Case Studies
At Helios we we do our best to help you stand apart from the pack and develop or enhance your brand identity. Times have changed, and in this digital and social media environment, it's about getting your audiences to engage. Measurably. That means no cookie-cutter approach. We sit down with you to learn your business, your technology, your products, and equally important -- we learn about your people, because your people and your management is at the heart of your brand.
Technology Press Launch
Helios client Si-Ware Systems, a company that fosters silicon innovation through its ASIC design group, developed a chipset for its partner Ossia that offered a world "first" -- transmitter and receiver ICs that enable remote wireless charging of mobile, IoT, and wearable devices from anywhere in a 30 foot radius. No more placing mobile devices on mats or special pads that prevent using them during charging time.
Helios conducted a 2-part media/analyst launch for the chipset, writing a release and contacting members of the business media who had previously written about wireless charging. Working with Si-Ware Helios was able to brief and educate editors them on what clearly a major sea change in the marketplace.
Additionally Helios offered market analysts coming to CES 2016 a private demonstration of the technology for inclusion in their reports. The 2-phased effort resulted in two waves of coverage that helped to bring OEM manufacturers to Si-Ware to discuss embedding the receiver chips in their devices. Si-Ware and Ossia's new capability was covered by Popular Mechanics, Gizmodo, Geekwire, PC World, the U.K.'s Daily Mail, the Detroit News, Tom's Hardware, and IEEE Spectrum.
Huffington Post Trends Article
Media Relations: Environmental
In order to be competitive and secure more grants and government awards, nonprofit Earth Advantage Institute needed more visibility on a regional and national scale. Afer interviews with staff and stakeholders and mining the organizational track record we provided a SWOT analysis of its business divisions and what it could do to heighten national awareness and increase leads.
With EAI's impressive roster of green builder members and field staff, we recommended that they were in a position to create news by positioning themselves as experts in green building trends. In the fall of 2010 and 2011 we interviewed stakeholders about what they were seeing as the latest trends in residential green building and distributed a press release of 10 upcoming trends for the new year. We followed up with major newspapers, blogsites, shelter and women's magazines,
The result was that EAI was able to establish itself as an authority in the field, securing more leads and more press inquiries after coverage in the Huffington Post, USA Today, and other magazines. As the organization increased its visibility it won more grants and awards and was able to complete and publish studies that attracted additional attention. By 2012 EAI had won an $11 million multi-state DOE award for energy efficiency programs.
Website Design and Content Management
Neil Kelly Company is the largest residential remodeling and energy services firm in the Northwest, with operations in four locations in two states. The company needed to increase web traffic and sales leads to support its growth goals, but had little relevant content and an older, smaller site that was difficult to update.
We created a Wordpress-based site from a third-party Wordpress template that we were able to modify for maximum effect. The template included panoramic visuals that were much more compelling for homeowner visitors, project profiles of inspiring remodels, special resource pages that emphasized the company's expertise and experience, videos of completed and ongoing projects, a blog, and downloadable resources requiring registration that served to capture traffic. The result was a significant lead increase that year, much of it from website and search traffic. The website was also a good deal easier to manage, saving hours of staff time per month.
Magazine Production
Earth Advantage, a Portland-based noprofit focused on sustainable building education and energy efficiency, needed a marketing vehicle to provide compelling trend information and building case studies to its builder audience and to the general public interested in green construction.
We undertook the creation of the Building Advantage magazine, which combined custom written articles from national and regional industry figures with high quality residential photography and success stories from the organization's client builders. We wrote some of the content ourselves and oversaw all editing. The result was an attractive magazine that made green building techniques look both sophisiticated and mainstream, while establishing the organization's reputation as a regional green building resource. The publication was professional enough that it was accepted for free distribution at Whole Foods, Barnes and Noble, and a range of high-end furniture, appliance and fixture showrooms in the Pacific Northwest. We produced the magazine for two years running.
Ghost Writing
Helios has ghost-witten many published articles for executives and technology managers, for both business and technical publications. In nost cases we also secured the editorial opportunity by pitching the targeted editor.
These articles serve to establish or enhance the executive's or technologist's reputation in the industry. In many cases these pieces serve as "master" articles from which other articles can be derived for other publications, speaking opportunities, and presentations.
Visibility Campaign
As a pioneer and start-up in a little understood niche of the semiconductor industry, MEMSCAP S.A., based on Grenoble, France, was faced with the challenge of both educating the market and securing sales. The opportunities were potentially enormous. These micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS) -- tiny machines with moving parts, etched in silicon -- promised new inexpensive RF and optical switching, as well as new kinds of medical devices.
However, engineers were wary of working with what was considered early product. After evaluating MEMSCAP's market position, we suggested an engagement plan timed to coincide with the largest IC design trade show. In the weeks prior we created an affiliated but neutral-looking website that challenged engineers (definitely a competitive bunch!) to a quiz on their MEMS knowledge. At the same time we provided answers and compelling visuals, and invited the community to submit their own materials. We conducted a PR and email campaign prior to the show to raise awareness of the website. We also set up online computers loaded with the quiz at the show, as a means of drawiing engineers in. We received more than 500 quiz entries, enough sales inquiries to keep the team busy for weeks, and significant trade and business press coverage. Within one year the company had enough interest to go public.
Fortune Magazine Coverage
Business Technology Feature
Client Aavid Engineering (now a public company, Aavid Cooling Technologies) was seeking to secure more visibility for its heat sinks for the computer industry. With shrinking enclosures for laptops, and the increased power consumption by X86 and Pentium Chips, heat elimination was a priority for manufacturers, but cooling technology was antiquated and most products were sourced from Asia. In order to communicate that the industry needed more advanced solutions, we needed a highly visual illsutration. We decided to highlight a skunkworks project from Aavid that demonstrated the viability of liquid cooling for laptops.
Taking the demo on tour we were able to emphasize the urgent need for cooling by showing the proprietary liquid boiling on top of the chip and then circulating as coolant after evaporation and condensation. The press response was overwhelming, with photos published in many trades and business publications. The company received a number of inquiries and ultimately contracts with major chip manufacturers including Intel.