A Case Study In Brand Building

The Challenge

A new commercial finance company with $3 billion in lending capacity wants to establish a name for itself in the highly competitive field of middle market lending. The company has determined that its goal is to distinguish itself as a market leader based on its banking and capital markets expertise, industry relationships, substantial capital base and its efficient approval process.

The Strategy

• A comprehensive communications strategy that starts with the basics: developing specific key messages that serve as the foundation for every single external communication from the company;
• aggressive media relations that include the development of a well researched media list of key journalists and publications; developing and maintaining relationships with these journalists; securing coverage on significant deals and company milestones; and, successfully pitching profiles on the company and senior executives to key outlets;
• design and execute an advertising strategy in target publications to reinforce the company’s key messages;
• develop collateral materials that are distributed to potential clients, business partners and the media.

The Results

A good plan and hard work never fails. In just nine months, GBPR generated nearly 70 placements for the company in the targeted publications, including four feature stories. The extensive media coverage, when combined with the advertising component of the plan, has generated significant buzz within the industry. Another positive result from this targeted and sustained approach has been numerous unsolicited calls from the media asking for the perspective of senior executives on trend stories.

Developing clear and concise messages, establishing and maintaining good relationships with the media and leveraging the company’s strong performance quickly established a leading market presence and strong business profile for this GBPR client.