OAG is trusted worldwide as an authoritative source of aviation data and analysis, serving the airline, travel and financial service industries and public sector.
8020 was appointed as OAG’s retained PR agency with a brief to provide corporate communications advice and develop the company’s profile in trade and national media.
At the time of our appointment, OAG was a subsidiary of UBM plc, which wished to sell OAG to a financial buyer and achieve the maximum value for the business. A priority for 8020 was therefore to significantly increase OAG’s presence in national and international media to support the company’s perceived value amongst potential buyers.
In subsequent years, our focus became helping OAG’s management maximise the performance of the business to hit earnings targets set by the company’s new private equity owner and to position the business for an investor exit in a time frame of 3-5 years.
To build OAG’s reputation among relevant audiences we positioned the company as a leader in topical aviation insights.
We helped identify topics around which OAG could build data-led input, thought leadership content and reactive media comment. We delivered this PR output to the right media around the world through well-crafted press releases, valuable data visualisations and timely and effective media relations.
Topics we harnessed included the varying successes of airline alliances, the London Heathrow expansion debate, the impact of Hurricane Sandy on airline schedules and the risks of the government’s decision to increase Air Passenger Duty.
Performance highlights:
- 68% of coverage was achieved in tier one publications
- Average annual number of quality news stories initiated by 8020 was 153.
Working with OAG’s management and analysts we helped the company ‘ride’ a succession of airline industry trends and breaking news developments, earning OAG a prominent position in international news coverage.
The awareness and media goodwill thereby achieved also allowed us to boost coverage of OAG’s product and corporate news and breathe fresh life into long-standing OAG PR assets, such as the company’s annual airline punctuality league.
