Case Studies

In consulting and employment capacities, Paul Oliva has led a wide variety of projects. Here are some samples.

Communicating Value & Repositioning a Brand

How to stimulate interest—let alone improve understanding—by world leaders in a company’s core business? While working at leading financial services company, Oliva generated the attention of global leaders and influencers through an integrated program to communicate how electronic payments are essential for economic modernization.

Oliva used a strategic partnership with an international public policy organization to deliver a co-branded white paper, itself developed as a detailed follow-up to an economic analysis for which Oliva had arranged a launch at a private United Nations luncheon. Oliva was the principal writer for the paper and managed expert input, editing, design and printing. Oliva then arranged launch and distribution reaching some 5000 global leaders and influencers through various elements:

• Comprehensive public and internal distribution via a dedicated “hot topic” at the corporate site and via employee email and intranet
• Direct mail
• Global news release distribution
• CEO speeches, presentations and print and broadcast media exposure
• A series of events featuring top executives from the company, including a meeting of commonwealth financial sector leaders, a World Resource Institute conference on poverty eradication, the UN’s launch of its International Year of Microcredit, and the World Economic Forum 2005 Annual Meeting in Davos
• A dozen case studies featuring detailed examples of the use of the company’s solutions for modernization from around the world
• Tie-ins to product initiatives on microfinance, remittances and government payments

Advocating Sound Policy

An essential way to advance policy interests is to get facts on the table. In one example of such a project, Oliva worked with the Bay Area Economic Forum to contribute to effective debate around the expansion of San Francisco Bay Area airports:

• Worked with economists and airport exports to produce an economic analysis of air transport needs in the region
• Designed and wrote a public report within the budget available to the project
• Acted as a spokesperson on the subject

› White Paper - pdf

Communicating with Business Partners & Customers

It can be challenging to build robust direct communications channels cost-effectively to business partners and customers. For a company that had thousands of partner-customers, Oliva implemented the following solution:

• Slashed costs and increased timeliness by transforming the process for print distribution of monthly updates to electronic (email and web) distribution
• Improved real-time interaction by initiating a daily email blast of valuable information to the key contacts (and the company’s account executives) at the top partner-customers representing 85% of the business
• Met regularly with the sales force to improve understanding and coordination between corporate communications and sales
• Worked with senior account executives to schedule value-added presentations on market information with top partner-customers
• Improved customer preference by providing no-cost communications consulting to top partner-customers

Launching a product, venture or newsworthy initiative

Publicity, events, trade shows, advertising, customer communications, government relations, employee communications all are essential elements to advance both public relations and marketing for a company. We have helped with all or part of these tactics for a variety of needs:

• Developed top-level global print and broadcast media exposure for executives highlighting major industry trends
• Managed dozens of announcements from corporate milestones and executive appointments to strategic technology initiatives and product launches
• Developed a PR launch guide for major financial institutions launching an entirely new category of consumer product
• Launched a major international trade portal at an event featuring the late US Secretary of Commerce Ron Brown
• Used media and analyst briefings to improve awareness and understanding about a major company’s rapidly growing business line
• Worked with producers of a satellite news program to draw attention to challenges facing US ports and freight transport in conjunction with a major trade association, and West Coast port and a shipping line · Announced a major business education initiative about the European Commission to US audiences in conjunction with the EC representative to the US and an EC Commissioner

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