EthicsPoint ( www.ethicspoint.com ), a provider of ethics and compliance reporting solutions, selected viaLanguage for the translation of its ethics reports. By interviewing EthicsPoint, identifying the most interesting aspects of the solution and mapping to current industry trends, WC focused the press announcement on Section 301 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Section 301 requires public companies to adopt whistleblower reporting systems that are available to all employees, including those in international locations and non-English speaking employees located within the U.S. This made the announcement timely, interesting and successful. The announcement garnered numerous articles including a contributed article titled Whistleblowing Goes Global and placement with Dow Jones News Services.

"Weikum Communications landed extraordinary coverage of the viaLanguage/EthicsPoint story. Rachel drafted a strong release, provided a good pitch and gave great guidance throughout the interview process."

Keith Halasy , Director of Marketing, EthicsPoint, Inc.

Tripwire, inc ( www.tripwire.com) Through the use of news announcements, product reviews efforts, contributed article placement and analyst relations Tripwire's coverage more than doubled from one year to the next. The focus of this case study is on a partnership announcement.

Advancing open standards, Tripwire, HP, IBM, InstallShield and Sun formed an open standards initiative for safer computing called the File Signature Database (FSDB). Identifying the key success elements was the first step in defining the PR strategy for this announcement. Those key elements consisted of the well-known company names, willingness of executive-level participation and the open standards trend that has international scope.

Based on those elements the following PR strategy was completed:

• Developed joint media materials including media alert, press release with quote sheet, FAQ document and executive level talking points.
• Media alert sent out notifying press about an upcoming international conference call with executives from HP , IBM, InstallShield, Sun and Tripwire.
• Day of conference call issued press release/quote sheet.

The PR campaign was successful. Numerous journalist and analysts participated in the conference call and resulted in over 30 articles appearing nationally and internationally in top technology publications.

“I was impressed with the process and strategic direction that Rachel provided during this announcement. The coverage we secured accurately reflected the importance of this initiative.”

Sue Willingham, public relations, HP