Winner
Euro RSCG Magnet (formerly Magnet Communications and MessageLabs: Diagnosing and treating America's virus and spam epidemic)

“Viagra,” “Lowest mortgage rates,” “Hot XXX action!” Internet users everywhere are all too familiar with such e-mail messages, but as spam becomes even more abundant, so have the options for fighting intrusive e-mails.

In 2003, as companies began to realize the financial toll of spam and viruses, UK-based MessageLabs opened its New York headquarters and hired Magnet as its agency of record. But the managed e-mail security firm arrived in the US at a time when many better-known players were coming forward with products and solutions to help companies battle spam and viruses.

MessageLabs lacked the established US presence that many enterprises want in an IT service provider. And while the media was writing about spam, stories were more about the pervasiveness of the problem, not the impact of spam and viruses on business.

So Magnet was faced with building MessageLabs' brand in the US, while positioning the company as an industry leader and trusted source of data and analysis. Magnet also sought to demonstrate the advantages of a managed security service, compared with e-mail protection software based on gateway or desktop technology. After thorough audience analysis and industry research, Magnet decided to focus on measurable ROI and highlight MessageLabs' ability to produce up-to-the-minute statistics and trend information.

Magnet developed monthly reports and press releases with compiled spam, virus, and pornography statistics. It also focused on media outreach to alert businesses of virus outbreaks and demonstrate the effectiveness of MessageLabs' technology to identify and stop viruses. Magnet developed relationships with key reporters by assisting with investigative reporting, producing white papers and briefings, and making company executives easily accessible.

“There are dozens of products out there, and they managed to rise above of them all in a very crowded market,” said one judge. “They did exactly what they set out to do.”

Since April 2003, MessageLabs' share of media coverage has increased 300%, surpassing most well-known competitors and generating more than 1,150 individual print, online, and broadcast placements in the past six months alone.

As the first company to provide concrete information on the SoBig.F virus, MessageLabs in one week gained more than 800 print and online placements in which its data was used. Also, client executives fielded interview requests from the likes of The Wall Street Journal, The New York Times, AP, and CNN. Perhaps most important, the campaign generated over 1,000 business leads, and US revenue increased more than 300% in 2003.

Honorable Mention
Bite Communications and BEA Systems: BEA – Reclaiming the agenda

For nearly eight years, BEA reigned as the leading vendor of high-end middleware – the application server. But an increase in competition from IBM and Oracle, and consolidation within enterprise software, led analysts, the media, and competitors to question the firm's viability. BEA worked with Bite Communications to address such doubts, and to redirect the enterprise IT discussion back to BEA, establishing credibility for the firm in the business integration space. The campaign helped BEA's WebLogic software beat IBM's WebSphere in media prominence studies in August 2003 for the first time. The effort also led to a Gartner survey of application platform suites that ranked BEA highest in vision and ability to execute. What's more the company's stock price more than doubled last year. In the eyes of the media, industry analysts, and shareholders, BEA remains a major player in the enterprise software market.

Finalists 2004
Bite Communications and BEA Systems: BEA – Reclaiming the agenda

Edelman and InFocus Corporation: Boldly reinvent mobile projection

Euro RSCG Magnet (formerly Magnet Communications) and MessageLabs: Diagnosing and treating America's virus and spam epidemic

OnStar Communications: Using the voice of the customer to tell the OnStar story

OutCast Communications and Mercury Interactive: Get optimized

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