Steelcase: Elevating a Reputation with Stakeholders
Challenge: Steelcase, the world’s largest manufacturer of office environments, needed to elevate its cachet among its customers, industry influencers and the general public to expand beyond product and to showcase the company’s design, research and environmental leadership. Peppercom helped Steelcase position the Leap chair launch as a major breakthrough in seating technology.
Strategy & Execution: By leveraging the tremendous amount of research and development that Steelcase committed to the Leap chair, partnering with the Chicago Mayor’s Office to declare “Back Pain Awareness Day,” and donating Leap chairs to the Chicago Public Library and the United Way, Peppercom was able to successfully launch the product. Peppercom has also helped Steelcase foray into digital media and adopt Web 2.0 communications strategies, reinvigorating interest in an established product among a new audience.
Result: The initial launch resulted in a Wall Street Journal exclusive and generated more qualified sales leads for Leap than for any other Steelcase product at the time. Since then, the chair has received coverage across nearly every major print, broadcast and online media outlet.
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