We doubled Bank of America’s Sibos-related coverage in 2007 and 2008 compared with the middle of the decade, with particular success in the specific sector press
The Challenge
We worked for 15 years for Bank of America, supporting its EMEA businesses, including the capital raising, trading and advisory business and its GPS business. The latter faced a significant challenge of differentiation in a market where BoA was seen as more North American than some competitors, and the bank’s scale and technology investment not appreciated.
Our response
In addition to communicating news stories through the year around client wins and new technology developments, we supported GPS at the EuroFinance and Sibos events over several years. This included pitching to pre-conference publications in the early summer, after developing the bank’s news agenda and hot topics for Sibos, followed by targeting of the “on the racks” publications and then arranging 20+ media interviews each year at Sibos itself. Press releases were also used, but with a high bar to ensure news value and proof points.
Results
Highlights included an interview with then CEO Ken Lewis in Sibos Issues at Boston in 2007, followed by extensive coverage of his speech at the conference in business and trade press. In Vienna in 2008 we arranged 16 pre-Sibos interviews, including one with GPS head Cathy Bessant, which helped ensure a disproportionate “on the racks” presence, and led to a range of by-lined article opportunities.
