Media coverage, industry awards and better search results, thanks to Crucial product launch

Task

Micron’s Crucial M500 SSD launched as the world’s first consumer-friendly SSD drives. Firefly was tasked with the UK launch of the Crucial M500 SSD.

Firefly advised that Search plays an increasingly important role in a manufacturer’s success in this market. Relevant to Crucial are terms such as “SSD drives” and “SSD drive”, which was at that time searched 6,600 and 2,900 times in the UK respectively. “SSD reviews” was searched 790 times, but had a very high cost-per-click bid price and was dominated by editorial outlets, so getting coverage on these sites was essential.

Execution

Firefly planned a launch campaign devised of reviews in top tier technology press, including the likes of Expert Reviews, Register Hardware, PC Advisor, Computer Shopper and bit-tech. Firefly created its tiered media lists in order to prioritise the client’s budget and the samples available.  Tiers were determined according to criteria based on readership, search effectiveness and sales potential.

The M500 drive was launched on Tuesday 9^th April 2013 worldwide, after the initial announcement at CES 2013. Firefly set about distributing samples to tier 1 media, in order to get review coverage in both online and print mediums. 

impact

As part of a four-month outreach programme, Firefly managed to secure coverage for the M500 drive in all targeted tier 1 press (15 publications in total) including the likes of ComputerActive, Computer Shopper, PC Format and PC Advisor, as well as Expert Reviews, bit-tech, Hardware Heaven, Tech Radar, The Register and HEXUS.

From a search perspective, the reviews programme contributed towards Micron’s Crucial having the top manufacturer search result for “SSD drives” and “SSD drive” and appearing prominently in editorial results for “SSD drive reviews” and other key terms.

In addition, the M500 was shortlisted for several industry awards, including the Expert Reviews 2013 award for best storage products, whilst winning the award for best storage product at the PC Pro Excellence Awards.

As a result of PR activity, the M500 also gained admirers outside of the usual tech press, with Wired going on to review the drive ahead of any rival products, along with Stuff Magazine, further extending the reach of the review campaign outside of the technology focused audience.