The Trust for Public Land: From Hollywood to Save The Peak

The Trust for Public Land (TPL) is a national, nonprofit, land conservation organization that conserves land for people to enjoy as parks, community gardens, historical sites, rural lands, and other natural places, ensuring livable communities for generations to come. For the past several years, The Trust for Public Land has sought to acquire Cahuenga Peak, a 138-acre parcel of land located directly adjacent to the Hollywood Sign in the Santa Monica Mountains, from private land developers whose aim is to build luxury housing on the peak. Through an agreement with the land owners of Cahuenga Peak, TPL was given an exclusive option until April 2010 to purchase the land for $12.5 million. If the campaign failed, the land would be sold to the highest bidder. If successful in raising the funds, Cahuenga Peak would be donated to the City of Los Angeles and made into an extension of Griffith Park.

In mid-2009, with less than one year until TPL's exclusive option expired, Atomic was brought on board to drive media and public awareness to Cahuenga Peak, as well as TPL's integral involvement in the campaign to save the land from development.

A ComContext analysis of historical media and blog coverage of TPL and other land conservation related non-profits clearly identified the most important journalists covering the space, surfaced the topics most actively being followed, profiled the media dialog around various land conservation projects, and suggested gaps in coverage and content that TPL could potentially fill. Armed with that information, Atomic sought to raise the campaign's profile by driving awareness through a multi-tiered media program across the local and national level, leveraging partnerships with notable figures to maximize the urgency of the campaign, educating local communities and the general public about Cahuenga Peak, driving visibility and recognition for campaign donors through creative events and broadening recognition of TPL's tenure as the leading non-profit organization conserving public land nationally.

Atomic's Digital Ops team sought to raise Cahuenga Peak's online presence during the campaign with the creation of a microsite, SaveHollywoodLand.org, intended to feed up-to-date information on the campaign and accept donations from the public.

The microsite also hosted blog posts from various celebrities and political supporters of the campaign, including Dame Elizabeth Taylor, LA City Councilman Tom LaBonge, James Kyson Lee (NBC's Heroes) and many others. Additionally, Atomic utilized social media networks by setting up a "Save Cahuenga Peak" Facebook page, Twitter page and Flickr page.

Within one week of the campaign launch, over $1 million dollars were received via the microsite and directly mailed donations. Within two weeks, the "Save Cahuenga Peak" Facebook page had gone from several dozen fans to over 19,000 fans.

Atomic, in conjunction with TPL, realized that the best way to garner attention to the plight of Cahuenga Peak was to utilize its iconic neighbor: the Hollywood Sign. With the support of Los Angeles Councilman Tom LaBonge, Atomic and TPL came up with an eye-catching stunt that entailed covering the Hollywood Sign with a banner that read, "Save The Peak". The banner unveiling coincided with the campaign launch date.

The campaign launch announcement, along with the covering of the Hollywood Sign, sparked a media frenzy. Within a week of the launch, the campaign received coverage in all the major media outlets including: the Yahoo! launch page, The Ellen Show, Associated Press, USA Today, New York Times, BBC, CNN, NPR, Access Hollywood, all major national morning shows and over 780 additional broadcast and print placements.

Atomic drove partnership efforts with Tiffany & Co Foundation, which donated over $ 1 million dollars to the campaign as well as the Getty family, which contributed an undisclosed amount. Lastly, Atomic solidified celebrity campaign ambassadors such as Julia Louis-Dreyfus (CBS's New Adventures of Old Christine), John Slattery (AMC's Mad Men), Julian McMahon (FX's Nip/Tuck), Aisha Tyler (FOX's 24), Tippi Hedren, Katherine Morris (CBS's Cold Case), Bryan Cranston (AMC's Breaking Bad), Beau Garrett (Fantastic Four) and many others.

On April 26th, 2010, The Trust for Public Land held a press conference announcing a $900,000 donation from Playboy Founder, Hugh Hefner and that it raised the $12.5 million needed to save Cahuenga Peak from development. The announcement and press conference received coverage in a diverse array of large media outlets including: CNN, National Public Radio, Extra!, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Guardian (UK) and the cover of Variety magazine.

In total, the "Save The Peak" campaign garnered over 8,000 online and print articles and 5,939 mentions on broadcast television and raised a total amount of $12.5 million.

As a result of this campaign, Cahuenga Peak will be donated to the city of Los Angeles, which will in turn, make it a part of Griffith Park.

Callidus

Callidus initially hired Atomic 4 ½ years ago to build awareness of the business-level benefits of Enterprise Incentive Management (EIM), increase coverage volume and build stronger ongoing media programs.

Since then, Atomic has helped Callidus to dominate the dialog in that category, then create and commandeer most of the dialog in the larger category of Sales Performance Management (SPM) and successfully enter the SaaS marketplace. Callidus executives are now regularly interviewed and cited as expert sources across the trades (banking, insurance, telco, technology) and mainstream media on corporate compensation topics.

Our research helped Atomic gain insights that led to the creation of a "bridging the gap" positioning across the larger CRM (customer relationship management) and ERP (enterprise resource planning) by creating a new one: Sales Performance Management (SPM), into which analysts and competitors soon followed. SPM is now an established category with clear benefits for business performance.

• Achieved a 600% increase in media coverage from 2005 to 2006 and sustained coverage momentum with ongoing 15%+ quarterly.
  
  
• At end of most recently completed quarter:
  
  
  • Callidus commanded 50% of all coverage in its market in terms of article count, with its nearest competitor at 27%. Mentions in blog posts also stands at double that of the nearest competitor
    
    
  • 80% of Callidus coverage was feature or mid-length vs. 35% for its closest coverage volume competitor
    
    
• Perception of Callidus has evolved from a traditional enterprise software company to an innovative player in SaaS
  
  
• Callidus executives are now positioned at the forefront of corporate compensation issues, ranging from the bank bailout to the financial crisis, through interviews with ABC and CNN Radio, BusinessWeek, FORTUNE, Wall Street Journal and many other influential business publications
  
  
• Established Callidus as thought leader through tip articles and industry opinion pitches and buyer urgency through customer stories and contributed content in trade verticals
  
  
• Placed Michael Lewis, author of Moneyball, at the company's yearly user conference, where he spoke on the importance of incentives over star power in building teams
  
  

Atomic relaunches Polaroid at CES 2010

History

Across several generations, people have embraced Polaroid® as one of the most trusted, well-respected and recognizable names when it comes to instant photography. In recent years, Polaroid has expanded into digital cameras, a line of instant digital products, flat panel televisions, portable DVD players, digital photo frames, digital HD camcorders, waterproof digital cameras and more.

Under new ownership, Polaroid emerged from bankruptcy in mid-2009. After a lengthy review, Atomic PR was hired in Q4 2009 to manage communications, beginning with the re-launch of the iconic Polaroid brand in January 2010 at the Consumer Electronics show. According to Polaroid, Atomic was selected for the agency's fundamental understanding of the Polaroid brand and its desired direction, mix of classical and digital media capabilities and growing track record in bringing aggressive, start-up style energy to sizeable brands.

Strategy & key initiatives

The agency recommended a 5-point strategy for the re-launch:

1.  Positioning and umbrella messages:

• Polaroid is a brand that's made the world smile for more than 50 years
• Polaroid products are fun, simple and very affordable
• In 2010, Polaroid begins the evolution of instant; bringing Polaroid style, fun and instant gratification to the digital experience
• Despite a series of board room issues, the Polaroid brand remains a leader in all its core markets and enjoys the same worldwide recognition and affection as other household names like Nike, McDonald's and Apple

2.  A focus on 3 primary Polaroid stories:

• The rebirth of the Polaroid brand with new ownership, new capital, a new business model and a group of world class partners
• The naming of Lady Gaga as creative director for a new line of Polaroid products
• Announcement of Polaroid's product roadmap for 2010 and beyond

3.  Star power

The agency recommended engaging relevant celebrities to represent the Polaroid story and add additional excitement to both CES and the ongoing communications program afterwards. The agency worked alongside Polaroid and talent and entertainment marketing agency William Morris Endeavor (WME) to come up with a range of potential talent who might make sense. Ultimately, WME and Polaroid were able to come to an agreement with international music superstar, Lady Gaga, who along with her own creative and design team, Haus of Gaga, will design a special line of Polaroid products for which she will serve as creative director. WME and Polaroid were also able to engage the participation of other celebrities including Rohan Marley, Josie Maran and celebrity portrait photographer Maurizio Galimberti, who shoots on and makes unique works on Polaroid instant film.

4.  Pre-launch education: Polaroid then and now.

In order to focus attention on Polaroid's present and future at CES, Atomic felt it was important to reset the context of the company's turbulent recent years by engaging business media prior to CES with a brief history lesson. The retrospective was intended to draw a clear distinction between Polaroid's business/legal complications and its ability to maintain share in key product markets, as well as its position as one of the world's best known and best loved brands, despite a string of board room difficulties. Pre-show communications with media, gadget bloggers and grassroots Polaroid fan sites and blogs were conducted to create separation between past business issues and the brand's future, and to reinforce Polaroid's unique positioning as a fun, simple and reasonably priced brand in order to avoid "apples to oranges" comparisons of Polaroid and its products with high-end camera brands and products also exhibiting at CES.

5.  Showtime: an integrated mix of classical PR, events and social media.

Media strategy included segmenting media and bloggers by story angle and lead time, and engaging in active dialog with a worldwide community of Polaroid artists and fan sites/bloggers. News and image distribution were anchored by a Polaroid@CES microsite providing media, bloggers and any other interested parties with updates, video and media assets covering events as they happened. Event activities included gifting of Polaroid products to influencers, two press conferences, a special, in-booth appearance by Lady Gaga to talk about her involvement with Polaroid and in-booth celebrity photo sessions conducted by Polaroid artist Maurizio Galimberti. A Twitter feed kept followers up to date on new developments, and the entire mix was supported by on the ground Atomic PR staff presence to assist media in engaging with Polaroid spokespeople at the company's booth.

Results

CES show producers noted that Polaroid was among the top 10 news stories coming out of CES. The brand received nearly 800,000,000 impressions across broadcast, print and digital media, with nearly all journalists and bloggers highlighting that Lady Gaga and new "instant" products will mark the next chapter to Polaroid's long history in pop culture.

The vast majority of coverage about the Polaroid brand was positive, often enthusiastic, and largely future looking. Product coverage fared in much the same way. And the worldwide community of Polaroid fan sites and blogs welcomed the range of Polaroid news warmly.

Coverage noted that the partnership with Lady Gaga was one way in which Polaroid will seek to inspire its licensees and consumers alike to help move the brand into the future. As for the new line of digital and classic instant products, consumer and technology reporters caught onto Polaroid's vision of embracing the comeback of iconic Polaroid cameras while pushing new instant digital products to the next generation of fans.

Broadcast coverage spanned national news programs on CNN, NBC, NPR, Bloomberg and FOX; popular national programs such as Access Hollywood, E! News, The Daily 10, The Jay Leno Show, Saturday Night Live and Extra; as well as a number of major local market affiliates across the country. Atomic also secured an exclusive interview between Lady Gaga and CNBC to discuss the partnership at length. The network heavily promoted the interview throughout the day and aired it on its popular programs, Power Lunch and Closing Bell, then distributed it to all of the NBC stations in their network.

The Polaroid story was very popular with print and online media as well, with major stories appearing in Los Angeles Times, Washington Post, Boston Herald, Boston Globe, San Francisco Chronicle, New York Post, USAToday.com, WSJ.com, MiamiHerald.com, Brandweek, Entertainment Weekly, PCMag.com, Nylon, MTV.com, Engadget, TWICE, Huffington Post, BestWeekEver.com, Parade, CNet, CNNMoney.com, People.com, Huliq.com, TMCNet and Macsimum News among others. Interest in the news carried over to international press, reaching a number of European outlets including Observer, Daily Star, Daily Telegraph, Examiner, Financial Times, Mirror and OK! Magazine among others.

The level of media and blogger engagement with the Polaroid re-launch story has continued at a steady pace after the show with requests for leadership interviews and product information on a global scale.

Verizon: Doubling the PR signal for the northern California region of America's leading wireless network

Verizon engaged Atomic to continue to build upon its reputation as the largest and most reliable US mobile network, and to increase coverage in key topical areas across business and consumer outlets, as well as related blogs. ComContext research clearly identified the most important media and bloggers following the mobile industry, surfaced the topics most actively being followed, profiled the dialog specifically around the iPhone, and suggested gaps in coverage and content that Verizon could potentially fill.

Armed with that information, Atomic pursued a multi-level media relations effort across all relevant media and blogs using new Verizon phone launches to appeal to different consumer lifestyles and media touch points, by localizing story angles and offering insights on the latest developments in mobile technologies (navigation, mobile applications, broadband access improvements, Hands Free Law), and through a series of creative events and experiences that bring the Verizon experience to life.

Ingres: a new rising star in database and open source

Ingres, the leader in open source database technology, and the #2 open source brand signed Atomic in early 2008 to increase awareness of the company in both the database and open source communities.

ComContext analysis clarified coverage volumes, topics, themes and sources in the media and blogosphere on both the database and open source fronts. In addition, analytics were used to break down the content architecture and requirements for stories in key target media that the company had been unable to penetrate thus far.

Atomic and Ingres then created positioning, messaging and a portfolio of key themes and stories we collectively felt were aligned well with historical interest, connection to current events and projections of what might be interesting in the near term future. Central themes to the content strategy was the illumination of Ingres as the quiet #2 contender in open source and an increasingly viable option alongside or versus Oracle in the enterprise.

The agency also worked with the Ingres team to expand the company's blogging efforts, adding two bloggers to the existing one, creating a yearlong editorial calendar aligned with themes and trends surfaced by ComContext, configuring dashboards to assist the bloggers in easily tracking daily news for potential comment, and providing ongoing editorial support to help the bloggers select topics and post frequently.

The combined results increased Ingres's total media and blog coverage volume by more than 200%+, and its blog traffic by more than 40% within the first six months of execution. In the last quarter of 2008 and throughout early 2009, numerous top tier journalists contacted Ingres bloggers directly after following the content and commentary in the new Ingres blog, resulting in half a dozen pieces in highly influential business outlets.

Notably, after deciding to adopt a strong Atomic recommendation regarding information architecture, Ingres gained significant traction in open source and business coverage next to Red Hat. This week, as we complete this post and after launching a new and more directly confrontational communications initiative introducing "The New Economics of IT", promoting the economics of Ingres and the open source value proposition vs. Oracle in the enterprise, the company received a burst of top business and tech media attention hailing the company and its partners as an increasingly viable challenge to Oracle's licensed software model.