The Portuguese company Sonae Arauco is one of the world’s largest manufacturers of wood-based solutions. The company had taken over a German company a few years ago. In 2017, Sonae Arauco wanted to use the international furniture and interior design fair Interzum in Cologne to announce its plans with the German company and gain the trust of existing and potential new business partners. Our aim was to create trust among media representatives during the trade fair and to promote positive reports in the target media. The best and most convincing person to tell the complex story of the company and to explain the change management was the CEO of Sonae Arauco. However, the best way to get the desired messages across was not an anonymous press conference, where trust is hard to build. Instead, we recommended the path of individual press meetings, which allow for personal acquaintance and intensive exchange, thus maximizing understanding and trust. In a first step, a few weeks before the fair started, we called all target media and introduced ourselves and Sonae Arauco. After the telephone calls, the journalists each received a first press release about the renaming of the German company to Sonae Arauco and a second press release about the innovations that Sonae Arauco would present at the Interzum. This created the first attention. A short time later, we contacted all the editors again to invite them to a personal meeting with the CEO. At the fair, we acted as the first point of contact for the journalists. The result was excellent. On the basis of the first press releases, there were already articles in some important target media before the trade fair. In addition, 14 of 18 important media followed our invitation and visited the customer at the stand. 10 of these 14 journalists also conducted 20- to 30-minute interviews with the CEO, which resulted in 10 major articles – some even multi-page – in these media after the trade fair. Last but not least, the key media who did not report in advance and who did not conduct interviews also reported on the renaming and new products after the fair. Summary
Strategy
Execution and creativity
Results
Sonae Arauco – Trade fair PR at Interzum
