Situation

At the end of 1999, analysts, media and customers gave PeopleSoft little chance for survival. But we saw potential inside the company when we signed up in early 2000. Craig Conway had been recruited as CEO to turn operations around, and he had placed a big bet on PeopleSoft 8, a new, Internet-enabled, version of its software. We knew from experience that when a company’s credibility is low the best way to rebuild it is to use positive coverage of products to re-build company credibility, and it looked like PeopleSoft 8 would give us some great content to work with. We launched our perceptions turnaround program by orchestrating what proved to be a hugely successful media campaign around the new product family.

Objectives

• Re-establish the company as a player and leader
  
• Create a PeopleSoft 8 launch that would put the company back on the map with customers, suppliers, analysts, media and Wall Street
  

Special Connections

• Since PeopleSoft 8 would be the industry’s first-ever 100% Internet-based enterprise software product, we built our campaign around a plethora of Internet related launch elements, such as email teasers with online links for pre-registration, featured Internet customer and partner applications, pre- and post- event themed tutorials and a global webcast.
  
• Since the company no longer had a "built-in" audience, we identified a target audience of more than 800 of the industry’s top movers and shakers, including influencers, industry and financial analysts and other luminaries, and created buzz with a stream of email invitations and updates.
  
• We extended the launch event into six weeks of activities, beginning with a whirlwind bi-coastal media tour several weeks prior to the launch.
  
• We added related events to the launch to accommodate more press interest, including a pre-event executive media dinner and hands-on product demonstrations for journalists during the lunch break.
  
• We assembled, briefed and trained a matrix of company spokespeople to enable us to conduct the maximum number of 1:1 interviews during the launch event. This planning enabled us to book and conduct more than 100 live and Web conference interviews during a four hour period.
  
• We convinced Dow Jones to run three days of PeopleSoft 8 announcements on the "Zipper" electronic news ticker on Times Square in Manhattan.

Results

• Nearly 200 interviews before, during and immediately following the launch resulted in saturation coverage.
  
• A Morgan Stanley analyst called it "the most press PeopleSoft has ever seen."
  
• Feature-length placements in venues such as Fortune, Forbes, The New York Times and Business 2.0 discussed PeopleSoft 8 as a breakthrough that gave Conway a shot at turning the company around.
  
• PeopleSoft stock reached a 52 week high.