PR Case Studies
Here are examples of the public relations solutions G2Comm has provided for healthcare, healthcare-related and technology clients.
Healthcare
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The Client: Eden Medical Center -- Castro Valley and San Leandro, CA
— A not-for-profit community hospital and an affiliate of Sutter Health, serving South Alameda County
The ChallengeBefore G2Comm arrived on the scene, Eden Medical Center was beset by negative press coverage of labor union strikes, disgruntled physicians from its sister hospital, and controversy over Eden’s plans to build a seismically safe replacement hospital from scratch. Although the hospital did damage control when reporters called and seminars were held to educate the public, follow-up coverage was spotty and opportunities to counteract controversial news with positive stories were slipping through the cracks.
The Public Relations Strategy/SolutionG2Comm jumped in to fill those cracks by building an image campaign with the purpose of restoring enthusiasm, trust and confidence from the communities served by the hospital, as well as instilling pride among hospital staff. We mobilized the staff to identify news opportunities, wrote press releases, counseled hospital spokespersons on media interviews, and arranged for two local newspaper groups to publish health columns which G2Comm wrote for physicians and specialists affiliated with Eden.
The ResultsBy increasing the number of monthly press releases and feature story pitches, and using its well-worn rolodex of regional and medical press contacts, G2Comm produced an average of seven to eight positive stories and health columns per month in daily and weekly newspapers and TV stations. G2Comm’s ghost-written columns, which were met enthusiastically by physicians, won reader loyalty, brought in new patients and helped fill community seminars. One ob-gyn received so many calls from patients who read her health columns that she had to refer the overflow to colleagues. We also convinced the local ABC affiliate to produce two segments about the hospital that ran within a week of each other. One of those segments focused on EdenFit, a supervised fitness program for elderly and post-op patients, and yielded 110 inquiries and 40 new members.
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The Client: Sutter Medical Center Castro Valley — Castro Valley, CA
— A not-for-profit community hospital being built to replace Eden Medical Center by 2013
The ChallengeSutter Health was funding the construction of a new hospital to replace its aging 55-year-old hospital, Eden Medical Center. Its communication goal was to convince surrounding communities and government agencies to support and approve plans to build the new hospital, one that, although smaller, would vastly improve patient care through its new design, technologies and expanded capabilities.
The Public Relations Strategy/SolutionG2Comm helped design and launch a social media program to mobilize the communities of southern Alameda County, to build advocacy and to support construction of the new hospital. G2Comm conducted surveys to gauge community understanding of social media, provided market research, and carried out strategies for increasing online participation to the SMCCV blog and social networks. Through the blog, G2Comm worked with members of the hospital planning team and trained them to blog about the complexity of hospital construction, from architecture to interior technologies to civil engineering processes, as well as government agency compliance. We also helped establish and maintain social network connections, regularly posting on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn, thus generating followers through constant online community group communications and dialogs on the building progress. We recruited physicians and hospital administration to be guest bloggers and to comment on posts. We also successfully publicized the social media project in Bay Area newspapers and trade publications.
The ResultsThe development of the social media program helped win approvals from the requisite local and county government agencies to build the hospital, which is currently under construction. The program was featured as a successful example of a non-profit social media campaign in "Twitterville," a book by industry luminary Shel Israel. The project also won an award from the Society for New Communications Research in the External Communications & Communities category (2009) and was a winning example for the Hospital Council of California’s social media seminar. The project also ranked among the Top Ten Hospitals on Twitter.
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The Client: Adobe Animal Hospital — Los Altos, CA
— A full service animal hospital established in 1964
The ChallengeAdobe was leaving its roots and its crowded digs in downtown Los Altos, to move into a new building in a high traffic area, replete with the newest technologies, services and procedures. The pet hospital wanted to attract new customers from the north Peninsula but had relied mostly on word of mouth. The vets were wary of PR and gaining a slick corporate image.
The Public Relations Strategy/SolutionG2Comm won over staff, raised excitement among current clients and helped attract new clients through news creation, education and story development strategies. We publicized Adobe’s pre-opening, which drew over 700 people (and their pets), and ran a “pet hospital of the 21st century” campaign, which generated local and regional print, broadcast and online media. Although regional media were already running myriad pet stories we convinced editors to publish columns from the Adobe vets about clinical issues. We also turned seized opportunities to turn new procedures and patient cases into compelling stories for the press.
The ResultsAdobe has been profiled on major TV stations and is regularly featured in the San Francisco Chronicle and San Jose Mercury, with positive coverage appearing every month in local and regional media. G2Comm has also helped increase activity on Adobe’s Facebook Fan Page, where clients routinely comment on the articles, turning coverage into viral branding. The vets have been wagging their tails over all the positive coverage, and G2Comm’s contract has been extended indefinitely.
Healthcare-Related
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The Client: Jocoto Advertising Inc. — San Francisco, CA
— A healthcare-related branding/advertising agency, serving the medical device and life sciences industries
The ChallengeJocoto was definitely distinctive and edgy in its branding campaigns for its medical device clients, who, being in a highly regulated industry, were typically conservative. Looking at the campaigns the agency created for its clients, one knew that Jocoto was different. But when it came to differentiating its own company, Jocoto tended to use the same language as its competitors. G2Comm had to find new words to promote the agency’s uniqueness.
The Public Relations Strategy/SolutionG2Comm developed a platform about the conservative notions of branding in the medical device industry countered with Jocoto’s unique approach. G2Comm’s strategy focused on articulating branding pitfalls in the industry and how Jocoto’s proven approach helped its clients increase sales leads and revenues, presenting this story via news generation, case studies and ghost-written bylined articles appearing in biotech and other trade publications.
The ResultsThe steady coverage helped Jocoto stand out as a branding expert in its industry and the PR campaign coincided with the surge in new business.
Technology
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The Client: TIDAL Software -- Palo Alto, CA
— A technology company producing operations software whose products manage large business applications (now a part of Cisco Systems, Inc.)
The ChallengeTIDAL Software faced the daunting challenge of being a small player in a legacy market and garnering little attention from the press. The privately held company had very little chance of getting traditional product and news stories in business and trade journals. G2Comm had to find another way to grab the attention of the media and TIDAL’s prospects.
The Public Relations Strategy/SolutionG2Comm focused on leveraging the company’s other, less traditional PR assets, one of which turned out to be its CEO. Thomas Charlton had not only turned the company’s financials around and its culture from lackluster to high-performing, but he was also hitting the boxing ring on nights and weekends. We established a connection between Charlton's prowess in the boxing ring and his ability to "fight" for TIDAL's success. Over the course of a few months, stories and profiles about Thomas Charlton appeared in numerous publications, including The New York Times, and Inc. (the cover story), Business Week, and Chief Executive magazines, as well as on TV.
The ResultsThe press that the CEO’s story generated stamped a vivid and lasting image in the media and raised enough confidence from prospects to choose TIDAL’s products over giant competitors. Employee morale also got a boost. That year, the company attained the biggest revenue results in its history, winning away 90% of new deals from such behemoths as IBM and Computer Associates. TIDAL Software also became the fastest-growing vendor in its market segment.
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The Client: Escalate, Inc. -- Redwood Shores, CA
— a retail order management and e-commerce software company
The ChallengeWhen Escalate brought G2Comm on it was starting its PR program from scratch. The product category, automated order management for retailers, was not exactly destined for the pages of The Wall Street Journal … or was it?
The Public Relations Strategy/SolutionG2Comm worked in partnership with Escalate’s marketing team and came up with an e-commerce story about integrated multi-channel retailers outselling their brick-and-mortar counterparts, with Escalate’s product as the integration linchpin. That story became the basis of Escalate’s PR campaign and G2Comm found every possible venue to communicate that story. We generated stories on trends that appeared in such retail trades as STORES, Chain Store Age and Internet Retailer. We developed bylined articles for the CEO and CIO, as well as customer case studies that also appeared in the trade journals, and arranged speaking engagements at industry shows and on radio talk shows. We also landed the consummate multi-channel retail story in The Wall Street Journal.
The ResultsThe intensive PR program generated more customer leads than any of the other marketing programs, according to the VP of marketing, and the constant awareness helped Escalate meet its acquisition goal.
