NewComm Collaborative

CORPORATE DIVISION

AN AWARD OF EXCELLENCE GOES TO…DELL OUTLET!

Website: www.delloutlet.com

The Challenge
Dell Outlet has inventory based only on the equipment that is returned to Dell, which therefore can fluctuate quite a bit. When there is a large inventory “bubble” of a particular model, there may be time to generate an e-mail campaign to promote that particular system and generate more demand. However, when the bubble is smaller, the major lever to drive sales has been to lower the price of the overstocked model. The challenge for Dell Outlet was to figure out a way to generate more traffic and greater demand for their products.

The Ingenious Proposal
Dell Outlet came up with the idea that Twitter, a social networking and micro blogging service, may be a solution to the challenges presented, by offering Twitter-specific promotions and featured products. The goals were: 1. To drive increased traffic, and thus increased demand for particular products for which Dell Outlet has inventory greater than desired levels. 2. To grow the pool of Dell Outlet’s Twitter followers to the point where it is sizable enough to have an impact on specific demand-generation postings. 3. To increase the visibility of Dell Outlet within the community of Twitter users and hence the share of mind and likelihood of Twitter users to consider Dell Outlet for their next technology purchase. By connecting with this group of potential customers that are likely to influence others who are not as technical or connected to social media, there may be a possibility of also influencing others beyond Twitter.

The Call
Dell Outlet’s Twitter strategy revolves around regularly posting special Twitter-only offers or highlighting great deals currently available on www.twitter.com/delloutlet. Launched in early June, Dell Outlet currently has nearly 300 individual subscribers (followers) and hopes to continue to expand that base. When a new tweet is posted, it generally directs followers to their Dell Outlet landing page for Twitter at www.delloutlet.com/twitter. There the Twitter-only promotion will appear only for the time period during which the offer is valid – typically until 11:59pm Central that evening. After that point, visitors are invited to become followers of Dell Outlet on Twitter. Furthermore, on Dell Outlet’s Home & Home Office customer homepage, they have featured a similar invitation to subscribe to their Twitter postings at www.delloutlet.com/home. The tools used for Dell Outlet’s Twitter strategy are Dell Outlet’s web site and Twitter page. Ricardo Guerrero led the development of strategy for Dell Outlet to use Twitter as a marketing vehicle and set up all the web pages and Twitter presence, while his colleague Stefanie Nelson has been responsible for maintaining those pages and creating the actual tweets, with an attempt to post at least once every other week. Dell Outlet’s Twitter has linked to Dell’s Direct2Dell blog, which is also posting its headlines on Twitter, and is currently in discussions to develop a strategy with other teams within Dell to create a unified Twitter presence.

The Success Story
For approximately the first month and a half of Dell Outlet’s Twitter campaign, Dell Outlet tracked growth of followers as well as daily traffic metrics to the www.delloutlet.com/twitter page. Specifically, by tracking traffic to this page on the days that offers were posted to Twitter, a rough response rate to each posting could be calculated. Further, the actual utilization of each coupon code can also be tracked. The Twitter campaign was very successful, and Dell Outlet will continue to utilize this form of promotion in the future.

CORPORATE DIVISION, OTHER CATEGORY

AN AWARD OF EXCELLENCE GOES TO…GENERAL MOTORS!

Website: www.gm.com

The Challenge
General Motors (GM) faces a perception of being a company that is behind the times and not keeping up with what consumers want. To overcome this perception, GM has recognized the need to move away from the traditional approach to communicating with the public, and has sought new ways to connect with their desired audience.

The Ingenious Proposal
GM decided to create a core social media team and tasked them with goals to overcome certain perceptions of GM’s public through the use of social media, establish a firm and respected presence in the blogosphere, establish a trustworthy and respected presence on social media sites, and increase company involvement in social media. GM has a wide and varied audience that it must build relationships with. With this new social media team, GM is focusing on gaining the interest, trust and respect of a younger audience who may perceive GM to be a car company dedicated to people from older generations.

The Call
GM created a core team of individuals whose sole responsibility is to work with social media. The team is comprised of four individuals who coordinate employee education and corporate involvement in social media, and actively participate in blogs, podcasts and social networks. The company uses three public relations firms to assist in some of the team’s necessary legwork and to provide insight on how to best utilize social media. GM has established a firm presence in the blogosphere through the use of corporate blogs. GM currently maintains two corporate blogs: Fastlane (focused on vehicles) and FYI (focused on auto-related issues). GM uses these blogs to communicate with consumers and get their input. Bob Lutz, GM’s VP of Global Product Development, has often posted written and video responses to bloggers’ comments and questions on the blog. In addition to the blogs, GM frequently invites and hosts social media (bloggers, podcasters, social network users) at GM events and allows them access to various executives for interviews, Q&A, etc. GM recently hosted a group of social media users from Facebook, MySpace and Flickr at an iconic event in Michigan that celebrates classic cars from around the world. These guests not only attended the event itself, but also were taken on tours of various GM sites, were included in media-only events, and had the chance to talk about their experiences on the various social networks they represented. One of the traditional media outlets in Michigan interviewed two of the guests about why GM brought them out; thus, further highlighting how social media enhances the reach of traditional media. To further entrench themselves on social networks, members of the social media team often start and join in on discussions on these sites. The team wants to position GM on these sites to create dialogue, not sell product. The social media team at GM also hosts employee education classes to show employees what social media is and how they can best use it to support their business purposes.

The Success Story
Here are some comments from bloggers and other social media users that demonstrate the effectiveness of the social media team’s work: I recently was flown down to Detroit, courtesy of General Motors and toured their headquarters and even got to shake hands with some high up executives. “Let me tell you that was a real experience. Their facilities are gorgeous. If anyone out there is looking at purchasing a new vehicle seriously consider a GM” (Facebook user who attended a GM event). “I must say thank you for responding to so many of us, including myself" (visitor’s comment from the Fastlane blog after receiving a response to an inquiry). “Thanks for the responses. It’s nice to know that the comments are taken seriously and that people at GM are open to change and improvement” (blog comment).

AN AWARD OF EXCELLENCE GOES TO…THE SCUDERI GROUP!

Website: www.scuderigroup.com

The Challenge
The Scuderi Group is an engine development company of fluid and thermodynamic experts focused on improving the performance of the internal combustion engine. As a start-up with a revolutionary new approach to the design of the combustion engine, the Scuderi Group faced a communications challenge. The company needed to convince key influencers in the automotive market that an engineering design that hadn’t fundamentally changed in over a century could be radically altered in a way that would dramatically improve fuel efficiency while sharply cutting harmful emissions. The company needed to raise awareness, understanding, and acceptance of the revolutionary Scuderi Air-Hybrid Engine technology among a skeptical audience of Automotive industry influencers and potential investors in a crowded and difficult market.

The Ingenious Proposal
The Scuderi Group asked Topaz Partners, a PR firm, to help them address the challenge. A guiding philosophy at Topaz Partners is that Web 2.0 and traditional media outreach are not mutually exclusive when it comes to public relations. The goal in this campaign was to use social media tools and resources to gain wider visibility among traditional automotive and engineering media outlets for the Scuderi Group. These traditional media outlets, in turn would help to promote their Web 2.0 initiatives, creating a PR “loop effect” that would generate significantly more visibility together than as separate initiatives.

The Call
The solution to this communications challenge consisted of two key elements: information and distribution. Information: the Scuderi Group enlisted the services of one of the world’¢s top engineering research firms, Southwest Research, to study the engine design and to generate technical data about the engine that would be of key interest to engineers. The Scuderi Group worked with Sonalyst Inc. to produce a top quality, highly informative series of videos about the engine’s theory of operation and design. The Scuderi Group’s president, Sal Scuderi, is an engineer by training, with an exceptional ability to speak about the Scuderi Air-Hybrid technology in clear terms both to engineering professionals, automotive reporters, and laymen. Distribution: Topaz Partners leveraged Web 2.0 tools and resources to distribute the company’s information and message across a targeted audience at low cost. AirHybridBlog.com was launched to promote Scuderi Group news and events, as well as related automotive and environmental news and is updated on a regular basis. Audio interviews with Scuderi executives are produced as Podcasts on a regular basis. Scuderi focused on news-driven topics as well as design issues, and distributed them via AirHybridblog.com. Monthly e-mails were sent to a list of over 1,000 key automotive industry influencers and journalists, which includes the latest company news and links back to Airhybridblog.com. Sonalyst-produced videos were posted to YouTube, and distributed via Scuderi’s dedicated YouTube Channel at www.youtube.com/scuderigroup. Videos were also promoted through company blog and e-mails. Media releases were sent to key automotive and engineering reporters, distributed over wire services, and posted on AirHybridBlog.com. Reporters and editors were contacted about The Scuderi Group as news and editorial opportunities warranted.

The Success Story
Topaz Partners’ integrated approach to public relations, utilizing both mainstream and social media tools and resources, created the media “loop effect” that they intended: Airhybridblog has generated more than 70,000 page views; The Scuderi Podcast generates up to 55 downloads a day. Views of company’s “Theory of Operation” video on YouTube have surged to over 100,000, and continue to increase. Scuderi YouTube videos are embedded into mainstream media online stories, increasing views and visibility. The Scuderi Group has received coverage in Wired News, Public Radio’s Marketplace, NPR’s All Things Considered, Forbes, and Motor Trend, among others. Pertinent news stories and videos are promoted on both AirHybridblog and www.scuderigroup.com for additional distribution. Scuderi news stories and company videos are posted on social bookmarking websites, including Digg and Techcrunch, generating further visibility. Subscriptions to the Scuderi newsletter have surpassed 1,200. Topaz Partners’ conclusion is this: When it comes to social media and public relations, the sum is greater than the individual parts. Social media (including podcasts, blogs and videos) and traditional PR efforts are most effective and most powerful when used together as part of a coordinated strategy.

AN AWARD OF MERIT GOES TO…INFOSYS TECHNOLOGIES!

Website: www.infosys.com

The Challenge
The challenge was to create a platform for employees of the organization where they could communicate with senior management. Top-down communication usually occurred through mailings, which were impersonal in nature. If employees had questions they wanted to pose to senior management, they were unable to do so directly. Another challenge was how to manage the scale of such a solution, since it would be open to all 70,000+ of Infosys global employees.

The Ingenious Proposal
Infosys created Ask Kris, a monthly interactive column between Infosys employees and the CEO of Infosys Technologies, S. Gopalakrishnan. With Ask Kris, employees get an opportunity to ask questions to S. Gopalakrishnan directly about a range of issues/topics. In addition to achieving the main objective, facilitating communication of the employees with senior management, the aim was also to add a personal touch to the communication, so that employees felt more connected to senior management. The idea was to make senior management more approachable, yet manage the magnitude.

The Call
With the monthly column Ask Kris, a CEO corner has been created. Employees can now pose their questions or concerns on any issues to the CEO directly through the company’s intranet, Sparsh. The questions window is open for a week. During this time, the questions can be read on Sparsh. Once the submissions window closes, all the questions are displayed on Sparsh till the time the answers are published. Employees are also encouraged to send in their suggestions and opinions to Internal Communications. The replies to the questions are collated through extensive research and by getting input from various Infosys teams. Kris himself reviews the final draft. The answers are then published and displayed on Sparsh till the next cycle of questions is launched.

The Success Story
In the first edition (June 2007), questions were classified under various themes like- Infrastructure, Salary/Compensation Review, Utilization, The Road Ahead, Recruitment, Employee Welfare, Managing Competition, Policy, Environmental Concerns, The Personal Journey and Others. Due to overwhelming response, a new voting and rating option was introduced for the July edition to enable Infoscions to vote for the question they wanted answered. The top 10 questions were then selected and answered. This initiative was taken by the Internal Communications team, along with the Sparsh team and the IS team of Infosys Technologies. The July edition saw 200 questions pouring in representing participation through the voting system by 2000 Infoscions. There were over 1000 hits per day with employees across units viewing the answers. Ask Kris has seen tremendous participation from employees within the entire organization. It has provided a platform for employees to voice their queries and concerns and get them addressed by the CEO. With Ask Kris, senior management has become more approachable to Infoscions. Employees now get a feeling that their concerns are not just being heard, but are also being addressed in the best possible way.