First Trimester Report: Atomic PR | Europe
Tuesday, 19 January 2010
Setting up a European business during what has arguably been one of the worst downturns for over 50 years may seem like a daunting task. The Bellweather Report from the IPA (Instit. of Practitioners in Advertising, UK) reported a decrease of 7% in Q4 2009, the ninth successive quarter.
So how much notice do you take of the broader macro-environment? Having a strong 'mother ship' with explosive US growth, major client wins and new relationships clearly opens doors in other geographies. The next step is to grab 'low-hanging fruit' whenever the opportunity arises. Miss this, and you might be waiting another 9 months.
The final piece in the jigsaw means that you have to be ready to respond and be sure you're hiring the right people in the right places. Recession often focuses the mind and those with strong business value propositions will flourish. Well, six months on, Atomic Europe is on a roll of sorts. After winning a global account in the first few weeks of our existence, Atomic PR Europe now has several clients, a growing footprint in London, Paris and Munich and a European team with strong sector expertise gained working with the likes of Dell, HP, Microsoft, Symantec and others.
In February, we'll be trotting off to Amsterdam, to launch an innovative large format touch screen technology developed by a little known Portuguese company to an array of European media. Did I mention that you also have to be lucky?
Sandeep Kalsi is Managing Director of Atomic PR | Europe
Atomic PR named Agency of Record for Intuit's Personal Finance Products
Friday, 15 January 2010
Atomic has been named AOR for the Personal Finance Group at Intuit, following Intuit's acquisition of Mint.com; extending our responsibilities to include Quicken's range of personal financial management solutions. We're working with Intuit's Personal Finance Group on umbrella strategy, positioning, messaging, media relations, social media and video, event support and product promotion. We can't talk about budget, but the scope of work has increased significantly.
According to Atomic's co-founder Andy Getsey, "We're incredibly excited to partner with Intuit's Personal Finance Group to increase adoption of personal financial management software - this is a time when making the most of your money, setting and sticking to budgets, and getting financially fit is more important than ever."
Atomic was selected as Mint.com's agency of record prior to the company's launch in 2007. Atomic's collaboration on initial positioning, competitive messaging, and spokesperson coaching helped Mint.com win "Best in Show" at TechCrunch40 - and momentum built quickly from there.
A thoughtful authority program established CEO and founder Aaron Patzer as a recognized expert on topics ranging from finance to entrepreneurship; social media and SEO thinking helped Mint.com grow more quickly than any other financial software brand, and orchestrated outreach to traditional consumer and lifestyle media made the product more successful with young people and women than anything that has come before.
Since the acquisition of Mint.com by Intuit, a combined communications effort for Mint and Quicken has continued to generate strong media, blog and social media traction and user adoption of both products has accelerated significantly.
A Holiday donation from our clients to the Zeum
Wednesday, 23 December 2009
We're sincerely grateful to our clients for their business this year. That thankful sentiment really counts, but gift baskets and such probably don't matter that much. We think that the funds normally spent trading gifts of snacks, beverages and such between relatively affluent professionals during the holidays could be put to a higher use that might make a difference to someone. So this year, in addition to the pro-bono work we did for a variety of causes, we took the $ five figure sum we would have spent on a client party or gifts and donated it to the Zeum in the name of the Clients of Atomic.
The Zeum is a SF-based foundation, museum and workshop environment whose mission neatly overlaps the fields represented by our client list. The Zeum promotes computer, multimedia, arts & entertainment industry literacy to under served youth. So thanks to all of our clients for their business and camaraderie this year, and best wishes for a very happy, healthy and prosperous 2010.
Communicating with video (it's more than viral)
Monday, 07 December 2009
Producing video can do a lot for a brand. While going 'viral' is clearly one potential benefit, I think most of us are well aware of what that is and what it achieves. But beyond virality, how else can video be of value to a brand?
How about playing on the NASDAQ screen in Times Square? More in this in a minute...
Producing video can do several things. In some cases, it can make complex ideas simple and intuitive. For example, trying to communicate the benefits of a networked power grid can be a tough sell for people outside the utility industry. Knowing that, we worked with our client Echelon, a leading provider of smart grids and networked power solutions, to produce a series of videos highlighting the cost savings and environmental benefit of the technology. In addition to making the message accessible to consumers, these short videos also helped clarify their position to journalists and instantly illustrate what exactly they do.
In other cases, it can be helpful to introduce and build trust for new companies. When Mint.com launched in 2007, we produced a series of videos around the holidays centered on personal finance for 20-somethings, such as holiday budgeting (BTW, Mint was recently acquired by Intuit for $170MM). These videos served several purposes beyond the obvious consumer appeal. They also helped introduce the product to journalists and analysts, and they also served as a showreel for Mint.com CEO Aaron Patzer, ultimately leading to a screentest with CNBC to appear as a regular contributor on personal finance issues.
Video can also be used to raise awareness on macro issues. ArcSight, a leading security and compliance management company, helps companies from the private sector all the way up to the military and intelligence industries protect themselves against cyber threats. To help raise awareness on the issue, we produced an animated typographic video highlighting some disturbing statistics on cybercrime and major cyber incidents. The piece was so well received, it was used in the opening keynote of the Protect09 cyber security conference in Washington DC, and also played in Times Square when ArcSight rang the opening bell at the NASDAQ.
Lastly, video can provide a search benefit as well. With universal search, videos and other content sometimes appear in search results alongside the usual ten blue links. A strategically produced and optimized video may rank well for relevant searches (as it did for our client Ingres during their 'Vectorwise' product launch) which both supports client messaging while helping to defend the first page of results against competitors or off-message content.
Check out a short snippet of the ArcSight video in Times Square below. Questions? Feel free to send a note to our Digital Ops group at digops@atomicpr.com.
Re-introducing SIEM and ETRM leader ArcSight to the UK media
Monday, 16 November 2009
ArcSight approached Atomic's UK office after a five month engagement with Atomic in the US with a goal to launch its latest security products in the UK.
In eight short weeks, Atomic PR UK successfully launched two ArcSight products, generated total of 27 pieces of coverage (compared with 11 articles in 6 months prior to hiring Atomic), and has began conversations with trade, national and business press. Unlike in the US, ArcSight has had a low profile in UK media and the security information and event management (SIEM) industry has not been frequently written about.
Atomic PR UK is now working on continuing the momentum through additional introductory media interviews and educating the press, reaching out to the analyst community, placing contributed articles in trade publications and submitting ArcSight for industry awards/speaking opportunities. ArcSight is now on the right track for increasing its brand awareness outside the US and has since hired Atomic as agency of record for the UK and Europe.
