Case study: Hyperwave

Making sense of it all

Strong, consistent visual brand identities need to be matched with equally powerful, consistent marketing messages. That was the logic which led enterprise knowledge management specialist Hyperwave to turn to the Writing Machine marketing message methodology.

When it comes to marketing, common sense is required - in spades. It's also at the heart of Writing Machine's marketing message methodology.

This approach is one that asks companies a series of simple questions. Do you really know what your company stands for? Would your colleagues say the same? Could you, if required, pass this information on to a new employee or even a customer?

Most organisations have a general idea of what they are trying to say and to who. Typically, it is presented as a company 'ethos' and spread through an organisation by word of mouth. Very seldom are such messages rigorously refined, clarified and documented.

Writing Machine's message methodology is based on the belief that a company can - and should - define the high level marketing messages that characterise a company in its market places.

Once properly defined and agreed with those at the very top of the company, this information can be disseminated throughout the entire organisation. The result is that every single member of the business - and any future recruits - have a document which tells them exactly what their company stands for. Subsequently that knowledge will truly empower them both within the organisation and without.

It is these benefits that enterprise knowledge management specialist Hyperwave is already reaping. Having grown from its strong academic origins at the Technical University of Graz to become an international player in the heady world of knowledge management, Hyperwave had an outstanding product to offer the market. However, the company's rapid growth had left it without coherent marketing messages, something is asked Writing Machine to help it rectify.

Following some initial research into the company, Writing Machine's messaging consultants conducted a series of discussions with the company's founders and senior executives. Based on these, Writing Machine developed Phase I - a set of powerful, high-level marketing messages that add coherence and strength to its marketing strategy.

Terry Jordan, vice president of marketing at Hyperwave, says that Writing Machine's input is already having a significant effect on the corporate positioning of the organisation. "Like many technical organisations, Hyperwave has excelled in the development of the product. But in order to thrive in the new global economy, quality software is just not good enough. You also need to have a highly distinctive, highly powerful, and extremely refined marketing position to sell in this crowded market. That is precisely the kind of messaging that Writing Machine has helped us achieve."

The second wave

With this set of valuable marketing messages in place that could be used to underpin all of Hyperwave's corporate literature, the project needed to be taken to another level.

Phase II, the chance to put this good work into practice, was the next step. Writing Machine created a comprehensive view of the organisation that the company's employees could recognise and reflect in all future marketing collateral. In Hyperwave's case, the information uncovered ranged from the specifications of the company's products and technologies, to its history and, critically, to its competitors.

Access to such information benefits any organisation in that it provides a solid and consistent foundation for any future marketing initiatives. What's more, Writing Machine has used this information to create documents that can be used to empower salespeople, or to introduce new employees or business partners to the ins and outs of the company.

Paul Ayling, MD Writing Machine explains the value of Phase II saying that "a great idea is worthless without a methodical approach to the implementation process. What is so exciting about this project is that it has brought Hyperwave's Phase I Marketing Messages alive, and disseminated them across the entire organisation. By covering every aspect of corporate identity, from company history to competitive positioning, Phase II has turned Hyperwave's top level messages into practical tools that can be applied to any marketing project."

According to Jordan, "Phase II of Writing Machine's Marketing Messages Guidelines has given us an extensive repository of finely wordsmithed corporate information. What we have now is, in effect, the foundations for the rest of our marketing collateral. All the messaging (and most of the raw copy) that Hyperwave will need has already been created.

New marketing projects can therefore be implemented very rapidly, cost effectively and with great consistency anywhere in the world."

And that's something that makes a lot of sense indeed.