The power of public relations and journalists working together is a force to be reckoned with. Take the case of Honeywell, a Fortune 100 company operating in the aerospace industry. However, they were not recognised in the in-flight Wi-Fi market. So they have decided to showcase their technology to one of the most influential groups of people: journalists.
The company chose this path instead of directly addressing the competition with aggressive marketing strategies. They focused on journalists, which makes sense because approaching them directly is one of the best ways to organically address the public. Publicists also have the same needs as executives while travelling, thus making their experiences relevant for business professionals as well.
Journalists in B2B
Journalists have to be as, or even more connected than company representatives. For this reason they were the best audience to present to Honeywell’s new in-flight Wi-Fi technology. They need it for work and to stay in touch. Again, the same goes for business professionals, who would like to be productive miles above ground.
Instead of sending out run of the mill press releases, the company invited journalists to try out their technology. Honeywell launched the Summer of Connected World Tour, with their own aircraft that transported journalists all over the world. The plane was fully equipped with Honeywell’s latest technologies, and all of them were at the disposal of journalists to try out.
The tour lasted 2 months, transporting more than 90 journalists. Members of the media came from various publications, such as The Atlantic, CNET, Economic Times of India, Financial Times, CNN and CCTV.
Content, Content and More Content
Journalists livestreamed, tweeted, shared their in-flight experiences with the public. This had an immediate and global effect. Honeywell garnered 106 original media placements, which meant an estimate of 8.4 billion media impressions. They presented the Connected Aircraft at the 52nd International Paris Air Show. Here, key decision makers had the chance to look at all the innovations in person.
In three months Honeywell received 76% more coverage than its competitors, and promoted the company to a thought leading role in the industry. They achieved this by smartly targeting the most influential audience they could, instead of the most logical one — C-suite decision makers. Because no one would have known about this flight tour if only executives were on the plane.
Nothing beats the combined force of public relations and journalists when it comes to communicating our strengths.