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Security
Backup
Validation
Leveraging
Analysts
Breaking Through the Clutter
Lead Generation
VC Annouce-ment
Chipping Away
Shining
the Light
Predictions
Going Global
Going Local
Buffing a Spa's
Image
Grass Roots
Technical Validation
Consumer Reviews
Corporate Re-position
Corporate Turn-around
David vs. Goliath
Goliath vs. Davids
Rapid Response
Coming to America
After the Launch
Anniversary
Why Is This Site Different From All Other
Sites?
Leveraging Non-Profit Surveys
Serving Professional Service Firm: Bridgestar & the Nonprofit Sector
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Providing Technical Validation Backup to Backup
Software Company
The Challenge
Acronis Inc., founded in 2000, is a leading provider of backup, recovery
and security solutions for physical, virtual and cloud environments. Its
hallmark is its patented disk-imaging technology that enables corporations,
SMBs and consumers to protect their digital assets. Acronis' disaster
recovery, deployment and migration software is positioned to help users
protect their digital information, maintain business continuity and reduce
downtime. A global company headquartered in Woburn, Mass., Acronis sells
its software in more than 180 countries and in 13 languages.
Acronis competes against much larger, better known companies such as
EMC, Symantec and McAfee, as well as smaller well-regarded startups like
Mozy (owned by EMC) and Carbonite. Although its competitors offer different
approaches and technologies and target different customers, one element
they share is that they all outspent Acronis in terms of marketing, spending
heavily on print, broadcast and web advertising. According to Inc. Magazine,
Carbonite "invests millions of dollars a year to have popular radio hosts
such as Beck, Randi Rhodes, and Rush Limbaugh recommend its product to
their rapt and loyal audiences." In contrast, public relations is the
driver of Acronis' major marketing efforts in the U.S.
Acronis selected Birnbach Communications as its agency of record to drive
product coverage for both the Acronis consumer and corporate products
and obtain key industry awards.
Strategic Execution At Work
Birnbach Communications replaced spray-and-pray efforts with efficient
outreach, strategic deployment of programs with broad impact, and obtaining
powerful thought-leadership placement.
At the start of the engagement, the Acronis and Birnbach Communications
team was challenged by what was dubbed "The Most Important Product Launch
in Company History" - the July 2009 launch of Acronis Backup & Recovery
10 (ABR10). Through a series of NDA-based, relationship-building outreach
efforts, the team re-engaged press and analyst relationships that had
withered from inattention and jump-started others that hadn't existed.
In the area of all-important industry awards and reviews, the Acronis
and Birnbach Communications team lasered in on retaining awards Acronis
had won in the past and expanding the list of company awards. This meant
a combination of maintaining strong relationships with editors, reviewers
and judges, looking for new opportunities and ensuring that applications
were supported with the appropriate customer references, data and product/company
positioning.
The Results
By virtually any measure - quality or quantity - the engagement was a
success.
By sheer numbers, coverage in 2010 (with less than half of the number
of press releases and announcements compared to 2008), coverage nearly
doubled.
In an environment with fewer award programs being offered due to outlets
closing and the rising expense of maintaining award programs, Acronis
secured more awards in 2010 than in 2008 - 30 compared to 19 for 2008.
As a result of the team's efforts, Acronis' trophy case now includes such
awards as the Inc. 5000, Everything Channel Partner Program Guide, PC
World 100, Storage Magazine Quality Award, Windows IT Pro Community Choice
Awards, Redmond Magazine Reader's Choice Awards, and Deloitte Technology
Fast 500.
Further, the team's outreach efforts solidified relationships with such
key press and analysts at Gartner, The 451 Group, Storage Strategies Now,
Redmond Magazine, EverythingChannel, Storage Magazine, Internetnews.com,
Taneja Group, IDC, Enterprise Systems Journal, Forrester, Enterprise Management
Associates, CNet, Network World, PC Magazine and PC World.
Key coverage
- Phone+: "VMWare service provider iland has teamed with Acronis, a
backup, recovery and security vendor to offer a cloud-based disaster
recovery and business continuity solution for small and midsized businesses."
(Aug. 31, 2010).
- BizTech: "Agentless
Backup Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Advanced Server Virtual Edition
boasts simplified interface for backup of virtualized platforms"
(Aug. 31, 2010).
- ZDNet: "Virtually
Speaking: Acronis launches online backup targeting SMBs" (Aug. 30,
2010).
- SearchSMBStorage: "Acronis
adds cloud data backup to Acronis Backup and Recovery 10" (Aug.
27, 2010).
- CRN: "12
Cloud-Friendly Products For Virtualized Environments; Stepping To The
Cloud Via Virtualized Infrastructures" (Oct. 27, 2010)
- TechRepublic: "Five
tips for more reliable Acronis backups" (Oct. 18, 2010)
- eWeek: "Intel
Solid-State Drives to Ship with Acronis Data Migration Tool" (Oct.
7, 2010)
- Computer Technology Review: "Acronis
announces availability of Acronis Backup & Recovery 10 Online" (Oct.
5, 2010).
Key reviews
- CNET: "Acronis
Disk Director Advanced Server 11.0" (Oct. 19, 2010)
- CNET: "Acronis
Disk Director Advanced Workstation 11.0" (Oct. 19, 2010)
- CNET: "Acronis
True Image Home 2011" (Oct. 13, 2010)
- eHow: "How
to Back Up a Recovery Drive" (Oct. 19, 2010)
- CNET: "Acronis
Recovery for Microsoft Exchange 1.0 User Reviews" (Oct. 8, 2010)
- Backup Review: "Acronis,
Online Data Backup Service Provider, Launches a New Backup And Recovery
Software For Netbooks" (Oct. 19, 2010)
- 5 stars - reviewed by Best Software 4 Download, Acronis, 2010.
- TopTenReviews: Gold
Award: Acronis True Image Home 2011 is "Ranked #1 of 10 in Disk Imaging
Software, 2010.
- Soft32.com - "Acronis Backup and Security 2010 is a complete tool
designed to offer complete protection against viruses, malware, unwanted
intrusions, data theft or data loss Acronis True Image Home 2010 has
been reviewed by www.softpedia.com editors and received excellent rating,
Acronis, 2010."
Key awards
- Windows IT Pro: Silver medal winner, "Best Backup Software Product"
category for Editors' Best & Community Choice awards, Acronis Backup
and Recovery 2010, 2010.
- Windows IT Pro: Silver medal winner, "Best High Availability/Disaster
Recovery Product" category for Community Choice Award, Acronis Backup
& Recovery 10, 2010.
- Windows IT Pro: Bronze medal winner, Editors' Choice award, Acronis
Backup & Recovery 10, 2010.
- Windows IT Pro: Bronze medal winner, "Best System Utility" category
for Community Choice Award, Acronis Disk Director, 2010.
- Redmond Magazine: 2010 Readers' Choice Awards, Acronis, Best Backup
and Recovery, 2010.
- Internet Telephony Excellence Award, Avistar C3™ Business Pro Edition,
Avistar, 2010.
- Deloitte Fast 500: Acronis, 2010.
- Redmond Magazine: Best Migration Product, Acronis Migrate Easy, Preferred
Product and ISV Winner, 2010.
- Redmond Magazine: Best Server Migration Product, Acronis Backup &
Recover Advanced Server, Preferred Product and ISV Winner, 2010.
- Redmond Magazine: Best Storage-Management Product: Acronis Backup
and Recovery Advanced Server, Preferred Product and ISV Winner, 2010.
- Redmond Magazine: Best Disaster Recovery Product or Service, Acronis
Backup and Recovery Advanced Server, Winner, 2010.
- WindowsNetworking.com: Winner in Backup Category of Readers' Choice
Awards: Acronis True Image Echo Server for Windows, 2010.
- Business Solutions: Best Channel Products 2010, Acronis for the Acronis
10 Advanced Server Virtual Edition, 2010. " WindowsNetworking.com Readers'™
Choice Award Winner - Data Recovery Software: Acronis True Image Enterprise
Server, 2010.
- Business Solutions Magazine: Best Channel Product, Acronis, 2010.
- SearchStorage.com Quality Award, Acronis, 2010.
- Business Solutions Magazine: Best Channel Products 2010, Backup &
Disaster Recovery Software: Acronis 10 Advanced Server Virtual Edition,
2010
- Business Solutions Magazine (BSM) as a Best Channel Product. Acronis
ranked at the top in the Backup & Disaster Recovery Software category,
with its highest scores in the "richness of features/functionality"
and "product reliability/durability" subcategories, Acronis, 2010.
- VirtualizationAdmin.com Readers' Choice Award, Acronis, 2010.
- Quality Awards V, Storage Magazine, Acronis, 2010.
- Best of Synergy Awards, Workforce Productivity Category, Avistar,
Citrix Synergy 2010.
- Everything Channel's 2010 Partner Program Guide and Five-Star Rating,
Acronis, 2010.
- Technology Fast 500 for Acronis, 2010.
- PC Advisor's Best PC Utility award, Acronis, 2010.
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