Exact Software

Exact Software is an Andover, Massachusetts-based company providing software that effectively unifies the people, processes and knowledge required for successful business operation.

The Challenge

Following the launch of the company’s revolutionary e-Synergy product, Exact Software charged the PAN team with helping to increase brand awareness for the company and its products through an aggressive PR campaign to the IT and vertical media outlets. One key target for the campaign was an upcoming ComputerWorld feature on Business Activity Monitoring (BAM).

The Approach

When developing its pitch for this planned editorial feature, PAN knew that Reporter Gary Anthes would be inundated with pitches. Knowing that most PR firms would pitch their client upfront, PAN decided to take an alternate approach and offer Gary access to an Exact customer.

Given today’s media environment where end users are coveted by reporters, PAN understood the need and value of building solid relationships with the small number of customers who had already deployed Exact’s e-Synergy. Working closely with Exact, PAN identified Davis Controls as the customer at the top of the list based on early feedback from the Exact sales force regarding the success of Davis’ implementation.

Through a series of conference calls with Davis Controls CEO Neil Montgomery, the PAN team began to build the type of relationship that not only allowed the team to gather critical details about the implementation but instill a level of comfort within Neil for discussing e-Synergy.

As we had hoped, Gary immediately jumped on the chance to speak with a customer about their BAM implementation. As we worked to coordinate an interview day and time, the team simultaneously developed comprehensive briefing materials to best prepare Neil for this interview. Our preparation efforts and Neil’s ability to discuss his business and use of e-Synergy with regard to increasing visibility and accountability within the enterprise paid-off when the issue hit the street and Neil Montgomery was on the cover of Computerworld and had grabbed a lion’s share of the story.

The Results

PAN generated the following results for Exact Software:

• Article was teased on the cover of the November 10, 2003 issue of Computerworld featuring a color photo of Exact’s customer, Neil Montgomery of Davis Controls.
• The article copy featured a full-page photo of Neil Montgomery
• Davis Controls and its use of e-Synergy formed the centerpiece of the article.
• Exact Software and E-Synergy positioned as leaders in the emerging market category.
• Tremendous exposure for the company and its technology within one of the most prominent IT weekly publications.