Case study
BATTERY POWER, RECHARGED
-
client
Accutronics / Ultralife -
Date
29/02/2024 -
category
Manufacturing -
Title
TBC
The brief
Batteries power everything these days; from electronic toothbrushes and smoke alarms to mobile phones and motor vehicles. But how often do you check who or where tour batteries come from? Sometimes? Never? Or do you prefer to simply scrape one from the bottom of a drawer and hope it has enough juice left to power the TV remote?
NASDAQ listed company, Ultralife, and its battery-producing subsidiary, Accutronics, wanted to change this narrative and propel the humble battery into the spotlight — enter Stone Junction.
Tasked with launching Ultralife and Accutronics in to emerging energy sectors, Stone Junction had to target these new categories without neglecting those already established and shaking investor faith.
With links in both the UK and USA, Ultralife needed a PR agency with experience in international media relations as well as technical and industrial content. Stone Junction stepped up to the (battery) plate and begun, Battery power, recharged.
STRATEGY & RESEARCH
STONE JUNCTION HAS BEEN INSTRUMENTAL IN HELPING SHAPE AND DELIVER OUR PR AND MARKETING PLAN. IT'S IMPORTANT TO SHARE OUR EXPERTISE AND KNOWLEDGE WITH OUR TARGET MARKETS, NOT JUST PUSHING PRODUCTS AND SERVICES.
Much like the battery is the powerhouse of any technology, the Ultralife stakeholders were the human equivalent to our campaign. Initial research established who they were, their concerns and how best we could influence them.
By tackling their on going pain points — neglecting product benefits, undervaluing and not demonstrable effectiveness, lowering shares and company stability and foregoing business expansion — we formed our core message.
Ultralife and Accutronics products re reliable and more important, can be relied upon to last. From this stage onward the campaign could be split into three main phases:
- Thought leadership and changing opinion
- Trade media interactions
- Infographics and social media
All of these components complimented each other’s agenda. Thought leading content was distributed and recirculated via trade media, which was later reinforced by informational digital design assets and hero content spread across social media.
All of this had to be delivered in accordance with NASDAQ regulations, which prohibited any message what would directly influence share value.
EXECUTION
THE COMBINATION OF THE GROWING DEFENCE MARKET AND ULTRALIFE’S RENEWED FOCUS IN THE EUROPEAN MARKET, IS A POWERFUL ONE. STONE JUNCTION’S HAND IN PRESENTING OUR PRODUCTS WITHIN EUROPE HAS BEEN INSTRUMENTAL TO OUR CAMPAIGN SUCCESS. IT’S WON AWARDS AFTER ALL!
The foundation of this campaign was establishing key connections within the trade media including publications such as Connectivity, EUREKA! and Engineering Times.
We stressed exclusivity for certain medical and electronics journalists to further improve relations whilst targeting those that would best suit our campaign.
Consistent commissions throughout the year, enhanced our coverage and brand awareness. managing to secure Ultralife a place in every robotics and smart home feature in the magazines targeted.
In order not to neglect both the existing Accutronics/ Ultralife market and their concerned shareholders we secured a regular column in a key military publication, Global Military Communications (GMC).
Accutronics/ Ultralife featured in 83 per cent of GMC’s content.
Once traction was established, it was a matter of maintaining momentum with regular media communication, content distribution and reissuing. All media coverage was shared with the relevant analysts, notably Ardour and Sidoti, who Ultralife identified as a key influence.
RESULTS & EVALUATION
STONE JUNCTION HAS BEEN SUCCESSFUL TO AN UNPRECEDENTED DEGREE IN PROVIDING THE NECESSARY MULTI-LINGUAL, MULTINATIONAL PR SERVICE REQUIRED FOR OUR GROWTH.
Objective One:
290 clippings were generated across the campaign exceeding the target by 150 per cent.
One press clipping per £61.50 spent on public relations.
Total of 104 clippings within the robotics and home automation media exceeding our target by 62.5 per cent.
Objective Two:
Ultralife is the top Google search result for “robot battery manufacturer” and #10 for “batteries for robots”.
Accutronics also ranks #9 for “robot battery manufacturer”
Coverage for Ultralife on The Robot Report ranks #17 for “batteries for robots”
Objective Three:
Achieved an even balance across all sectors so as not to neglect current fields of interest or stockholders
18 per cent robotics coverage
19 per cent automation
22 per cent medical coverage
17 per cent military coverage
10 per cent security coverage
Objective Four:
Ultralife’s shares moved upwards from $4.80, when the campaign started, to $10.15 by the end of the year.
Shares increased by 4 dollars since December 2018 and EPS (Earning per share) has increased by 107 per cent per year.