CASE HISTORY AND SAMPLE CLIPS
Maximizing Press for an Acquisition
Flat-panel display technology veteran Planar Systems came to The Bohle Company to promote the company’s acquisition of diagnostic imaging leader DOME Systems. While Planar is a public company, it has a market cap of only $200 million. Nevertheless, Planar’s director of IR set the stage early, conveying to us the CEO’s expectations of national coverage of the news.
We didn’t have much to work with. Though DOME was the leader in its category, it was a private company, and the total transaction value was less than $60 million. We knew we’d be up against strong resistance from the national business media (which typically require at least a $100 million deal, if not $500 million for the bigger outlets).
None the less, we set out on a relentless pursuit for national visibility.
PR OBJECTIVES:
• Start to get across Planar’s overall company messaging while reinforcing the leadership position held by the individual business units, as well as the newly added DOME unit
• Secure local business media coverage
• Use this news to begin building awareness for Planar with key national media contacts
PR STRATEGIES:
• Position the addition of DOME as the final piece needed to establish Planar as the leader in providing displays for all departments across the healthcare organization
• Garner the support of several industry and financial analysts to use as press references
• Be aggressive: use this announcement as an opportunity to increase visibility for Planar even if it didn’t directly result in placement, ie., call The Wall Street Journal even if they decline because the dollar amount involved is too small for standard coverage
• Have Planar and TBC split responsibilities for national and local Oregon media; use acquired company’s PR firm to handle local Boston media (in the end, DOME didn’t have a PR firm, so TBC handled national and Boston media outreach)
KEY PR ACTIVITIES:
• Preparation of key documents: press, investor and employee Q&As, press release, key messages
• Pre-briefs: industry and financial analysts
• Arrangement of exclusive interview with The Wall Street Journal
• News announcement distribution
• Day-of pitching to investor-oriented news sites, national business news writers and M&A publications
• Local media pitching to Portland, Ore. and Boston, Mass. Outlets
• Medical media outreach
RESULTS:
• Interview with The Wall Street Journal, resulting in Journal, wsj.com and Dow Jones coverage
• Multiple stories ran on the three major news wires: Bloomberg, Dow Jones, Reuters
• More than 15 major investor-oriented news site hits including CNBC.com, CNNMoney.com and TheStreet.com
• News feature complete with photo of CEO at Forbes.com
• News briefs in four of four targeted Boston-area papers
• News coverage in the two top Portland-area newspapers
• Six news hits day of announcement on medical technology sites; more than 10 print hits in medical publications
