Da Vinci wins major coverage in Financial Times for client

Peter McAllister, who works with a long-standing Da Vinci client, Charteris plc, spoke to Da Vinci's principal James Essinger over the summer about an idea he had had for an article on the work and legacy of world-famous structural engineer Ove Arup.

In his day, Arup was regarded as one of the most innovative and yet also reliable professionals working in structural engineering. He pioneered new levels of collaboration between partners on major structural projects.

Among Arup's many big successes were the famous re-building of Coventry Cathedral following its destruction by bombing during the War. Arup was also a leading light behind the successful and difficult initiative to turn the ambitious architectural plans for Sydney Opera House into the world-famous building and landmark with the extraordinary roof that was designed to represent the waves of the nearby sea.

Peter McAllister was convinced that Ove Arup's career and in particular Arup's work in advocating collaboration on major construction projects had important lessons for the computing industry today. The article was produced during August.

Da Vinci always monitors the press carefully to look out for important opportunities to win coverage for clients. In an editorial that 'Digital Business' editor Peter Whitehead wrote in a September edition of the supplement, he expressed concerns about the lack of heroic role models in the IT industry. James Essinger read this editorial and immediately contacted Peter Whitehead to tell him about the Ove Arup article that had recently been finalised. Peter asked to see the article. James emailed it across to him within the hour. Once Peter had read it, he accepted it for the next issue of 'Digital Business'.

One of Da Vinci Public Relations specialisations is understanding the precise nature of the thought leadership its clients can offer to their industry, working with clients on major strategic thoughtpiece articles and identifying key media in which to place them. Sometimes these thoughtpiece articles are syndicated to numerous media.

In many cases Da Vinci achieves more than a dozen individual pick-ups for these pieces, thereby giving clients extremely high levels of coverage for a relatively modest budgetary outlay.

Naturally, as in the case of the Peter McAllister article, Da Vinci takes particular care to explore opportunities in the national press.

To view the article go to: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/a214557c-7b0f-11dc-8c53-0000779fd2ac.html
24 October 2007