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RCN Corporation

ABA10 WinnerCompany: RCN Corporation, Herndon, VA
Entry Submitted By: Communicreate
Company Description: RCN Corporation (www.rcn.com),headquartered in Herndon, VA, is a leading provider of bundled cable, high-speed internet and phone services to residential and business customers in Boston, New York, Eastern PA, Washington, D.C., and Chicago. Its separately-managed subsidiary, RCN Business Solutions provides bulk video, high-capacity data and voice services to business customers.
Nomination Category: Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, & Public Relations Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Multicultural

Nomination Title: RCN Global Passport

1. Tell the story about this nominated campaign since January 1 2009 (up to 500 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:

When RCN converted to an all-digital cable network, expanding its available
bandwidth, it launched an aggressive push to add and promote international and
multicultural programming, which research showed had a lot of pent up demand in
RCN’s markets.

Within 12 months, RCN negotiated 33 new international contracts, increasing the
Int’l channel offerings by over 40%. Because RCN is a smaller regional provider
without the deep financial pockets of its larger competitors, the company
required international programmers, as part of contract negotiations, to commit
to public relations and advertising in ethnic media outlets, ethnic festivals,
cross channel TV marketing campaigns. The new networks contributed more than $1
million in marketing, advertising and PR support, and purchased or loaned
equipment that saved RCN spending an additional $1 million in capital
expenditures.

An extensive, integrated marketing/advertising/PR/programming program was
developed and successfully implemented. As these networks launched, a series
of cross channel TV spots, unique and exclusive to RCN, were developed jointly
with its international partners. Senior VP Richard Ramlall traveled to India,
Turkey, Taiwan and the Philippines to appear in spots featuring some of the
more popular programming on their networks. For example, a Zee TV promotional
spot with challengers in Southeast Asian TV’s version of American Idol wore RCN
shirts and hats, asking for votes and plugging RCN.

Setanta Sports, the European soccer league channel, had RCN branded
advertisements posted on the sides of Metro buses in D.C. and in NYC subway
cars, and became a joint sponsor with RCN of the DC United soccer team. Full
page advertisements appeared in Philippine, Chinese, Indian and Greek community
publications, as well as radio commercials, news articles, advertorials and on-
air announcements. Several themed campaigns marked ethnic holidays, such as
Dewali, Chinese New Year, etc. RCN’s executives have been interviewed on a
number of ethnic radio stations and the networks have promoted their channel
on RCN at key ethnic events, festivals, concerts and parades.

Promotions have also included free previews, sweepstakes, free months for
referrals, local sponsorships and scholarships, tournaments, tickets to ethnic
concerts and TV programs. More than 30 RCN international and multicultural
press releases were distributed in 2009. .

These multicultural campaigns dramatically increased the number of unique
international channel subscribers by 22% and International revenue by 25%. One
channel grew to more than a thousand subscribers in only months. One voicecast
directly resulted in a 40 percent take rate increase.

RCN now has more than 500 International viewing choices, (an increase of 300
since January 2009) including more than 100 linear channels, available in 20
different packages and covering 15 different language groups, surpassing many
other competitor offerings. Thanks to these campaigns the international take
rate has dramatically increased by 50%, and is the fastest growing segment in
RCN’s cable network.

RCN was recognized by the National Association for Multi-Ethnicity in
Communications in its 2009 Excellence in Multi-Cultural Awards competition that
showcases top marketing tactics and case studies/campaigns targeted to multi-
cultural audiences.

2. List hyperlinks to any online work samples, news stories, press releases, or other documents that support the claims made in the section above. IMPORTANT: Begin each link with http://, and enclose each link in square brackets; for example, [http://www.youraddress.com]:

RCN International page on RCN website
http://www.rcn.com/boston/digital-cable-tv/digital-extras/international

Global Passport Overview (work samples, coverage, ads, plan, etc.)
http://www.slideshare.net/Communicreate/2009-2010-global-passport

RCN Press Releases
http://investor.rcn.com/releases.cfm

RCN Investor Relations
http://investor.rcn.com/index.cfm

RCN Media Coverage
http://investor.rcn.com/media_coverage.cfm

RCN’s Move to Go All Digital
http://www.slideshare.net/Communicreate/2008-2009-rc-ns-move-to-all-digital

International Cross Channel Commercials

A sampling of RCN Cross Channel Spots
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kItWRkznCgU

AsianFest 2009 interview
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q6BUwg9-tD8

New Tang Dynasty

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VNMz46OOggY

New Tang Dynasty news interview

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eCO5curdAz4&feature=related

TFC Spot
http://www.youtube.com/user/RCNGlobalspots

3. Provide a brief (up to 100 words) biography about the leader(s) of the team that carried out this campaign:

Richard Ramlall serves as Senior Vice President, Strategic and External
Affairs and Programming. Prior to joining RCN in March 2005, Mr. Ramlall served
as Senior Managing Director and Executive Vice President of Spencer Trask Media
and Communications Group, LLC (a division of New York based venture capital
firm Spencer Trask & Company) based in Reston, Virginia, from June 1999 to
March 2005. From March 1997 to June 1999, Mr. Ramlall served as Vice President
and Managing Director for Strategy, Marketing and International Government
Affairs for Bechtel Telecommunications. Prior to that, Mr. Ramlall was
Executive Director for International Business Affairs for Bell Atlantic
International and spent over 18 years at Bell Atlantic. In 1990, Mr. Ramlall
was selected to serve a one year appointment under the Presidential Exchange
Executive Program of the White House. He serves on the Boards of Directors of
Evolving Systems, Inc., Gateway Communications Services, Inc., TelecomHUB, and
the Alzheimer's Association’s National Capital Area Chapter. He holds a
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration and an MGA (Technology
Management) from the University of Maryland.