This document summarizes a presentation given by Chris Hawley of Raytheon about how the company covered the 2012 Farnborough Air Show using digital and social media. The challenges included security restrictions and the need to get government approvals. Raytheon created a microsite with multimedia content refreshed daily. Through efforts like a Tweetup, the coverage reached over 3 million people. Lessons included writing stories in advance and prioritizing quality over quantity of content.
BlogWell Los Angeles Social Media Case Study: Raytheon, presented by Chris Hawley
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Chris Hawley
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Los Angeles Brand Journalism on the Flight Line:
December 5, 2012 How Raytheon Covered the
socialmedia.org/blogwell Farnborough Airshow
3. Operation: Brand Journalism
The air shows in The Assignment: Create a Farnborough
Air Show microsite offering near real-
Farnborough, UK and time features, news, videos and photos.
Paris, France (alternating
The Challenges:
years) are the most – Much of what we sell and who we sell it to is secret
or sensitive
important trade shows for – Event is closed to public most of the week
the aerospace and – Governments must approve many of our stories
– Arms export laws
defense industry – Visual restrictions (we can’t show uniformed military
officers, for example.)
– Weapons are a delicate subject when writing for the
public
– Show was smaller than previous years, our budget
for show tighter
– “Scrubbed” computers and tight security
complicated live reporting
– Time difference complicated posting
– Six autonomous divisions unaccustomed to
collaborating on stories.
– Corporate culture not used to writing for general
public
12/18/2012 2
4. Our Strategy
www.raytheon.com/media/fia12
Started planning two months in advance with weekly calls
involving PR, trade show folks, etc.
Most content prepared before the show and topped off with
breaking quotes and color as soon as approvals could be secured.
On-site PR folks secured approvals (in one case securing
permission to quote a Royal Air Force officer within 24 hours)
One dedicated reporter on-site
Clearly communicated the need for speed and journalistic
standards
– Insisted on real interviews
– Asked company presidents not to tinker with quotes
– Candid photos
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5. Microsite Editorial Calendar
Content/Channel Monday, July 9 Tuesday, July 10 Wednesday, July 11 Thursday, July 12 Friday, July 13
Aviation Warrior ISR story (off briefing) ATM/order new skies Int'l Business (Hawley) Tweetup #meetRay
Main FIA12 Feature Hawley (Hawley)
SM-3 CDU/RACR/F-16s MilCom TARC set up TARC
2nd FIA12 Feature
NASAMS Tweetup Primer GPS OCX Mini-Munitions Aviation Warrior
3rd FIA12 Feature
SM-3 test footage; CDU video 24 hours of flight Culligan interview clips
Videos/YouTube Aviation warrior video
SM-3 photo gallery; 2 Tweet gallery Indian ATC hub gallery Business Presidents Tweep Photo Gallery;
NASAMS/ESSM images; photo gallery (int'l travel); Group shot; TARC
Photography
Aviation Warrior model mini-munitions art competition photos
images; EKV
SM-3 evolution AESA Infographic Gate-to-Gate Infographic Patriot Infographic
Infographics/Graphics infographic & NASAMS
infographic
SM-3 Learjet Patriot at sunset Twitter bird
Wallpaper
SM-3 package data link Tweetup Primer; DDR news coverage; WHS Int'l Business; News Tweetup #meetRay;
news; Aviation warrior news w/Hawley story; media coverage; 24 coverage; TARC (MMU lead)
Twitter video; ADAS comic strip; news coverage; CDU hours of flight
Culligan broadcast video; WHS media
interviews coverage
Aviation Warrior package CDU video; Pilot's 24 hours of flight TARC set up; Patriot TARC competition
Facebook w/ indy elements account of AESA Wallpaper; Patriot
Infographic
Aviation Warrior; SM-3 DDU news w/Hawley 24 hours of flight Int'l Business TARC competition
data link news; story
Google+ NASAMS/ ESSM news;
Culligan broadcast
interviews
12/18/2012 4
6. Leverage Digital & Social Media Channels
LINKEDIN GOOGLE +
Major News Major News
Rocketry contest Cool Tech
Videos
Interactives
(internal only)
YOUTUBE
Videos
Interactives
FARNBOROUGH
MICROSITE
TWITTER
FACEBOOK “Headline News”
Rocketry contest Videos
Chalet Gallery Photography
Photos Interactives
Rocketry contest
Tweetup
8. Design With Multimedia Focus
Clean, simple
2012 Farnborough-
design
specific navigation
Emphasis on
Raytheon official
visuals
social media account
stream (Facebook,
Twitter, Google+ and
YouTube)
Strategic tags for
each post and ability
to sort stories by tag
Continually refreshed
Daily sub-stories multimedia assets on
home page
12/18/2012 7
10. Farnborough Tweetup amplified impact
23 participants, 21,000+ followers
US (Arizona, Illinois, Ohio, Washington),
UK, Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands
218 people sent 1,200
tweets using #meetRay
> 3 million impressions
Net reach 488,000 people
Security folks had some misgivings at beginning
(confidentiality, protests, liability) --
communication was key to getting them on board Farnborough Airshow Week
11. New Content Each Day
With a robust editorial calendar, content was refreshed each day of the show according to the
day’s priorities on site. 12/18/2012 10
12. Content-rich feature stories
Feature stories included related multimedia –
photos, videos and infographics.
Editorial quality improved, increasing average
visit duration on site from 11 minutes last year
to over 18 minutes this year.
Enhanced readability with use of pull quotes.
12/18/2012 11
13. Results: More impact with less content
2011 2012
Paris Farnborough Change
Airshow Airshow
Total Posts 53 27 -49.1%
Videos 49 13 -73.5%
Infographics 5 8 +60%
Visitors 8,385 12,690 +51.3%
Average Visit
12:05 18:34 +53.7%
Duration
Int’l Visits 12.22% 22.86% +87%
* 10-day metrics taken from Sunday pre-show to Wednesday post-show
14. Lessons Learned
Get all stories written ahead of time, top off with fresh quotes
as necessary
Quality over quantity
One-company stories and big-picture context
Make sure photographers understand journalistic focus
(candid shots, etc.) and don’t over-program them with
assignments
Plan time for dumping photos and video
Give the audience what it wants!
12/18/2012 13
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