Medsite: From Online Bookstore to $48 Million E-Detailing Innovator 

Challenge:

Launched as Medbookstore.com in 1997, Medsite coined the term “e-Pharma Marketing,” which became the name of the industry it would dominate for eight years until it was acquired by WebMD in 2006.  In its first few years, the company needed national consumer media presence as it wanted to attract venture funding.  As it grew, Medsite required more targeted trade press coverage to help establish its reputation among physicians and pharmaceutical companies.

Solutions:

KNB created industry-wide awareness and acceptance of “e-Pharma Marketing” and Medsite’s e-Detailing concept through discussions with analysts, from Gartner and Forester to Deloitte and Frost and Sullivan. KNB positioned Medsite as a leader in

pharmaceutical sales and marketing – a company that “delivers education and value-based interaction with 35 percent of physicians worldwide” We sought out opportunities for Medsite to get quoted in popular trade publications for trend stories and achieved visibility in high-profile, nationally recognized publications, such as The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and Investor’s Business Daily.

Results:

Mortgage Lenders Network:  Changing Public Perception During A Crisis

Challenge:

Mortgage Lenders Network USA, Inc., the seventh largest provider of sub-prime mortgages in the country, began to experience a liquidity squeeze in the fall of 2006 and suffered some bad press.  Ill-timed layoff announcements and confusing internal emails that were leaked to the media gave outsiders a sense that MLN was in chaos.  Compounding the problem, MLN executives closed ranks, becoming non-responsive to media and to its own employees.

Solution:

KNB launched the three-pronged campaign with strategic plans for media relations, employee communications and government relations, each executed in under a month.  Negative coverage needed to be countered quickly with accurate information about MLN, which was making a valiant effort to recover from its financial problems with its brand intact.  Even the mortgage industry rumor mill – blogs and message boards – would need to be infiltrated.

Results:

KNB secured interviews and articles from the major financial news wires (Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg News, The Associated Press, Reuters), trade publications (American Banker, National Mortgage News, MortgageDaily.com), plus dozens of regional and local media around the country, including newspapers (Hartford Courant, Boston Globe, The Commercial Record) and TV/Radio (WTIC-TV, WVIT-TV, WTIC-AM, etc.).  All this media coverage was achieved without issuing a single press release.

Most importantly, within days of the first coverage, almost all subsequent news coverage using MLN’s positive messaging, helped maintain the company’s reputable brand in the market.