Gasoline Media: Fueling The Industry Since 2000

Launching a new product into the broadcast market is always a challenge. But when you’re lucky enough to have brands such as Sennheiser and DiGiCo on your client roster, you’re already one step ahead, writes Sarah James, Director of Gasoline Media.

Even so, keeping up with the challenges we are presented with on an almost daily basis keeps us on our toes. We all have the challenge of a fast moving and constantly changing marketplace, but we’re also obliged to add new skills to keep up with the altering nature of PR itself.
These include tackling the vast and sometimes thorny issue of social media. It’s a simple task for teenagers who have grown up with platforms such as Facebook as part of the way they communicate on a day-to-day basis, but considering how and, in fact, whether to apply the plethora of available mediums to business takes considerable time; and administering them effectively can mean employing additional resources.
Another challenge for those of us that run small operations is that clients may be toe dipping and won’t have additional budget to devote to this relatively new way of marketing their products.
Indeed, the mind-boggling amount of information on the ever-expanding Internet has brought new tasks in itself. Trying to ensure online material comes out near the top of search engine listings is an ongoing battle.
So how does one tally these challenges and produce a campaign that helps clients launch either a new product into a known market, or a known product into a new market?
Gasoline has recently worked on both sides of this particular fence with Sennheiser UK and DiGiCo.
Sennheiser comes into the first category. The company is already well established in the broadcast market, with its microphones used by top end organisations such as the BBC and Sky, through to independent companies with small mobile units. So one would think that a new product would be simple to sell in.
However, the spectrum sell-off at the end of 2011 saw considerable investment in Channel 38 compatible equipment, so anything new would need to create a stir. Enter its 9000 Series of microphones: the culmination of 10 years of research and development. Not only does it deliver the ultimate in sound quality, it also offers efficient use of bandwidth and allows more channels of microphones to operate in a given frequency range - handy with the constant squeeze on useable spectrum.
With Sennheiser already having launched the series at its headquarters in Germany at the end of 2012, it subsequently took advantage of its association with the V&A museum and work on the phenomenally successful ‘David Bowie Is’ exhibition to launch the 9000 Series in the UK at the beginning of 2013, inviting existing and potential customers and key press to hear what this new product has to offer.
DiGiCo, meanwhile, is best known for its live mixing consoles. However, its roots are firmly in the broadcast and post production industry, the company having bought existing digital console manufacturer Soundtracs back in 2002.
The company has cleverly expanded the functionality of its existing SD range of consoles with application-specific software that makes them directly applicable to other markets, one of which is broadcast, whilst still being able to be used for live applications simply by switching the software off.
We’ve been able to demonstrate the multi-functionality of the range by working closely with the DiGiCo team to identify projects, designers and engineers that demonstrate the relevance of the consoles to the broadcast market over the past couple of years and channelling that through the press, whose support is absolutely vital.
PR requires a very flexible approach and an ever-evolving understanding of the market. Most importantly, it’s a team effort. Maintaining high quality working relationships between us, our clients and the media is fundamental to what we do. Without the latter, even with all the new forms of communication we have, it would be much, much harder to provide an informed and independent view.
Despite the many challenges, we consider ourselves privileged to be a part of the industry as it evolves. For example, it has been fascinating to witness digital become the audio medium of choice over the past 15 years or so. Playing our small part in tasks like helping to convince dyed-in-the-wool analogue engineers to embrace all the advantages of digital has been very rewarding.

Read the article in the online edition of RFV here.