Technical Advertising

ERIKS

Products -

Campaign –

When The ERIKS Group, a European industrial products distributor acquired WYKO in the UK Technical Publicity became the PR strategic partner that would re-brand the company ERIKS UK.

The product/ service/ offering:

To many on the outside the acquisition of WYKO by ERIKS was a simple, like for like merger. However, the communication challenge was that, as well as being a distributor of industrial products, both companies had other elements that offered specialist technical knowledge across many engineering disciplines. The ERIKS Group strap line ‘the know-how makes the difference’ was to be brought alive in the PR campaign.

Target audience:

A classic case of defining the different publics to influence. Internally, the WYKO employees needed to know what the acquisition would mean for them. Externally, customers, journalists and suppliers all needed information.

Objectives:

To show the new ERIKS UK as a wholly unified company and part of a larger entity as opposed to the previously disparate profile and to move the public perception of the company away from being ‘just’ a distributor.

Strategy:

The PR strategy was devised to offer the target journalists a much greater level of technical information across the entire spectrum of sectors that ERIKS works within. Using a selection of the different PR tools: press launches, journalist visits to manufacturing facilities, 1-1 briefings, press releases, technical articles Technical Publicity would provide proof of the ‘know-how’.

Results:

25 journalists attended a press launch for one of the divisions of the company and produced a huge amount of coverage for ERIKS UK in the trade press. The vast majority of stakeholders are comfortable referring to the company as ERIKS and this comes with a clear understanding of the full scope of the offering.

Quote:

ERIKS UK Marketing Manager, Stuart Sykes – “This has been an enormous project and at times the level of information and different strands of communication threatened to swamp all involved. Technical Publicity’s organizational systems though kept all the plates spinning and their knowledge of and relationships with our target press meant that our new marketing team was able to be effective immediately. Technical Publicity knew the relevant media, they knew the relevant journalists and as such we gained significant coverage in the most influential magazines and websites very quickly.

RESULTS