Palladium

Palladium Group, Inc. is helping the world¡¦s leading organizations execute strategy by linking strategy management to operational processes, structure and technology. Palladium offers its clients services in Strategy Management, Process Management, Resource Management, Human Capital Management, and Information Management. Palladium's highly recognized Strategy Execution Model enables organizations in financial services, life sciences, manufacturing, retail and utilities & energy to benefit from effective strategy execution that results in improved financial results and shareholder value. Headquartered in Lincoln, Mass., Palladium has 10 U.S. offices and international offices in Barcelona, Lisbon, London, Madrid, Munich and Sydney, with an additional eight affiliates throughout Europe, Latin America and Asia-Pacific. Balanced Scorecard Collaborative is Palladium¡¦s research and education division.

The Challenge

The management consulting firm Palladium is the product of a merger between three companies: ThinkFast Consulting, Painted Word, Inc., and the Balanced Scorecard Collaborative. Palladium tasked PAN with differentiating it from other management consulting firms and building its leadership status in the extremely competitive consulting space.

This involved tackling many challenges. First, there was some confusion in the market about the company's core messaging. In addition, there was a scarcity of customer news as well as customers willing to speak with the press, based on corporate policies and competitive issues.

The Approach

The PAN team engaged in a thought leadership program. This involved creating publicity around a study commissioned by Palladium and its partner and developing/placing engaging byline articles on behalf of the client. These activities enhanced Palladium's market position as being the resource for execution strategy based on its Strategy Execution Model. Additionally, the PAN team promoted Palladium senior executives such as George McMillan as business visionaries. This provided a forum for Palladium to articulate its core message and demonstrate the integrated traction that the firm has been making since the merger.

PAN also worked with Palladium on being strategic with those select customers that were willing to talk with the press. The PAN team helped Palladium gain traction with customers such as Dunkin' Brands, KeyCorp, and UnumProvident, exploring ways these customers can assist the company in its public relations efforts. As we start gaining additional momentum in this area, PAN will develop a tracking system to gauge how (and how often) we are leveraging certain customers.

By offering the opportunity to speak with actual clients of Palladium that have taken advantage of its unique model, PAN helped business and IT reporters better assess the value Palladium provided to its clients, while drawing compelling conclusions that benefit Palladium' media coverage. To get the most impact from customer references, the PAN team was very selective in placing these stories in tier one vertical/business publications.

The Results

Over the past several months, PAN's efforts have paid off with high-level media coverage that included:

- KeyCorp standalone article in Investor's Business Daily
- Dunkin' Brands standalone article in Stores magazine
- Cover story in Insurance & Technology about Palladium customer UnumProvident
- Broad coverage in Consulting Magazine, Consulting News, CIO, and CIO Insight
- Current opportunities with USA Today and Fortune around findings from recent Palladium studies
- Bylines scheduled to run in top-tier publications, including Business Finance, Venture Capital Journal, Financial Executive and Strategy & Leadership

In addition, when the company sought to drive recruiting efforts in the Dallas area, PAN quickly secured coverage in the Dallas Morning News around Palladium's recruiting practices and some best practices with regard to the consulting business.