Client Success: A Look Back At Our Early Experience

While I love sharing recent successes of my clients (such as these top-notch PR and marketing efforts by QPS and West), it is also rewarding to look back and reminisce about some of my first clients, and how what I learned then is still guiding my strategies today.

Enterprise software is one industry I’ve worked in for years, and which has provided some of my most exciting moments, including helping to launch one of the first SaaS (software as a service) businesses, before the acronym became known and understood.

Having worked with PeopleSoft, which we helped position for an acquisition by Oracle, we had the privilege of helping that company’s founder and former CEO Dave Duffield launch his next project way back in 2006: Workday.

Duffield, a legend in the software industry, launched Workday after the acquisition of PeopleSoft, taking on the Goliaths in the industry with a solution that was just gaining a toehold in enterprise software: the concept of software and data stored entirely in the cloud, allowing for on-the-go adoption of new versions and flexibility for customers that far exceeded the previous model of on-premise software.

The story, for which we helped gain front page coverage in Bloomberg’s Businessweek and InformationWeek, among other top-tier trade and business media outlets, involved working quietly with trusted journalists to launch the business with a splash, balancing the instant credibility of Duffield’s reputation with the question of whether he could do it again.

Today, Workday’s products include far more than the original single human capital management application, reaching into the realms of business planning, financial management, analytics and professional services automation. While our part in the launch process may have been just one cog in the overall machine, ensuring a launch with great media exposure to kick things off on a positive note, it is satisfying to see the success that has grown from that first day and idea.

What successes do you look back on from your early days in business? Share in the comments about one of your favorite memories in marketing or PR.