USB-IF Case Study
Capturing Audience Attention Well Before a Technology Hits the Marketplace
Challenge:
Upon completion of the USB 3.0 specification, the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) asked Nereus to announce the general availability of the specification with the goal of creating industry excitement and driving consumer electronics manufacturers to begin developing products enabled with USB 3.0. The technology, branded as SuperSpeed USB, was much anticipated by the consumer electronics industry. Billions of PCs and devices use the USB interface and SuperSpeed USB promised a 10x performance increase over the current version of the technology. However, due to product development cycles, it would be at least a year before products enabled with SuperSpeed USB began appearing on store shelves. Nereus' challenge was to build buzz and excitement around an enabling technology that would not be available in products for at least a year.
Solution:
The campaign's primary goal was to reach an audience of manufacturers and their designers and engineers who would be making decisions about incorporating the technology into products. A secondary goal was to reach consumers, particularly technology enthusiasts, in order to promote the end-user scenarios that SuperSpeed USB would enable. In order to reach these two audiences, Nereus leveraged its relationships with two key influential outlets: a respected electronics engineering magazine and a well-known technology enthusiast blog. Nereus crafted a compelling, benefit-focused message to secure earned coverage in those outlets with the expectation that there would be a groundswell of interest when the coverage appeared on the morning of the public announcement. On the day of the announcement, Nereus then outreached to dozens of journalists and industry analysts.
Results:
On the day of the announcement, both influential outlets published pieces on SuperSpeed USB. Coverage began appearing in conjunction with the public announcement despite the fact that time-to-market was still estimated at over a year. By the end of the 48 hour period following the announcement, 117 articles and blog entries had appeared in a wide variety of outlets covering the electronics engineering and manufacturing, consumer electronics and general purpose topics. Outlets that covered the story and generated the buzz the client desired included Wired Magazine, EE Times, Engadget and USA Today.com.
