Challenge
Harvard’s objective was to help Thomson secure a leadership position in the growing market for Freeview settop adaptors. Thomson’s set-top box business had largely been as an OEM supplier to the likes of BSkyB, who then rebranded the boxes and supplied to their customers. So there was much initial work to be done in establishing Thomson as a consumer set-top box brand in the UK.

What we did
Through targeted review programmes and topical interviews with relevant consumer and trade media, Harvard worked to ensure that the Thomson brand has become closely linked with the rapid growth of the Freeview service. However, the print media represented only half the battle. The advent of Digital TV has spawned a large number of high-traffic, community websites, that offer visitors a hot bed of speculation and, often negative, comment on the various Freeview set-top box players. Harvard developed close relationships with the moderators of these websites to ensure that we can act to reduce the impact of any negative comments and highlight Thomson’s commitment to the market.

Outcomes
Excellent reviews obtained in the specialist AV and Satellite media were followed by pick up in the gadget/lifestyle press, successes included group test wins in Digital Home and T3. Relationships with chatroom moderators have enabled us to provide a constant feed of information to end users regarding upgraded features and product launches, thus reducing the customer service calls fielded by Thomson and building customer loyalty. In the last three months, these chatroom relationships have also enabled us to manage problems arising from delays in availability of a much awaited Top Up TV compatible Freeview set-top box.

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