Howorth has been shortlisted a finalist in the 2010 Platinum PR Awards. The nomination is for Howorth’s Microsoft Australia Windows 7 Launch: “Windows 7 Was My Idea”, in the product category. The Platinum PR Awards provide PR professionals the opportunity to showcase their best communications initiatives of the year and salute outstanding performance by individuals. Presented by PR News, the highly competitive program honours the best PR campaigns and smartest communications initiatives of the year. The award winners and honourable mentions will be announced at an awards luncheon on 5 October 2010 at the Grand Hyatt in New York City. For more information on the awards or to check out the details, click here.

Howorth achieved an honourable mention in the 2009 Platinum PR Awards for its Livewire campaign.

We’re happy to announce the recent addition of eight new talented employees to support continued growth across our corporate, IT and consumer technology teams.

Le Tran, senior account manager who joined Howorth late last year,  took a whirlwind six week trip to Vietnam to do volunteer work at an orphanage. She rejoins the corporate/B2B team, bringing her experience of creating and executing award-winning thought leadership campaigns. Meanwhile, Simon Gomes  joined Howorth as an account manager, and works on Microsoft and PGi. From the UK, he has worked with a range of technology brands, including VeriSign, NetApp, Epson, Quantum and Buffalo Technology, boasting a wealth of experience dealing with technology and specialist media. He holds a Bachelor of Economic and Social Studies with Honours in Politics from Cardiff University.

Duncan Smith and Adam Clatworthy, both senior consultants, also arrived fresh from the UK. B2B PR specialist Duncan began his career at UK agency Bell Pottinger, where he focused on national and international corporate and digital campaigns for brands that included Nikon, Roche, Kimberly Clark and Johnson & Johnson. Meanwhile, Adam brings significant experience in IT and telecommunications to Howorth, having executed PR programs for D-Link, Nuance Communications, Trend Micro, VASCO and Claro Software during a four year stint at UK agency NSPR.

UTS alumni Dorea Lau and Erin Copping – both with track records in technology, business and not-for-profit sectors – have also stepped into the fold. Dorea and Erin can count client experience including Hewlett-Packard, Accenture, Motorola, Microsoft, Citrix, Toshiba and the Jane McGrath Foundation. This is Erin’s second spell with Howorth.

Recently graduated from Charles Sturt University, Anna Barnes has become a full-time account coordinator, having previously completed an internship last year. Anna currently provides support across all aspects of the Microsoft account. Meanwhile, Sophie Jones has joined the Howorth family as our office coordinator. Sophie comes from an event management background, and has the challenge of keeping the Howorth team on its toes and the office running smoothly.

Last but not least, Amanda Do and Tara Mills will also be joining us next week to fill two much needed account coordinator roles. Both have displayed fantastic initiative whilst completing internships at Howorth earlier in the year, and we look forward to their coming on board.

Welcome folks!

The seven Starlight Express Rooms are located in Australia’s major paediatric hospitals providing a medical-free respite for children and their families. Other locations include The Children’s Hospital at Westmead and the Princess Margaret Hospital for Children in Perth.

The Starlight Express Room is a place where patients can forget about the reasons why they’re in hospital and take part in fun and mayhem with Captain Starlight, alongside the latest computer games, movies, crafts and activities. Children too ill to leave their beds can join in the fun via the daily Captain Starlight shows which are broadcasted to their bedside TVs, or even have the fun and games delivered straight to their bed.

We heard Christian’s story – a young boy diagnosed with a brain tumour. The Starlight team lifted his spirits while he was undergoing treatment by giving him the space to daydream about being an astronaut, helping him build his space costume and granting him his wish of owning a cubby house. The enthusiasm, compassion and generosity of the Starlight team bring happiness to thousands of children across Australia. Most importantly, they help patients to remember how to be children again.   

The sad reality is that every minute of every day a child is admitted to a hospital in Australia.  With this demand, there is a need to open more Starlight rooms around the country. Howorth has been a long term corporate ambassador of the Starlight Children’s Foundation since 2000. Howorth is currently helping with the annual Starlight’s IT Fund for Kids charity fundraiser dinner in Sydney (Sept 30) and Melbourne (Sept 23). If you would like to attend, please contact Le Tran on +61 2 8281 3295 or at le@howorth.com.au.

Starlight will be running these morning tea sessions on a regular basis. If you would like to get involved and see how you can help, please contact Starlight’s Corporate Head of Partnerships Anne Johnston on 02 8425 5934 or anne.johnston@starlight.org.au

Livewire, an initiative of the Starlight Children’s Foundation, is a free and safe online community, which aims to improve the emotional and social wellbeing of young people aged over 10 and under 21, living with a serious illness, chronic health condition or disability.

Howorth made a decision to drop by the hospital with the Livewire team to see first-hand how our donation and this fantastic initiative are enhancing the lives of young people in hospital.

Howorth’s Ellie Shaddick said: “We were fortunate enough to meet some of the children and their families and witness how important the Livewire community is and the impact it has on their stay in hospital – playing games and chatting online with other children that are in a similar situation. 

“It was certainly a rewarding experience to see how our donation is helping to bring some welcome distraction for these children from the reason why they find themselves in hospital.”

Howorth has been providing PR support for Livewire since its inception in 2009. For more information about Livewire visit www.livewire.org.au

Howorth has also been a long term supporter of the Starlight IT Fund for Kids, which is now celebrating its tenth year. The IT Fund for Kids, which is supported by Australia’s ICT community, raises money to improve the quality of life for children living with serious illness, disability or autism, running Starlight Rooms at numerous children’s hospitals across Australia. Graham White, Howorth’s Managing Director, has been an ambassador for the fund since 2005. More information can be found at www.itfundforkids.org.au.

Customer service from financial institutions has been a major topic of discussion over the past few months. While the big banks are apparently prioritising customer service, are their business customers really happy?

This was the focus of a Telstra Enterprise & Government white paper entitled ‘Servicing Micro
Businesses – What Financial Institutions Need to Know’. This comprehensive piece of research found that banks needed to improve customer service to the micro business segment (employing 1-5 employees) in order to better meet their needs.

Howorth worked with Telstra Enterprise & Government to develop a technology public relations campaign that would communicate this issue across ICT, financial services and small business media.

White paper key findings
Telstra engaged two research companies to develop the white paper, Roy Morgan Research and McCrindle Research. The results from Roy Morgan – one of Australia’s most respected and established market research companies – showed that micro businesses are the least satisfied business segments when it comes to customer service from banks.

Telstra also sourced a third party spokesperson, social commentator Mark McCrindle from McCrindle Research, who provided valuable insight into the changing profile of micro businesses in Australia so that banks could better serve this segment. Mark outlined two trends – micro business owners (the majority who are baby boomers/pre boomers) passing the leadership reins to Generation X and Y and the increasing mobility of micro businesses – and how this can influence the way banks provide customer service.  

Equipped with these findings, Telstra aimed to go one step further than other research available, by understanding the reasons for the customer dissatisfaction gap whilst outlining the technologies available to better capture the micro business segment. 

Media strategy and outcomes
To maximise media coverage about the paper’s findings, Howorth organised a white paper launch event at Telstra’s Experience Centre in Sydney. The one hour event included presentations by Telstra spokesperson and paper author Rocky Scopelliti and Mark McCrindle, as well as a demonstration of the technologies available to boost customer satisfaction levels.

The event was successfully attended by journalists from ICT, financial services and small business outlets, with additional highlights on the day including a podcast interview with BNET and a live studio interview on Sky Business News in the afternoon. Other significant coverage included pieces in the Australian Financial Review, mX, Communications Day, Dynamic Business, Exchange, iTWire and Banking Day.

John shares his thoughts with BNET’s Phil Dobbie on the opportunities and challenges that business leaders will likely encounter when devising and deploying social media strategies. He also explains the reasons why it’s important to make social media part of the corporate-wide strategy that promotes long term engagement.

Listen to the interview here:

So come on down. For your chance to win a copy of Microsoft Office 2010:

• Be a Foursquare Mayor of your office, business, home or school (or wherever you do your work!)
• Show up at Martin Place Amphitheatre area and look for the Microsoft Office 2010 signs
• Check in on Foursquare at the Office 2010 Mayor Meetup
• Leave a message when you check in saying why you want to win a copy of Office 2010

So if you’re a Mayor of your workplace, mark your calendars (Outlook, of course) and head down next Tuesday for the Office Mayor Meetup at Martin Place! Join in on the fun and don’t forget to follow the hashtag #OfficeMayor

Look forward to seeing you there.

Howorth successfully orchestrated Motorola’s Australian comeback, with the PR launch of its new range of Android powered smart-phone devices. Howorth’s objectives?  Simple – create mass-market interest across consumer and technology media, reaching out to consumers looking for a new smart-phone.

Insight

Differentiating a phone from the pack can be difficult, but Motorola’s new Android range of smart-phones held one key ingredient , MOTOBLUR – the first mobile experience to deliver your social life straight to your mobile phone, streaming conversations, friends and widgets right into your handset to provide a never-ending flow of updates.

We understood that the media would need to try out the phone themselves to get the full effect of the MOTOBLUR package, so they could appreciate first-hand how it could link their lives via the web.  As a result, Howorth’s PR strategy was designed to ensure media had maximum exposure to the MOTOBLUR experience – from one-on-one demos and the opportunity to take handsets for review, to a fully immersive and interactive launch.

Creative idea, relentless execution

Rebuilding a brand and restoring consumer confidence is no small feat. Howorth held 12 one to one briefings and handset demonstrations in the lead-up to the event, with outlets handpicked to ensure a wide depth of coverage on launch day.   Media were enticed to explore MOTOBLUR before its official launch included the Daily Telegraph, Sydney Morning Herald, Channel 7, Channel 9, T3, Grazia and Women’s Health.

The focus then switched to the event itself.  Taking over the Cargo Hall at the Overseas Passenger Terminal, MOTOBLUR’s features were unveiled through stunning visuals presented on a mammoth concave screen: embracing our presenters to showcase social streaming as life in motion, a network surrounding us in all that we do.

Outcomes

On the day of launch, Motorola and Optus spokespeople conducted one to one media briefings at the event with key influencers The Australian, iTNews and iTWire.

These interviews, plus our strategic warm-up prior to the event, generated more than 100 pieces of coverage across metropolitan, consumer, technology and business media (print, broadcast and online).  Highlights to date include a demonstration on Channel 9’s Today show, the front page of Australian T3, and pick-up across a range of specialist outlets like Gizmodo, ITnews.com.au, Good Gear Guide, Zoo Weekly, Smarthouse, iTWire.com.au, CNET Australia and GadgetGuy.com.au.

With more than 2.3 million criminal and convict records now available online, Ancestry.com.au made the entirety of its 15-part Australian Convicts Collection accessible for free for eight days in January 2010.  With the door to the past wide open, we had to convince the public to come knocking.

Insight

Howorth constructed a public relations campaign, tied into Australia Day, to get consumers thinking about how their families originally made it to the Lucky Country, before encouraging them to dig down into their own pasts.

Creative idea, relentless execution

We knew we needed a high-profile partner for the campaign launch, so we secured a national News Limited exclusive for Australia Day itself, which resulted in coverage in all news.com.au sites across Australia.  We also targeted metropolitan radio talk back programs with embargoed material so they could incorporate the story into the weekly plan. Following this initial coverage burst, the release was then issued to all other media.

Outcomes

The response locally for the convict collection was overwhelming, with more than 200 pieces of coverage, including breaking news online across Fairfax and news.com.au, and radio news bulletins. 20 radio interviews were conducted across commercial, AM and community radio, from the ABC to 2GB, with some stations syndicating the interviews across their networks and regions to raise coverage levels even further.  Print coverage included major pieces in the Hobart Mercury, Canberra Times and Sunday Territorian. Through our social media engagement, we also generated 21 ‘Tweets’ on the open Convict Collection indexes, with some of the influential Twitter users having over 1000 followers.

As a result of the PR campaign, Ancestry.com.au received their highest ever unique visitors for a single day on Australia Day (25^th January 2010).

Gratifyingly, the client was thrilled with the results; “The Howorth team achieved results well beyond our expectations. This is a great start to our relationship,” said Debra Chesterton, Managing Director, Ancestry.com.au.

Howorth began working with Australian family-owned Mac accessories distributor Try & Byte in November last year, briefed to raise awareness of their website via positive media relations.

A distributor of new consumer products aimed at Mac users and general consumers, www.tryandbyte.com.au regularly releases innovative technology to its customers.

With a small budget, we needed to find effective ways to pitch the latest Try & Byte accessories and products into consumer and consumer technology media. We therefore focused on the latest five products available on the site, selecting highly targeted media for reviews and profiles.

Our campaign has so far reached over 4.5 million Australians through media coverage: punching well above the investment.   Coverage has included a cover story in Macworld and articles now running into the double figures across tier one targets like The West Australian, The Courier Mail, Gizmodo, Cybershack, The Sydney Morning Herald, Sunday Herald Sun, Girlfriend and Home Entertainment Magazine.