Enterprise Home » Case
Studies » Helping a PR Firm Create Buzz
Helping
a PR Firm Create Buzz
A case study of Kaplow, a full-service public relations
agency
With the SnapStream Enterprise TV appliance, Kaplow improved their ability to
take advantage of high-profile public relations opportunities for their clients.
The Situation
Few industries are more concerned
with media awareness than public relations. PR experts like Manhattan-based
Kaplow need to
have constant contact with
their clients’ presence in a variety of different media, including
television.
One of Kaplow’s primary responsibilities is to improve the exposure
of their clients’ products by, for example, seeding client news and
products with media personalities. Such placement requires an awareness
of the needs of these personalities — an awareness that has to exist
in advance so that Kaplow can then meet those wants on behalf of their
clients. By
carefully
monitoring TV content - including talk shows, reality shows, and even
some news programs, Kaplow can keep a finger on the media pulse and
quickly jump on opportunities.
Kaplow’s Media Strategies
Group (MSG) manages monitoring activities for the entire agency.
In the past, members of
the group did independent monitoring
and then recorded TV using individual DVR setups (a digital cable box,
a TV, and a personal DVR unit), requiring multiple hardware units.
As Kaplow grew,
so did the monitoring needs and soon, monitoring became a very large
agency expenditure. Agency growth also required expansion of the
office space,
and due to construction, the group itself was physically split in
half. Rather
than face the prospect of rerouting multiple cable drops to maintain
its DVR workstations in a new environment, Kaplow began looking for
a more
convenient solution.
The Solution
The SnapStream 6-tuner Enterprise
TV appliance provides Kaplow with a self-contained TV recording appliance
that eliminates the
need for individual TV workstations.
This turnkey solution consolidates Kaplow’s DVR fulfillment in a
single location and serves recordings over the existing internal network,
expanding
their group of users without the need for painful rewiring. The SnapStream
appliance uses a single cable feed and all DVR capability is included
with the appliance.
By allowing the consolidation of
recording and viewing, SnapStream’s
DVR technology streamlines Kaplow’s use of television recording
in a number of ways:
-
Scheduling
recordings: Recording schedules are now handled by a single appliance
that automatically captures all necessary programs. Previously,
recordings had to be scheduled on each individual workstation.
-
Multi-tasking:
Users can monitor recorded material in the background while working on
other
tasks.
-
Sharing:
In the past, only one user could view each individual recording; now, any
user can now view any recording, and group members
can
consult easily without leaving their desks.
-
Coverage:
Kaplow managers can track which recordings have been viewed for improved
coverage
of all potential
opportunities.
The end result is a less expensive and dramatically more convenient process
for monitoring television for promotional opportunities.
Kaplow Success Story
“Being able to watch TV closely and frequently helps tailor our
pitches to specific media outlets and increases our success rate,” says
Chris Livingston of Kaplow. “We can speak to producers at The Today
Show, Good Morning America, The View, Rachael Ray and more with a true
knowledge of the topics that are relevant to their viewers and the stories
they’ve already covered.” The SnapStream appliance keeps Kaplow’s
pitching efforts informed, and by monitoring the news cycle live,
Kaplow is able to insert clients quickly when relevant.
A great example: Kaplow heard
Ann Curry, news anchor at The TODAY Show, describe her personal
interest in the plight
of Darfur on air one morning. At the time, Kaplow client eBay was
hosting an auction of designer dresses inspired by Africa with
the benefits
going to the Darfur Coalition. According to Livingston, “The
SnapStream appliance helped enable us to immediately send a pitch
and relevant information
to TODAY, which led to an exclusive fashion show on The Today Show
featuring several looks from the auction and hosted by eBay Style
Director Constance
White.”
Kaplow SnapStream Configuration
Kaplow runs a split digital/analog
cable signal into the Enterprise appliance. Since Kaplow’s server room does not have a cable line, the SnapStream
appliance resides in and is administered from the office’s media room.
The appliance is connected to the office LAN, allowing any networked computer
with the SnapStream Link client software to stream live TV and stream
or download previously recorded TV content. MSG users can save
segments, which can then be edited, burned to DVD locally, or shared
with other
group members
or potential clients.
About Kaplow
Founded in 1991, Kaplow
is an award-winning full-service public relations company
with extensive expertise
in consumer marketing.
Today Kaplow is known as one of New York’s most influential
opinion architects.
Figures
Figure 1: Media strategists can scan recorded TV in a window directly from
their desktop PCs, without the need for a TV set or DVR box.
Figure 2: The SnapStream Enterprise TV appliance (lower right) is compact enough
to reside nearly anywhere in the office.
Figure 3: Kaplow Communications' conference room
