Business Challenge
Click Commerce planned to launch its WMX warehouse management suite at ProMat 2007, a major materials handling show held in January. Right before the holiday season, Click Commerce decided to add a PR component to the launch, and approached Tech Image to design a media relations campaign to raise awareness with key corporate decision makers at manufacturing and other supply chain companies.
Background
Click Commerce, Inc., a leading provider of on-demand supply chain management solutions, enables millions of users in 70 countries to collaborate, in real time, with business partners across the extended enterprise. Click Commerce solutions support the unique business processes of multiple industry segments such as manufacturing, aerospace and defense, and high-tech. Click Commerce enables corporations including Alaska Airlines, BASF, Citibank, Delphi, Eastman Kodak Company, Jabil Global Services, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Pier 1, Ryder, and Verizon to optimize business processes, generate revenue, lower costs, and improve customer service.
Its range of software solutions has grown to help companies extend their enterprises in all directions. From its origins managing the demand chain, its software-as-a-solution also address the unique needs of the supply chain and the Service Supply Chain. Today, Click Commerce customers benefit from its investments in a Service Oriented Architecture and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID).
Solution
Tech Image leveraged its deep network of local and supply chain media to quickly determine the most influential reporters and editors, regardless of whether they attended the show. Tech Image also worked with Click Commerce Corporate Communications to refine the WMX messaging and value proposition for the media prior to the show, then set up more than a dozen interviews with key editors to promote the WMX launch. The Click Commerce sales team still leverages media reprints of the WMX launch coverage as sales collateral to influence corporate decision-makers.
Results
Coverage generated from the WMX launch at the ProMat Conference appeared in publications, Websites, e-newsletters, and online media channels with a combined print circulation of more than 1 million readers. The highlight of the coverage was a single-focus feature on the WMX launch in the Chicago Sun-Times. Click Commerce was the only company from the more than 750 exhibitors to receive prominent local coverage that reached corporate decision makers at major manufacturing companies throughout the metropolitan Chicago area in the days leading up to the show. The launch profile was the lead story and took up three of the four columns on the front page of the Sun-Times’ business section.
To maximize the value of the campaign, Click Commerce secured reprints of the Sun-Times coverage, which were distributed to prospects at the show. These reprints continue to be used by the Click Commerce sales force as collateral for lead generation efforts as part of their sales acceleration campaign with top prospects.
The WMX Launch was featured in the ProMat Show Daily, which was distributed to the more than 35,000 attendees at the conference. Tech Image was also able to secure coverage in several major trade media outlets whose readership included:
- Management-level personnel involved in corporate purchasing decisions for manufacturers
- Corporate management, operations management, distribution management, and purchasing management professionals at wholesale, retail, manufacturing and 3rd Party Logistics (3PL) providers as well as distribution centers
- Corporate, IT, and operations executives and managers at major manufacturers throughout North America
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"Reprints of the Sun-Times front-page profile of the WMX Launch are still being used by the Click Commerce sales team to reinforce our relevance to manufacturers, distributors and 3PL providers throughout North America. The reprints provide credible third-party reinforcement of the value of WMX, and are useful in educating prospects on the power and relevance of Click Commerce's solutions."
— Melissa Berg-Baker, Click Commerce |
