Great Introductions: Integrated Company and Product Launches

The Horn Group Difference ++ Integrated communications      services, for seamless launches ++ Market research and      competitive analysis      competition ++ Product positioning and      message development ++ Web site strategy, design      and development ++ Target user analysis and      development ++ Integration with existing      CRM systems ++ Quarterly review and      measurement against goals

Launches are the mainstay of Horn Group's business and what we do best. Unlike traditional PR firms, we work on all aspects of launch strategies, from messaging and corporate identity to launch events to press tours.

The launch of a new company or product spans the sales team, customers and prospects, media, analysts and shareholders. But software companies typically partition their communications initiatives across multiple vendors, creating expensive and inefficient marketing programs. Horn Group challenges the old model by offering an integrated approach that combines several disciplines to make a more powerful impact.

Client: Scentric

Company Launch
In three months, Horn Group helped transform Scentric from a stealth-mode start up into a legitimate contender in the growing data classification space. Horn Group assembled the building blocks to Scentric's story through an intensive positioning workshop, which involved a perceptional audit and competitive analysis. This process entailed a series of message-testing briefings with leading analysts and journalists who provided their observations on the data classification market. The messaging work resulted in a full positioning guide and supplemental "at-a-glance" document, establishing the foundation of Scentric's verbal brand. Shifting gears to the visual brand, Horn Group's design team developed a creative brief based on the messaging work and began work on the corporate identity system, including corporate and product logos, product packaging, business stationary and marketing collateral materials.

With the brand fundamentals in place, our interactive team began development of the Scentric website to support marketing and communications needs and to provide the necessary infrastructure and CRM integration to sustain web-based lead capture and demand generation initiatives, including direct and e-marketing campaigns.

With the website complete but commercial availability of the product and a customer reference still months away, Horn Group and Scentric faced a tough decision: bundle the company launch and commercial availability into one full blown launch, or break the communications plan into two phases. Horn Group recommended the latter. Scentric couldn't afford to wait any longer since it was already losing ground on a quickly maturing market space with larger, more entrenched players. Their sales team needed "air cover" to close deals and get the attention they deserved.

Horn Group knew that launching without customer validation and commercial availability of the flagship product was risky since both items are typically considered pre-requisites for media coverage. However, we planned to overcome those challenges by focusing the story on Scentric's unique "universal data classification" approach and its ability to fill a critical void in the popular Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) space, which was based on theory verses reality.

What They Say About Us "Horn Group's integrated communications model was exactly what we were looking for - a PR, branding and interactive media agency under one umbrella. The synergy greatly streamlined, accelerated and enhanced our go-to-market planning and execution. Horn Group deserves an A+ for its successful orchestration of our launch, which played an instrumental role in the evolution of our company. The exposure resulting from our introduction, and our complimentary brand elements, increased our visibility and built early traction for our business." Larry Cormier SVP Marketing, Scentric

Horn Group piggy-backed on Taneja Group's claim that data classification represents the "missing brain of ILM". Customers would play a critical role in the second stage for validation of concept.

Horn Group chose Storage Networking World 2006 as the perfect forum to pre-brief analysts on the news since it is widely considered one of the industry's highest regarding events. With the launch only two weeks away, Scentric quickly gained a following within the analyst community with all of the 10 analysts pre-briefed at the event serving as references. Additionally, these analyst references also provided quotes, which are featured on Scentric's website today.

The Results
Scentric's transformation culminated in a perfectly timed (down to the wire) launch of the website, company news, and media coverage all hitting concurrently. Horn Group had achieved media coverage across all targeted press with articles appearing in over 50 publications - almost unheard of for a storage upstart without product news and production customers. Coverage highlights included Computerworld, InfoStor, eWeek, Network World, Daily Deal, VentureWire, Storage Magazine, SearchStorage.com, InfoWorld, Enterprise Storage Forum, Enterprise Systems Journal, Internet News.com. Analysts at IDC, Aberdeen, Gartner, Taneja Group, ESG, Mesabi Group, StorageIO, and Dragon Slayer Consulting all lended their support by providing quotes and/or serving as media references.