Case History

Unleashing "The Power of Now"

 

Situation

Two years before its IPO, TIBCO Software, a subsidiary of Reuters PLC, was a consulting firm specializing in enterprise middleware infrastructure – consultants without products in a highly complex space that TIBCO CEO Vivek Ranadive himself called "boring." We were hired to help the company raise its visibility and position itself for a IPO, providing senior level marketing and public relations strategy and support.

I've hired the firm four times over the last 15 years. They settle for nothing less than dominance of any area they tackle for their clients. If you can get them, you should hire them. They will be a key ingredient of making your business successful.

—Dick O'Donnell, TIBCO

Objectives

  • Raise the profile of the company and its category
  • Build TIBCO into a recognized Internet infrastructure brand

 

Special Connections

  • We counseled TIBCO to "productize" its solutions and identified a set of competitors in order to give the media the products and category set needed to create coverage in this emerging area.
  • We stayed in front of industry trends by evolving TIBCO’s messaging from "middleware" to "enabling infrastructure for the emerging e-business/Internet marketplace".
  • We worked with Demo to sponsor a "TIBCO Day" that exposed the company to industry influencers.
  • We recruited the company’s impressive list of partners as media references and framed all news announcements to focus on e-business benefits vs. technology.
  • When customer references were not scarce, we turned partner announcements at the company’s annual customer events into major trade media coverage.
  • We ghostwrote a book, The Power Of Now, for CEO Vivek Ranadive and conducted a book media tour during the company’s IPO quiet period that helped Ranadive and his company be very visible during this important time.
  • We helped build "The Power of Now" into a company vision platform, integrated into all communications, from website design through annual report theme.

 

Results

  • One leading enterprise analyst said she "had never seen a company emerge so quickly"
  • IDC named TIBCO #1 in its new businessware category
  • TIBCO media coverage went from one article in the year before we were hired to more than 200 in year 1 with us, 500 in year 2 with us and more than 700 in our third year of working together.
  • The Power of Now book tour resulted in business coverage in media such as CBS network TV, CNN, CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, and Fortune immediately preceding the IPO
  • TIBCO was one of most successful IPOs of all times, reaching a peak market capitalization of nearly $30 billion.