InComm
CASE STUDY
Situation:
InComm has long been established as a leader in the payments industry and is widely recognized as the primary issuer and processor and marketer of store-brand, as well as Visa, MasterCard and American Express gift cards.
As a result, the company has access to mountains of proprietary data that could be leveraged to generate media coverage. Although InComm had previously shared small amounts of data, the company’s leadership team remained guarded about formalizing the practice. The agency worked with the marketing team to develop ways to broaden awareness by using data to reach media.
Approach:
Recognizing the earned media potential of sharing data that can position InComm and its experts as thought leaders, the agency recommended creating the 2018 InComm Holiday Shopping Index. Sharing timely, media-friendly information focused on holiday gift giving and related trends, the agency took the following steps:
Collaborated with InComm’s in-house research team to determine what kind of data were available.
Offered a media perspective, which helped to guide the development of the report, the press release and related messaging.
Conducted a media audit to understand how and where this report fit within media coverage.
Developed all messaging, created all media assets, activated a strategic media relations campaign.
Results:
The inaugural InComm Holiday Shopping Index generated favorable coverage for the company in industry publications such as PaymentsJournal, national business outlets including Forbes, and other broad-reach media including Advertising Age.
After demonstrating the value of leveraging data for media coverage, InComm continues to issue its Holiday Index (now “Holiday Report”). Cumulatively, the Holiday Report generated nearly 700 stories, reaching an audience of more than one billion, and generating publicity value of $8.5 million.
InComm has expanded its repeatable data program to include the Payments Report and the InComm Healthcare Medicare Study.