazines, as opposed to ads, we proposed a PR solution.

Approach
The agency developed a series of five case studies, documenting the use of our client’s products in projects like the restoration of Frank Lloyd Wright’s famous Fallingwater estate in southwest Pennsylvania and the new Smithsonian Institution’s Udvar-Hazy Air & Space Museum adjacent to Washington’s Dulles International Airport.  We selected projects that were already newsworthy because of their high profile.  The studies contained quotes from design architects and project managers saying that they specified the client’s products because of past performance experiences.  We worked quickly to get our story out before another manufacturer provided it from another angle; and we included a wide variety of accompanying high resolution photography.

Outcome
This series of case studies yielded a 52% placement rate, the highest in agency history.  Our stories were selected as “cover stories” in six different trade publications.  Over a span of 10 months, 63 different publications and Web sites used one or more of these case studies.  The client reported a modest sales increase but, more importantly, the competitive attack ads went away.  The client was inundated with requests for more technical details of their Fallingwater installation and they commissioned us to develop an AIA-accredited CEU presentation detailing the project.