The Brief

Whiteoaks’ impressive list of broadcast clients include amongst others,  the world’s second largest broadcast and professional solutions supplier, Grass Valley;  French multi-media giant, Technicolor and The Vitec Group, a multi-brand organisation serving worldwide customers in the media sector .

Whiteoaks’ core objective at IBC is to communicate key announcements and competitive advantages in the build up to the show and on the show-floor. As IBC attracts journalists from all over the world, Whiteoaks must ensure that the right messages reach the relevant journalists.

The Challenge

While the convention itself lasts a matter of days in September, it effectively runs for around five months in PR terms. Monthly publications distribute pre-IBC editions in August, so PR activity begins as early as June and follow-ups continue for more than a month after.

The key challenge for Whiteoaks is to ensure its clients are front-of-mind throughout, which means positioning them ahead of thousands of competitors and maintaining the greatest share of voice for the entire period. In addition, it has to ensure it meets the strategic, logistic and budgetary requirements of each client.

The Response

Strategising begins at least two months before the big event and in response to each client’s precise needs, effective communications plans are put in place.  Careful co-ordination and client communication ensures that all relevant materials are collated ahead of time in order for these plans to be effectively carried out.

Whiteoaks’ strength lies in its long standing and close relationships with the core broadcast trade press and its strong presence amongst key industry groups and associations.

As a result, the consultancy is able to effectively organise press tours for journalists to all its clients’ stands and events at the show, which is a real benefit for the journalists as it means they save valuable time that would otherwise be spent trying  to track down each exhibitor individually.

And of course, these economies of scale are a real benefit to Whiteoaks’ clients too.

The Result

By integrating schedules for conferences and interviews across all its clients at IBC, Whiteoaks achieves higher levels of media contact for each than they would individually. It consistently attracts journalist attendance in triple figures to its major press conferences and at IBC2009, every Whiteoaks client appeared in the show’s own publication, IBC Daily as well as appearing each morning on the IBC TV News – a dedicated news channel which is played out of every hotel room in Amsterdam during the exhibition.

Journalists trust Whiteoaks as a highly efficient industry news source. Respected industry journalist, Dick Hobbs comments: “Even without breaks, journalists would have to visit 26 companies an hour to cover all exhibitors at IBC so a good PR tour is the best use of limited time. Whiteoaks is excellent at this and makes it easy for journalists to cover its clients’ issues.”

Every year pre- and post-IBC, Whiteoaks generates hundreds of press clips in key publications, reaching thousands of target readers around the world.