Dear Readers,
Sometimes we are simply outrun by events: On the 11th May this year, together with the management and chief editorship of Informationweek and more than 20 guests at the first Munich MarCom discussion forum, we discussed how key players in the media and communications experts at agencies and in businesses have to adjust to the times in order to find a platform for their messages. And then at the end of June some terrible news reached us that Informationweek and its sister publication Network Computing were to be discontinued from the beginning of July. Two high-quality media publications have unfortunately fallen by the wayside, demonstrating that budget constraints have taken hold, when innovative and individual marketing formats are actually demanded. For us PR managers, whether in agencies or companies, this is a fresh reminder to face up to the constantly changing opportunities and possibilities of the social web every day. We are therefore already looking ahead and planning the next Munich MarCom forum in the fall – as the topic will undoubtedly stay on our minds. You can find more about the MarCom event below.
New thinking requires new heads – and so we have added two new colleagues to the team whom we would like to introduce in this newsletter. In our “Campaign of the Month” section, we present the business blog of IBC SOLAR, a client that is using emerging channels for business communication in these times of media crisis. We also report about the market entry of an American start-up company which supported with PR activities. This example shows what needs to be considered during a launch, whether it is a brand or a product. For our client Cree, we travelled to the Light + Building trade fair in Frankfurt and launched the first German city council meeting. You can find a project report in the newsletter. And of course we have a new “Location Tip” for you, too.
Please feel free to contact me for any feedback on this edition at markus.hermsen@fleishmaneurope.com. I’m looking forward to hearing from you.
Best wishes,
Markus Hermsen
Frankfurt is shining brightly – with Cree LEDs
In April, the bi-yearly Light + Building, the largest trade fair within the lights and architecture field opened its doors in Frankfurt, Germany. This year the fair focused on LED lighting. Thus the event is one of Cree’s highlight events being a provider of LED chips, components and lighting. Chuck Swoboda, CEO at Cree: “Six years ago we were the only exhibitor who displayed LEDs only. This year almost all exhibitors in eleven halls have some LED lighting solutions.” Fleishman-Hillard arranged 15 meetings with journalists at the trade fair, during which Cree informed representatives of trade and economic press about news within its product portfolio and about the latest developments of its LED technology.
With LED lighting being in the spotlight, Cree expanded its LED City Initiative to Germany and hosted its first city council meeting at Light + Building. The LED City program is designed to help cities throughout the world accelerate the adoption of LED lighting to save energy and maintenance cost. At the event in Frankfurt cities and municipalities received a lot of information on street lighting. Fleishman-Hillard supported Cree with planning and organizing of the event, secured German cities as speakers and invited participants from German cities and communities, who are responsible for lighting – with altogether 11,500 communities in Germany this is a task that required complex knowledge of communal structures. Speakers for the event were among others representatives from Flensburg and Bremen. The City of Bremen is the first German member of the LED City Initiative und serves as role model for communities interested in employing LED lighting technologies. The next city council meeting is already planned for this fall and will focusing on the financing of LED projects.
If you are interested in Fleishman-Hillard’s experiences in the area of environmentally friendly technologies, please contact Ortrud Wenzel.
Supporting market entries with communication: Vidyo sets its sights on Germany
A market entry presents diverse communicative challenges: Initially, this lies in making the “newcomer” known to the predefined target groups as quickly as possible within a short space of time. This is particularly recommended, as a business can differentiate from its home country. A continual news flow as well as the development of press contacts is the first step. However, this alone is not enough. It pays to determine a clear position in the market as well as the unique selling points of the business and to present the concrete objectives for the local market. If a business can already point to customer references in the target market, this is clear evidence that the products or services offered meet the needs of the local customers.
Since the end of last year, Fleishman-Hillard in Munich has been in charge of the US start-up Vidyo’s public relations in Germany and Switzerland. The provider of professional videoconferencing solutions is following a completely new technological approach. Its patented technology enables every employee to launch high-quality video conferences from a PC, Mac, notebook or smart phone. High investment in hardware or network infrastructure – a prerequisite of classic videoconference systems – is not necessary.
In order to establish initial ties with important journalists and to spread the potential of the solution, the PR team secured face to face meetings with important journalists in the Munich area. There was at least one speaker on-site, and his colleges were connected via videoconference. The concept of raising the journalists’ interests through a live demonstration of the patented technology was successful: the first coverage of the event swiftly followed. Just after a few weeks, Vidyo registered a growing interest for its solutions in Germany.
Marty Hollander, Senior Vice President of Marketing at Vidyo, acknowledged the importance of being able to measure PR activities: “As a borrowed capital business, we are dependent on the fact that investment is quickly reflected in results. The collaboration with Fleishman-Hillard Munich’s team so far has exceeded our expectations.”
Because of the good experience in working with our office in Munich, Vidyo has also turned to Fleishman-Hillard’s offices in London and Paris for PR support in their regions.
If you are interested in a PR-supported market entry in the DACH region, please contact Robert Belle.
First Marcom Forum in Munich: No room for good content anymore?
With declining advertising budgets and shrinking editorial space the question arises where businesses (and their agencies) can position their content? At the same time, how can publishing houses survive, if there is no business model for digital content?
These questions, among others, were on the agenda of the First Munich Marcom Forum. More than 20 marketing and PR managers from IT, telecommunication and other industries seized the opportunity and followed an invitation from the specialist magazine Informationweek and Fleishman-Hillard who partnered for this dialogue forum.
Heiko Hambrock, head of communications and marketing at TDS AG, was invited as a guest speaker to present the topic from a company’s position. He asked for more flexibility and individual support from publishers: “If we can get formats tailored to our target audiences, we will start to invest more money in advertisements again.”
Jörg Mühle, Managing Director of CMP-WEKA publishing house, appealed to his whole industry to evaluate its business model: “It is still based on traditional full-page four-colour adverts which do not fit into the increasingly fragmented content market where the print media coexists with websites, blogs and social networks.”
Markus Hermsen, Managing Director of Fleishman-Hillard, criticized the silo based thinking which prevents a smooth cooperation between companies, publishers and agencies: “The disciplines are not sufficiently linked. Thus companies are not able to generate well matched marketing and PR campaigns that leave a lasting impression on readers.” All speakers agreed that without good content there is no foundation for adverts, “but without advertisements the space for this content decreases. All of us have to create that space with new and converging formats”, concluded Markus Hermsen.
Within engaged discussions the participants outlined the difficult situation that publishers are in, as well as their company’s advertising requirements. Publishing houses, PR and Marketing teams have to collaborate closely to make valuable contributions for the company’s success.
You’ll find the participant’s statements about the First Marcom Forum in Munich within the multimedia section on the right. Due to the positive feedback the next edition is planned in fall. For more information, please contact Julia Richter.
PR supports growth target of Tata Consultancy Services
The economic crisis that afflicted IT outsourcing providers beginning of 2009 is now responsible for the sector’s revival. Many companies now concentrate on their core business activities and are prepared to source the IT know-how that they need from external experts. Seeing this trend, the German IT and Telco association BITKOM expects a growth in IT services by 2.2 percent up to 33 billion Euros in 2010.
Tata Consultancy Services (TCS), the largest Indian outsourcing provider, plans to use this positive climate and targets high growth within the important German market. Fleishman-Hillard facilitates this plan by arranging high quality interviews with German daily and business media, thus informing potential German customers about TCS’s local strategy. TCS wants its customers to be aware of its portfolio, the underlying know-how and its distribution model.
In preparation for the interviews, Fleishman-Hillard offered a number of media trainings for the company’s spokespeople, among them Sapthagiri Chapalapalli, Director, Central Europe at Tata Consultancy Services. Within these trainings Markus Hermsen and Robert Belle provided important media insights for the speakers. S. Chapalapalli was able to put the learned into practice during a first round of interviews with editors from Munich. The meetings of CEO N. Chandrasekran with Handelsblatt and Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in June resulted in a large article in FAZ which was particularly well received by TCS. The upcoming founding of an innovation center in Düsseldorf as well as the company’s 20th anniversary in Germany should create some more media interest.
Campaign of the month: IBC SOLAR’s blog
Late in May IBC SOLAR and Fleishman-Hillard introduced the company’s Blog. In the first month after the launch 750 people visited the website. They get informed about new posts via IBC SOLAR’s Twitter-Account. For further information and results please check out the PDF at the right hand side.
Please contact Ortrud Wenzel if you’d like to learn more about IBC SOLAR’s blog. For requests around social media please contact Julia Richter.
New employees at Fleishman-Hillard in Munich
Fleishman-Hillard’s Munich office has expanded its team of consultants with two new employees. Linda Patricia Jaram and Jenny Drescher have been supporting the network agency’s Technology Practice Group as Assistant Account Executives with fresh ideas since May 2010.
Linda Jaram gained first experience in PR at the German-Italian Chamber of Commerce in Milan, and at the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Zagreb, Croatia. She holds a Master of Arts degree in History, Political Science and English Literature, and will take charge of clients in the areas of renewable energy and IT infrastructure.
Following an internship as student trainee at the Daimler AG in Esslingen, Jenny Drescher gained first insights into communications for technology companies at PC-Ware Information Technologies AG in Leipzig. As a graduate of Communications and Media Sciences, as well as American Studies, she will be working for Fleishman Hillard’s electronics and telecommunications clients.
Der Pschorr at the traditional market place: Bavarian lifestyle in the heart of Munich
“Live and let live” - this wise saying has tradition in Munich. What better place to witness this way of life than the Munich Viktualienmarkt? There the tavern “Der Pschorr” invites people to escape the hustle and bustle for a while and to enjoy Bavarian Savoir Vivre.
Fleishman-Hillard recently hosted two events at this traditional location. The setting in the heart of Munich’s old town, the connected parking lot and its easy access to underground- and suburban-trains were not the only reasons which convinced us. Our customers, their guests and we were delighted by the professional and warm service, as well as by the outstanding cuisine. Old established residents of Munich and a lot of international guests agree: “Der Pschorr” at the Viktualienmarkt is always worth a visit.
For further information, contact data, menu, pictures, directions and much more (all available in English), visit http://www.der-pschorr.de/english_about.html
You are looking for an event location? No matter if you are looking for a stylish, quaint or simply for a new location: We are ready to find the right one for you. And thanks to the Fleishman-Hillard network we can screen locations in more than 22 countries. Please contact Julia Richter to find out more.
Contact
Fleishman-Hillard Germany GmbH
Markus Hermsen
Herzog-Wilhelm-Straße 26
80331 München
Tel.: +49-(0)89-23 03 16-62
Fax: +49-(0)89-23 03 16-66
markus.hermsen@fleishmaneurope.com
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— Multimedia
Soundbites from the First Marcom Forum in Munich
Chuck Swoboda, CEO of Cree, presents an LED-Kit at the Light + Building trade show
Huge interest in the First Marcom Forum and lots of topics to discuss
Campaign of the Month: IBC SOLAR’s blog
New team members at Fleishman-Hillard in Munich: Linda Jaram (left) and Jenny Drescher
Tavern “Der Pschorr” at Munich’s most lovely market place Viktualienmarkt
