ALK: European product launch
In his classic song Like a Rolling Stone, Bob Dylan once wondered how it feels to be on your own, with no direction home. Anyone listening to the song while driving in an unfamiliar place might feel the same; unless they have portable navigation system CoPilot Live on board. The pocket-sized system uses GPS and Bluetooth technology to help drivers navigate their way between two destinations.When ALK, the makers of CoPilot Live, came to launch their product in Europe in September 2004, the market offered stiff competition. The popularity of portable satellite navigation systems, which can be downloaded onto smartphones was growing. Ease of use and affordability are the prime drivers behind their success. But ALK was facing competition from established brands such as TomTom, Garmin and Navman. ALK turned to Hotwire to develop and co-ordinate a PR strategy that would launch its system in Europe.
The company already had relationships with the Pocket PC and PC media, but had yet to develop any brand awareness with the motoring or consumer media. One of ALK’s key business objectives was to develop relationships with leading mobile service operators. Hotwire recognised that both these media sectors would be vital to building awareness of the CoPilot Live brand among both mobile service operators and consumers.
As a result, the agency and ALK’s marketing team designed a programme aimed at generating compelling coverage both in tier one Pocket PC and PC media as well as the motoring or consumer media. Hotwire suggested measuring the campaign around traction in tier one media – through the six-month period it was agreed that 60% of coverage should be in tier one consumer, automotive, Pocket PC and PC media.
ALK had already developed strong relationships with mobile network providers and handset manufacturers such as T-Mobile and Motorola in a deal for CoPilot Live to be their preferred UK satellite navigation solution. This was to be the springboard for Hotwire’s launch campaign and formed one strand of a two-pronged awareness building strategy for the brand.
But providing journalists with the opportunity to touch or test a product is vital in consumer product PR and this concept formed the second strand for the CoPilot launch strategy in Europe. Hotwire set up a CoPilot Live demo tour, driving to the offices of key UK media in a branded Mini to take journalists out for a drive. This way they could experience the navigation system themselves, including its spoken directions facility and animated graphics display.
On the demo tour, Hotwire secured briefings with a wide range of target publications ranging from the Sunday Times, T3, How To Spend It, the Daily Mirror, Maxpower, Practical Motorhome, Classic & Sports Car, The Daily Telegraph, Computeractive, What Cellphone, Smartphone, and so on. The second part of the strategy leveraged the Orange announcement, targeting tier one media, including the national, consumer and automotive press. After a six month campaign focused on getting journalists hands-on experience with the product through numerous drive & test trips, and top stories such as the Orange announcement, the campaign achieved 74% coverage in tier one media, against a target of 60%. The campaign has supported ALK’s business objectives to extend their partnership networks, as ALK have announced new relationships with mobile network operators Motorola and T-Mobile.
“The campaign that Hotwire devised and implemented for us has proved to be a very effective springboard in getting the CoPilot Live brand out there and raising awareness of our solutions,” said David Quin, marketing manager Europe, ALK. “The in-car briefings have been so valuable from the perspective of allowing us to demonstrate the product in real-time with the journalists as well as from a relationship-building perspective.”
