'Out-of-the-box' Thinking Propels PR Client to e-Business Leader

Johnson & Company provides creative link to help Deloitte Consulting move to next level

Although Deloitte Consulting doesn't want to be considered a traditional business, the perception is there. So Johnson & Company (jo&co), The Virtual Agency™, decided it was time to do some "out-of-the-box" thinking. In conjunction with Niehaus, Ryan, Wong (NRW), the principal PR agency handling the account, jo&co team members came up with several ideas that has helped Deloitte Consulting become a cutting edge e-Business consulting company.

First came a creative pitching campaign around one of its client's premier executives. Johnson & Company team members quickly seized upon on an idea garnered from another article in a hot publication. Instead of focusing on employees leaving traditional businesses to join the dot-com revolution, jo&co decided to take the opposite approach. "We decided to position the fact that he left an emerging industry to rejoin a more established firm at Deloitte Consulting," said the primary jo&co account executive. "We pitched 10 targeted editors and told them about this phenomenon, and presented them with other people following the same trend."

The response was immediate and unbelievable for Johnson & Company and NRW. The trend approach was used specifically for a USA Today article with the headline reading "Return to Sender: Techies leave dot-coms established firms offer global reach, better resources."  jo&co also got an interview with a top editor at Forbes. Favorable responses came back from Business Week, Fortune and Time. jo&co's virtual team worked well together , thus providing the best results for its client.

Another example of important "out-of-the-box" thinking came with a press release headline. The press release was just announcing a Deloitte Consulting report entitled "The Dot-com Aftermarket: Where Does the Value Lie and How Can It Be Captured?" However, the jo&co team took that rather stale title to another level with a simple, yet provocative headline that captured the attention of important business media. "`R(e)tailers': a Phoenix from the Dot-com Fire," brought attention to the report that might have been harder to get without the catchy phrasing.  

Finally, in a move that amazed and wowed the NRW team as well as the Deloitte Consulting client, jo&co produced incredible results with a Deloitte Tour to both the East and West coasts. NRW produced a pitch that was beneficial to the jo&co team. Then two account executives took that pitch and secured almost 20 appointments with editors and analysts on both coasts. Among the publications represented were ComputerWorld, CNET, Information Week, Fortune, CIO, Industry Standard and Business Week.

"The most important interview coup was with Ned Desmond, president and editor of a new eCompany Now magazine, highly sought after for this particular client," said the primary jo&co account executive. Johnson & Company also booked all eight high-profile analysts targeted by the client.

Taking a company that is viewed as a traditional business to the next level as an expert in the eBusiness arena takes a lot of initiative and creativity. The Johnson & Company team took the challenge, worked well in transitioning with NRW and helped get the client some important coverage in its market niche. What the client needed was some "out-of-the-box" thinking that jo&co provided.