Destiny Technology

Challenge

Enable Unknown Embedded Technology Supplier to Raise Profile, Sales; Aid Its Customers in Competing Against Hewlett-Packard

  • Destiny Technology was an early stage, engineering-driven company with no previous marketing
  • Non-U.S. management team unfamiliar with PR process
  • Company's image enhancement technology innovative but complex and not media-friendly
  • Company's customers (international printer manufacturers) faced heavy competition from Hewlett-Packard in market reliant upon feature one-upmanship

Approach

  • Acknowledge HP in all communications activities to align Destiny with the leader and shrink perceptual playing field to a two-horse race
  • Prepare various members of management team to be subject matter experts in narrow and confined areas to take advantage of expertise while minimizing communications risk factors
  • Undertake aggressive media training for all spokespeople focusing on sound bites and industry direction rather than “what my product does”
  • Use extensive pre-seeding of technology advancement news with key industry analysts to ensure advocacy in the absence of U.S. customer validation
  • Focus business media relations on “reversal of trade” angle with complex underlying technology acting as supporting points only
  • Use opportunistic, aggressive trade media relations, inserting multiple company spokespeople into various industry issues and news cycles
  • Establish Destiny as expert resource to media, enabling Destiny comment in HP trade media coverage relating to printer technology

Results

  • PR program aided bottom-line business improvement: customer base nearly doubled during relationship with McGrath|Power
  • Destiny became widely recognized as the best available embedded image enhancement technology by the industry analyst community, which in turn improved its business relationships with the majority of international printer manufacturers
  • Media relations program generated extensive and ongoing media coverage from industry trades such as EE Times through which Destiny's management team became spokespersons for the image enhancement industry sector
  • Media relations program provided added value to Destiny customers, who were lauded in print for adopting Destiny ASICs (the “Intel Inside” of the printer industry)
  • Media relations program generated significant business media coverage on reversal of trade angle including Wall Street Journal and a full-length feature in Forbes
  • PR program cited as key driver of desired acquisition of Destiny by Taiwan-based OEM manufacturer