Waveset Technologies
Driving Visibility: From Emerging to Established Leader

The Challenge:

In January 2002, privately held Waveset (http://www.waveset.com) a small, emerging company in the highly competitive identity management market, approached LP&P to help carve out a leadership position in its target market. Senior management had felt its existing agency was not aggressive or creative enough in moving the company toward achieving the level of industry visibility it warranted.

Waveset was challenged with articulating its unique vision and product differentiators in a market dominated by large, recognized companies such as Netegrity, BMC and IBM/Tivoli. Although Waveset's assets included a seasoned management team with a strong lineage who could clearly articulate a market and product vision, the company itself had yet to establish credibility in the market and as a result was at risk of being excluded from potential customers’ RFP lists.

The Solution:

LP&P addressed this challenge head on and for the first year drove awareness of Waveset in the IT publications by implementing aggressive awards, customer reference and news programs, systematically building credibility for the company and its product. The agency also tailored the Waveset executives’ images into market visionaries, positioning them as evangelists in driving a prominent standards initiative and distributing on their behalf a quarterly communiqué to influential editors. This communiqué included white papers and insight on critical issues shaping the industry. In 2003, with a solid foundation established with the IT press, LP&P expanded the company’s leadership position by selectively outreaching to the business press. This effort, along with the continuous pro-active campaigns to the IT and security press, eventually resulted in Waveset's president, Mark McClain, becoming an unofficially recognized industry leader, actively sought out by media, including The Wall Street Journal, for comment on securing personal information.

The Results:

From the onset, Waveset found itself competing against all the larger players in the space, but most often against IBM. The increased positive visibility, as well as coverage of Waveset's strong vision and innovative products, helped it compete effectively against IBM and also drove Sun Microsystems to take notice of Waveset’s building success. Ultimately, attracted by Waveset's market momentum, Sun acquired Waveset in December 2003. During the calls announcing the acquisition , Sun spokespeople noted that the company was alerted to Waveset by numerous press, analysts and partners and in fact, saw the company as an asset because of its recognized vision and industry leadership.

PR-related results include:

• Numerous industry awards, including: the 2002 eWeek eXcellence Award and the Computerworld Innovative Technology honorable mention ;

• Waveset's corporate viability was validated by being named Technologic Partner's Investor's Choice, one of the Upside 100 for 2002, and the only privately-held identity management vendor included in Business 2.0’s list of hot companies to watch in its 2003 Essential Business Software Toolkit;
• Articles quoting Waveset executives in, USA Today and The Wall Street Journal with consistent product and corporate coverage appearing in security, IT and business-level publications; and
• Waveset's executives recognized as industry visionaries, as evidenced by regular speaking opportunities at Sector 5, eGov, RSA and IMN's Cyber Security Conference, regular bylines in publications including SC Magazine, Computerworld, Network World and InfoSecurity Today, and Mark McClain being invited to join the Digital ID World Industry Advisory Board.

 

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