Atomic Cost of Waiting Survey program for client TOA Technologies plugged on David Letterman and Conan O'Brien
Friday, 18 November 2011
It turns out that "waiting for the cable guy" costs the American workforce nearly $38 billion every year in lost time? That's what TOA (Time of Arrival) Technologies' 3rd annual Cost of Waiting Survey found. And Atomic conceived and designed the program.
Last week, this staggering statistic caught the attention of both David Letterman and Conan O'Brian. The late night show hosts both opened their respective monologues with references to the report, bringing national consumer attention to the survey's findings and TOA's solution to the "cable guy problem."
TOA Technologies' software is used by cable companies and other providers to cut the wait-time window they offer customers and accurately predict in-home appointment arrival times for many global brands, including Cox Communications, Arhaus Furniture and Virgin Media. Its technology touches the lives of millions of Americans, but most consumers don't really think of the cable and delivery guy past their current service appointment.
So, how did Atomic get TOA, a business-to-business mobile workforce software company from Cleveland widespread attention from a slew of major national broadcast, print and outline outlets?
TOA came to Atomic nearly three years ago with the goal of obtaining more media awareness in consumer press, as well as business and trade outlets. Atomic's strategic recommendation: focus on bigger picture consumer problems and answer the fundamental question: How much does all this waiting really cost customers and companies?
The first national Cost of Waiting Survey generated 18 pieces of media coverage in 2009, mostly in trade press. The following year Atomic expanded research to include the UK and Germany, while modifying the questions to hone in on popular themes from 2009 and identify new trends. Program materials included more in-depth reports, infographics and a video. US coverage grew 83% from the previous year -- especially in the consumer space, with more than 30 media placements.
This year Atomic expanded markets to include Brazil, an emerging cable market, and engaged with IBOPE Zogby to help identify trends in the customer service space and reevaluate the survey questions, leveraging benchmarks of relevant statistics from previous years.
The 2011 findings gave Atomic the opportunity for a NYC media tour with TOA's CEO, Yuval Brisker, who hosted pre-briefings with Fortune, CNN Money and Reuters. The tour and all messaging highlighted 3 key trends: social media's impact on the space, the shorter fuse and higher expectations of customers across the board, and the need for a human element in customer service. Atomic's focus on top-tier media and trade press generated coverage by media influencers and national outlets, including Good Morning America, TIME Magazine, Business Insider, CNBC and the Huffington Post. To date, the survey has generated 88 pieces of media coverage in the US alone, a 193% increase over last year and 360% more coverage than the first report.
The Cost of Waiting conversation continues to cycle, with Twitter mentions surpassing last weekend's traditional and online news coverage and many of the national articles spurring strong opinions from readers, generating at least 30 comments per article. By elevating TOA's differentiators and business model within key media interviews, the news cycle began to build into a problem and solution conversation -- highlighting TOA's business model and how they solve a frequent consumer need.
From Conan O'Brian to USA Today, more than 110 million people have read, watched or listened to news on TOA's Cost of Waiting 2011 survey. That's more than 1/36 of the world's population -- which is another stat we're thinking of emailing to Letterman's producers.
Sony and Atomic PR launch Sony Tablet S
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
With Apple, Samsung, Motorola, RIM and HP already competing in the tablet race, Atomic's job was to help launch the new Sony Tablet into a crowded and quickly commoditizing marketplace - engaging and exciting consumers, while generating strong, positive coverage from technology, business and consumer press and bloggers.
ComContext™ analysis fostered a number of key insights and helped Atomic build a strategic, well-informed plan; focusing messaging on Sony's own historical design prowess, the unique and differentiated design attributes of the Tablet S, and its connection to Sony's content ecosystem. Top tier media fell into two distinct camps - those who producing negative coverage of almost any Android Honeycomb tablet (avoid), and those who seemed to see Android tablets as a viable alternative to Apple's marketplace dominance (engage). We also observed that competitors were timing large numbers of reviews to hit on or near product announcement dates, which flooded the media with mostly positive coverage when product excitement should be highest.
Sony and Atomic organized and pitched a series of announcements, roundtables and briefings, and seeded early (pre-announcement) product with high-priority targets, to unfold the tablet story in the media, and drive sub-spikes of coverage leading up to the launch. Atomic organized a regional Tablet tour in San Francisco and New York to give reporters and key bloggers the opportunity to experience the Tablet firsthand and to speak with product managers directly. Sony and Atomic also took the Tablet directly to consumers and influencers with the #CatchTheTablet social media program (see separate post.)
The Sony Tablet launch was covered in 1,201 articles, generating nearly 1 billion impressions since the August 31 announcement. Many top tier outlets covered the launch, all communicating the product's unique and differentiating qualities effectively. For example, according to WIRED's Michael Calore, "Sony has taken a chance by eschewing the simple slate and going with a more humanizing shape. It's new and unusual, but yet familiar to anyone who's read a magazine at the beach. An admirable choice." A large number stories also carried content about Sony's design prowess and content universe as positives when compared to Apple and Apple's me-too competitors. Atomic's #CatchTheTablet social media campaign was considered by The Next Web to be the most successful social media promotion in SEL history, and a number of other trade press covered the launch.
Check out details here: http://www.atomicpr.com/results/sony-tablet-launch/
The Next Web calls (Atomic's) #CatchTheTablet social media campaign for Sony Tablet S the most successful Sony Electronics product launch in the US
Wednesday, 28 September 2011
According to a recent article on The Next Web, #CatchTheTablet is considered the most successful social media campaign ever implemented by Sony Electronics for a product launch in the US: http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2011/09/26/how-sony-ran-catchthetablet-its-most-successful-social-media-campaign-in-history/.
The concept and name for the #CatchTheTablet social media campaign was conceived at Atomic PR, and Atomic teammates worked alongside the social media team at Sony Electronics to combine Facebook, Twitter and gaming elements to give participating fans in important markets across the United States the opportunity to win a Tablet and increase brand awareness for Sony. The Atomic team built a Facebook tab, which acted as a central hub for campaign efforts. Through the hub, Sony fans could learn about and RSVP for Tablet events in top U.S. markets and use interactive maps to discover exactly where they needed to go in order to "Catch the Tablet." Sony and Atomic social media staffers personally turned up with the Tablet in hand at different locations in five top cities across the country, including New York, Los Angeles, Miami, San Francisco and Chicago.
To enter the contest, fans had to locate the team, take a photograph with the Tablet and tweet it out with the #catchthetablet hashtag. Fans could also head to a Sony Store and photograph the Tablet there. To increase engagement among fans not located in the five cities, fans could go onto Facebook and vote to add their city to the itinerary. Additionally, to help engage fans located outside Catch the Tablet tour stops in top markets, we also provided a virtual way to enter the contest to win a Tablet, by simply submitting your email address to the Facebook tab. Over the two-week campaign, 60 Sony Tablets were distributed to fans participating in the campaign.
Check out more details and complete results here: http://www.atomicpr.com/results/sony-catch-the-tablet/index.php
Atomic awarded two separate 2011 Agency of the Year distinctions from Bulldog Reporter
Thursday, 01 September 2011
Bulldog Reporter has selected Atomic as it's 2011 Bronze Mid-Sized Agency of the Year, and 2011 Silver Tech Agency of the Year - the only agency receiving two honors in the judging. The recognition in the Bulldog Awards especially satisfying because the ranking of agencies is done by journalists, bloggers and other industry influencers as opposed to sheer size of billings or other distinctions. 2011 has been a very strong year for Atomic PR, including our acquisition of the Red Consultancy, San Francisco in February and subsequent rebranding and spin out of sister agency H30, our acquisition by Huntsworth in March, our win of the Sony Electronics account in the US in April, a string of other exciting account wins across mid-size and startup accounts from EyeFi to Shopkick and 30%+ growth overall through the first half of the year. Atomic has also done significant hiring and teambuilding to further enhance our digital/social, and pure consumer and B2B offerings outside of technology related categories. In April of 2010, Atomic was named US Tech Agency of the Year by the Holmes Report, which focused heavily on our use of sophisticated communications analytics to drive strategy and creative, and provide detailed campaign results analysis.
Atomic hires three VPs
Tuesday, 12 July 2011
By Beth Krietsch
June 23, 2011
SAN FRANCISCO: Atomic PR recently added three VPs to its tech and web brand practice. Monica Wik and Sandra Lo join the agency's San Francisco office, and Debbie Etchison joins in Los Angeles.
Wik joins the tech and web brand practice in San Francisco, where she is working alongside a number of Atomic VPs in order to get acclimated with the agency's systems and culture. Starting in mid-July she will begin leading teams on different accounts. Before joining Atomic she worked on Apple's worldwide retail PR team.
Prior to Apple, she worked for a number of years at Sony Computer Entertainment America, where she helped build the company's corporate communications team. She also has agency experience from a position at Blanc & Otus, where she managed several consumer accounts.
Much like Wik, Lo is getting a feel for the agency's culture before she starts joining new accounts and leading teams in mid-July. She previously served as the global communications lead at Adobe, where she led PR and social media programs for the company's digital enterprise solutions, launched products, and led thought leadership campaigns.
Before working at Adobe, Lo managed corporate communications at Salesforce.com and has also worked at Macromedia, where she led global PR and analyst relations.
In Los Angeles, Etchinson will work on the Sony Electronics account, as well as several others. She joins from a VP position at Hill and Knowlton in Washington.
She has also worked as a VP at Weber Shandwick in both New York and Atlanta, where she managed consumer media relations and product launch campaigns. She also has experience as a congressional press secretary, journalist, and documentary filmmaker.
