We arranged 26 interviews for SWIFT spokespeople before and during Sibos, which took place in October 2010. There were 95 pieces of press coverage in target publications available at the event.
The challenge
SWIFT is a member-owned co-operative that connects over 9,500 banking organisations, corporates and financial institutions in 209 countries. As the organiser of the annual Sibos banking conference, SWIFT wanted to leverage the event to build its own profile, and in particular to highlight its role as the central nervous system for global financial services.
Our response
We devised a special programme of media training to help hone the messages that SWIFT’s spokespeople would deliver, and to tease out the most striking stories. In the weeks before the event, we built key media relationships through dedicated briefings with journalists. This included targeting the three daily publications distributed at Sibos, as well as other publications that would be available at the conference, which in 2010 was held in Amsterdam.
At the event itself, Fishburn Hedges organised the logistics around the SWIFT spokespeople’s demanding interview schedules. We also helped manage a busy press lounge and on-site hospitality for over 100 journalists, working to identify the SWIFT and Sibos brands much more closely to media audiences.
Results
We arranged a total of 26 interviews for SWIFT spokespeople before and during Sibos 2010. There were 95 pieces of press coverage in target publications available at the event, and good coverage continued over subsequent weeks. The tone of coverage was positive, reflecting the record attendance at the event. The follow-on media interest has been sustained, with requests for further information and interest in post-Sibos press releases.
