Case Study for Agency
03-1015004-710

DuPont™ Vespel® Parts and Shapes

Leadership Strategy Reaches Designers

Challenge
DuPont™ Vespel® parts and shapes, a maker of “performance” polymer
parts for the semiconductor, automotive and aerospace industries was
losing market share to competitors with lower-quality products. Despite
more than 30 years of category leadership, Vespel® suffered from low
brand recognition, due in part to poor media visibility and a
perception as being highly expensive. DuPont wanted to change this
perception to one of “high value” while simultaneously reaching out to
engineers, encouraging them to specify Vespel® parts in their designs.
Additionally, DuPont planned to launch a new line of custom-designed
pump parts for use in the oil and gas, petrochemical and chemical
processing industries.

Solution
Through an integrated campaign, we articulated and promoted the Vespel
brand leadership position, known as Forward Engineering, within key
industry segments. Our agency positioned DuPont as a partner to design
engineers, while transforming the perception of Vespel® products from
being “high-cost” to offering quality, value and performance.

Phase I of the campaign involved a focused media relations and customer
testimonial campaign targeting the automotive industry. Phase II
concentrated in maintaining awareness in the semiconductor industry,
despite the industry’s interest in cutting ownership costs. Phase III
involved focused industry research and media outreach to the oil and
gas and chemical refining industries.

Results
Despite a limited budget, the campaign successfully positioned Vespel®
as a resource to design engineers and countered claims made by its key
competitors. Aggressive media outreach and expert articles resulted in
feature articles and news placements in key oil and gas and plastics
publications such as Plastics News, Plastics Technology, Product Design
and Development and World Refining magazine. More importantly, however,
media outreach reestablished the brand as a leader in the crowded
polymer field, poising Vespel® to move ahead in key industry segments
in 2004.

Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company

The Challenge
Penn Mutual Life Insurance Company was just beginning to use the
Internet as a marketing tool for communicating with their target
audience, insurance agents. Penn Mutual does not sell direct to the
public, but rather through insurance agents.

Penn Mutual wanted to increase the effectiveness of their
communications to insurance agents while at the same time decreasing
the costs of the communications. The cost of the communication
materials for agents seem to be growing by 5% to 10% per year, and with
all this paper, the agents felt they were drowning in it. Additionally,
Penn Mutual found that as the world became more networked, it needed to
get certain types of information to agents in real time. In exploring
ways to reduce costs, Penn Mutual thought it could migrate agent
communications from print to an electronic format.

The Solution
Penn Mutual selected us to assist them in solving this problem. We
recommended that Penn Mutual create a web site that consisted of two
components – a public site for current policyholders and prospects and
an extranet for agents. An extranet is the password-protected section
of the Penn Mutual web site where Penn Mutual communicates directly
with agents. The type of information that is available to agents on
this extranet is:

· Up-to-the-minute rate information
· Sales support materials
· Downloadable software for creating financial planning models
· Product information
· Training programs
· Sales contests

Results
We have served Penn Mutual as a client for 8 years. Over that time
period, we have been able to achieve a number of significant goals.

· Saved up to 75% on printing costs

· Recent research has revealed that the extranet, Producers
Place, is the first place agents go for information about Penn Mutual
and its products and services

• Reduced delivery time of information to agents by two weeks

• Saved 30% in distribution costs and three weeks delivery time of
software updates

• 25% of marketing materials ordered online

• Corporate/general public site is the 1 lead generator

• “Best Of Show” Life Communicators Association

• Dalber rated Penn Mutual’s Producers Place 12th best among
financial services websites which include such financial giants as
Citibank, AIG, American Express, J. P. Morgan, etc.

THE BRANDYWINE CONSERVANCY

“Building for a New Century”

Problem
The Brandywine Conservancy, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving art and
the environment in the Brandywine Valley and surrounding regions,
wanted to extensively publicize the completion of its 25 million
building campaign and the opening of several new cultural events.
Through the capital campaign, the Brandywine Conservancy added a number
of new facilities, mounted two painting exhibitions, and opened tours
of the historic Kuerner Farm, a restored, 18th century property that
painter Andrew Wyeth used as the backdrop for nearly 1,000
works-of-art.

The conservancy had planned several days of opening events including a
press conference with the conservancy’s chairman of the board,
executive director, architect and builder. Since funds were not
allocated for advertising the campaign, the burden of generating
coverage and driving visibility for the conservancy’s efforts rested
entirely on public relations. Last minute facility issues, as well as
the lack of an official start date for the tours, delayed the
announcement that represented the key element in the media moving
forward with a story.

Solution
Our agency delivered an effective approach for reaching out to the
arts, travel, business and architectural media in the Philadelphia,
Wilmington, New York and Washington, D.C. markets. Working with the
client, we developed a media strategy to drive the campaign-completion
story and attract an audience for the tours and exhibitions. To support
this, our public relations helped create the press kit and developed a
“hot list” of media contacts. Since the start date for the tours was in
doubt, it was decided to focus first on attracting attendance to the
press conference by distributing media advisories and aggressively
pitching the event. After reaching out to dozens of local and national
media, and attracting nearly 20 attendees, an opening date for the
Kuerner Farm was approved, enabling the agency to deepen its pitch and
create a better story for the media.

Results
Overall, we secured nine placements, initially, with more expected in
publications such as United Press International (UPI), Wilmington News
Journal, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Daily Local News, Philadelphia
Business Journal, Philadelphia Magazine, TPI Metro, The Jewish
Exponent, Burlington County Times and The Swarthmorean. Excellent
online coverage was also achieved, with hits on prominent sites such as
GoPhila.com and Visitdelaware.com. More importantly, interest and
audiences continue to build as the summer travel season approaches,
with subsequent coverage expected to help drive attendance.

MWCOG
Our client coordinates a region-wide program formed in 1974 to reduce
commuter congestion and its resulting pollution in the Washington, DC,
region.

Challenge
The challenge is to induce change among the area’s commuting residents
by encouraging alternative methods of travel that are often more
convenient, faster and less costly.

Strategy
The overall strategy is to discourage single occupancy vehicle (SOV)
travel, and increase the appeal of multiple or High Occupancy Vehicle
(HOV) travel via ridesharing and public transit, as well as
non-polluting options such as telecommuting, bicycling or walking.
Starting with the premise that “Knowledge is Power,” we assisted MWCOG
by conducting in-depth primary research and studying the volumes of
existing research. Ultimately, we learned that the psychological
motivation that drives all commuter behavior is the same: frustration.

We aided our client in meeting its challenge through the development of
a completely integrated marketing communications program that leveraged
the pain and frustration of helplessly sitting in traffic, with the
rewards attributable to the program which include:

- Guaranteed Ride Home entitlement for registered users of mass
transit or other SOV alternative commuting programs

- Telework Centers and Telework programs

- Park & Ride areas to encourage carpooling

- “Matchlists” for rideshare pairing

To communicate the benefits of participating in these programs, we
created and implemented a marketing and media plan that utilized both
mainstream and Hispanic advertising on:

- Traditional media –radio, television, newspaper and transit
posters

- Interactive – online advertising and key word search
maintenance

- Direct marketing – highly targeted, benefit-driven mailings to
commuters’ homes

- Special events – Bike to Work Day, Earth Day and more

- Public Relations – multiple press briefings, sponsorship of
area sports teams

Each medium encouraged commuters to give up their car a few days every
week, reduce their frustration and enjoy the financial, time-saving and
environmental benefits of alternative commuting. All communications
promoted a toll-free number and a Web site for more information and
enrollment in the program.

Results
Both monthly and year-to-date Web site visits, application requests,
and enrollment in the Guaranteed Ride Home program – the number by
which the program’s success is measured – reached their highest numbers
ever throughout the course of the campaign.