Neto Baltic, which is part of the worldwide well-known Checkpoint, was a known brand supplier of high-end retail loss-prevention solutions in Lithuania among retailers, but was a more expensive option than its competitors. In spite of the fact that Checkpoint solutions were of high quality and famous world wide, clients started to look for cheaper products. The lack of overall image of Checkpoint in Lithuania became a problem for ongoing successful business development. The main concern of Checkpoint was how to keep its leader position in loss prevention for the retail market without reducing prices, and how to become the experts who people believe in.
The Solution: With our PR campaign we wanted to create an image as the retail shrink management expert. This image would differentiate the company from competitors who are only producing and selling technical products. One of our objectives for the campaign was to build a strong and positive reputation of the company in among businesspeople, especially among retailers. It was necessary for our client to build awareness, stand out against competitors and attract the attention of society to the problem of shoplifting.
Mass advertising was not suitable in this situation; the target group for Checkpoint was identifiable and finite.
Ceckpoint Systems in Europe sponsored a survey of The Centre For Retail Research which results in a unique report called “The European Retail Theft Barometer” (ERTB which reveals the shrinkage rates in European countries during the year). Together with Neto Baltic we offered to include the Baltic countries in the research and to use this interesting information to reach our goals in promoting the Checkpoint brand.
The Results: After the research was completed and data presented in the ERTB we organized a press conference and names it “Wars in the stores”. We selected the Christmas shopping season to release the report, and when inviting the journalists to the press conference stressed that Christmas is not only a time of increased sales, but it is also a time of increasing shrinkage caused by shoplifting.
With a simple press conference in 2007, the fifth year of the event, we covered all the national media. The results were stunning and the press conference caught the attention of most of the media. Six television stations (all national TV that exists in Lithuania), covered the report for their news. Ten journalists from daily newspapers covered the news as one of the main topics of the days as well as four radio stations. There were also 22 entries on internet news portals. All the reports and articles included at least one photograph with the head of Neto Baltic, theft or loss solutions´ equipment or the chart from the report containing statistical data.
The journalists interviewed not only Neto Baltic, but also their clients.
The Worldcom PR Group agencies advising this account are:
PR Net Baltic, the Baltics (www.prbaltic.eu)
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