Overview

Heading into the 2006 holiday shopping season, Mio Technology was at a crucial junction. A well-respected name in Europe and Asia, the provider of personal navigation devices, digital assistants and smart phones was virtually unknown in North America. In order to compete in the exploding personal navigation market, the company needed to build positive brand recognition and tout their products as “must-have” gifts for the holiday season. With early trial retail agreements in place, Mio partnered with Text 100 to implement a public relations campaign involving both traditional and social media approaches to develop a strong presence in North America and position the company as a strong contender against Garmin, Magellan and TomTom.

In September, Mio and Text 100 organized three events to introduce audiences to Mio’s portable and stylish GPS device. Held in art galleries in San Francisco, New York City and Toronto and timed to coincide with holiday story development, the events allowed press, partners and customers to mingle with Mio spokespeople and interact with the new products. Next, the PR team conducted outreach to online, print and broadcast outlets in the US and Canada for inclusion in holiday gift guides, specifically focusing on lifestyle publications, such as Maxim, Seventeen and even Playboy, that had yet to cover GPS products. Last, a comprehensive product reviews program was established to secure reviews timed with the holiday shopping season. Units were given to select reviewers from top-tier outlets leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday. Text 100 created demand from the media for the review units that overwhelmingly exceeded the supply with the waiting list for review units triple the amount of products available.

Mio Technology was one of the most talked-about GPS vendors during the holiday season. Altogether, more than 35 pieces of top-tier coverage appeared during the six-week prime shopping season. Placements included major business and consumer outlets such as TIME Magazine, Stuff, PC World Canada and BusinessWeek. Mio was also featured on the national daytime talk shows “Martha--The Martha Stewart Show” and ESPN’s “Cold Pizza,” and free devices were given away to every audience member during a special taping of “Dr. Phil.” Targeted for outreach during the typically quiet Thanksgiving week, Mio devices were included in several Black Friday shopping stories, and sales of the devices more than surpassed Mio’s expectations, with most retail stores selling out by 6:15 a.m. on Black Friday. According to The NPD Group, a leading consumer and retail information company, Mio captured an industry-leading 37 percent of the personal navigation device market share for the week ending November 25, 2006, including Black Friday.