STRONG PR EXECUTION UNCOVERS BURIED GOLD

A PR campaign that truly fortifies the brand of a product often begets more opportunities, many of which can’t be predicted.

Media consolidation and layoffs, in addition to a variety of media outlets going under, has made getting the attention of editors a more difficult task than ever before. In this current media climate, it is even more critical to be plugged in to the outside contributors and freelancers who don’t necessarily show up on the publication’s masthead.

In the spring of 2008, The Hoffman Agency learned that freelancer and New York Times contributor David Kelly was looking for products for an upcoming special Business Travel section for The New York Times. The team immediately recognized the opportunity as a great fit for its client Altec Lansing, and pitched the darling of Altec Lansing’s portable speaker lineup – the Orbit – to Kelly for inclusion in the piece. 

The team secured Kelly’s interest in the Orbit for the April 30 article. During ongoing conversations with him, Hoffman was able to demonstrate that the Orbit would be a terrific fit for his piece.

When April 30 rolled around, the Hoffman team and its Altec Lansing client were very excited to see the Orbit appear in The New York Times.

The piece was titled “Go-To Gadgets.” It began:

“Traveling on business these days means having the right information at the right time, packing light, saving money when possible and trying to enjoy at least part of the trip. While the latest technological gadgets and services cannot promise to deliver the deal, they can help make the trip more bearable, a bit more affordable and perhaps even fun.”

The Orbit was included in the story under the heading “Get The Party Started”:

“You can chill out to your favorite music in a hotel room with one of a new line of lightweight travel speakers. … Or take a break from headphones with Altec Lansing’s iMT207 ultraportable palm-size Orbit speakers (shown at right). They weigh only 8 ounces and run on AAA batteries for up to 24 hours of play. The single-speaker cone design looks cool (alteclansing.com; Orbit-MP3, $29.95).”

Of course, Altec Lansing was extremely pleased with the placement of the Orbit in The New York Times – a publication whose Web site receives over 15 million unique visitors a month and whose weekday print circulation is more than a million. What the team didn’t know at the time was how much this placement would continue to benefit Altec Lansing. 

The New York Times piece, and the Orbit in particular, caught the attention of W Hotels, the hip hotel chain owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts. Coincidentally, W Hotels was planning to launch a new brand campaign in the summer of 2008 with music as one of the central components. A marketing representative from W Hotels contacted Altec Lansing directly with a proposal to partner up for a co-marketing initiative. 

W Hotels was planning to do a live music series at its properties across North America, including New York, Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Honolulu, Los Angeles, New Orleans, San Diego and San Francisco. Additionally, it was launching a new CD and promoting a special stay package that included the CD and several other music components. W Hotels indicated that it would very much like to include a portable speaker in the package, and that the Orbit speaker, which the company saw in The New York Times, seemed like the ideal fit.

W Hotels featured Altec Lansing as a brand partner in press and marketing materials and requested 900 speakers to include in the special “Wonderlust Whirlwind Weekends” stay package that it promoted.