A Media Blitz To Promote Advanced Manufacturing

The inventor with his invention: Hadi-Khan Mahabadi, who holds several patents on this giant Xerox printing press for customized high quality printing, holds up a photo of himself printed on this machine.

CLIENT

An early-stage business incubator.

PROBLEM

Our client was an early-stage incubator established by the Ontario government to help research, innovate and commercialize technology in four industries: Advanced Manufacturing, Aerospace, Life Sciences and Emerging Technology. Most of its services are free to entrepreneurs. But it had trouble attracting media coverage of its services and events for start-ups despite helping 200 entrepreneurs commercialize their businesses, and 46 per cent of them met investors through the venture.

Since the centre is also responsible for generating positive media coverage of its work, it needed help.

One program, aimed at advanced manufacturers rather than start-ups, was implemented in spring 2012 and consisted of six monthly half-day sessions sponsored by some of Canada’s best-known advanced manufacturers.

OPPORTUNITY

The client contacted us when the seminar program was about one-third completed. To obtain positive media coverage for the balance of the program, we conducted a 90-day media blitz aimed at technical, scientific and manufacturing publications and websites.

DELIVERABLES

We created a robust list of relevant Canadian publications and websites. We wrote a media advisory, inviting reporters to attend the balance of the seminars. Many expressed interest but could not attend due to scheduling conflicts or a lack of budget.

Given that industry and trade publications operate on very tight budgets, we were able to get editors to publish “hand-out” articles if they were written in a straightforward, journalistic style. We also sent photos of the events, making it easy for publications to receive quality content.

RESULTS

We obtained seven sizable articles for the client. Stories appeared in the following media: Design Product News, Electronic Products & Technology, CTV, The Globe and Mail‘s Small Business website, The Brampton Business Times, and The Mississauga Business Times. It was more coverage than the centre ever received for an event.