Case Study
Global Beverage Company: Beat Journalist Favorability and Influencers
Challenge
The Edelman Team contacted StrategyOne to conduct a retroactive analysis of one of a leading global beverage company’s beat journalists, after she had written a particularly negative article toward the company. The analysis specifically focused on the third-party sources she quoted in her articles, how these changed over time, and whether that correlated to a drop in overall favorability toward the client.
Research
StrategyOne:
- Isolated the beat journalist’s articles from a larger database of the client’s comprehensive coverage
- Analyzed each article for the client’s favorability, topics driving coverage, company spokespeople, and third-party influencers
- Compared trends in the client’s average favorability over a 7-month period with the journalist’s use of third-party influencers
Insight
StrategyOne discovered there was a direct correlation between the global beverage company’s drop in favorability and the journalist’s use of non-authoritative third-party influencers—such as unknown consumers and bloggers—to gain information about the company.
Action
The research confirmed the need for Edelman and the client to re-establish a positive relationship with the journalist and increase company spokespeople visibility within her articles.
