Starting today, March will periodically highlight successful “live” client campaigns.  The goal of this is not to showcase client case studies and ramble about the great work that we’ve done – and do – for clients, but more to demonstrate various strategies we’ve implemented and the thinking behind them.  As always, reader feedback, suggestions, commentary, etc is always welcome…

This week’s live campaign highlights a recent issues response initiative we executed for TmaxSoft, an enterprise system software provider.  Headquartered in S. Korea with a U.S. presence for about two years now, TmaxSoft offers various solutions to help customers modernize legacy enterprise systems and reap the benefits of SOA.  We’ve been supporting TmaxSoft most around the U.S. launch of its OpenFrame 6.0 re-hosting solution – a cost-efficient alternative to IBM’s legacy mainframes.

In December, IBM launched a Linux-specific line of mainframes as part of the company’s ongoing efforts to reduce the system’s costs.  This presented a perfect opportunity to craft targeted pitches to reporters covering the news to educate them on re-hosting and showcase OpenFrame as a viable alternative to IBM’s mainframes.

From a high-level, tactics included:

-          Identify six reporters at leading IT publications to pitch

-          Lead with a catchy title: “IBM’s Linux Specific Mainframe Delays the Inevitable”

-          Summarize IBM’s announcement and discuss why its delaying the inevitable – of enterprises looking to get off of the mainframe

-          Introduce re-hosting as a cost-efficient alternative to the mainframe

Despite pitching reporters during the holidays, we secured three interviews, two of which resulted in feature stories about TmaxSoft, one even headlining how TmaxSoft was challenging IBM:

• eWeek, Jeffrey Burt: TmaxSoft OpenFrame Challenges IBM Mainframe Business
• SD Times, David Rubenstein: TmaxSoft replicates mainframes on open systems

These two pieces of coverage were spot on for TmaxSoft as they both positioned the company head-to-head against its main competitor and helped to increase awareness about OpenFrame and re-hosting.  This campaign is a great example of how effective targeted outreach can be.