I entertained media from across the globe when Arthur D. Little scientists revealed a breakthrough in fuel cell technology. The massive press coverage we generated from this breakthrough helped spawn the creation of a new business in fuel cell technology.
Coverage
Address by President Clinton
Live US Dept. of Energy press conference
Major television outlets
Print media and trade press
Drive-time radio
During my tenure at Arthur D. Little, our technology division completed a multi-year Department of Energy-funded program on fuel cell technology. The program demonstrated our ability to convert gasoline to hydrogen under the hood of a car. The resulting hydrogen could power a fuel cell, replacing the internal combustion engine of a car, and produce clean fuel for the future.
It all started with a New York Times exclusive.
Working with our PR agency, Outlook Marketing, we won an exclusive on the front page of the science section. The interview went well and we provided extensive materials to the reporter. I completed a full background Q&A that I distributed to our global marketing teams.
Unfortunately, the NYT doesn’t let you preview their materials. So we all just waited for the article to appear the next day.
First page, science section. Wow.
The next few days were a blur. The media latched on with steel talons to this clean energy success story. I triaged and entertained media crew after media crew as they interviewed our scientists and toured our labs. We were on drive time radio, the 6, 10 and 11 o’clock television news reports, and in national and international newspapers. The trade journals carried the story for months. TV coverage continued for two days and included national media such as Good Morning America and nightly news programs. President Clinton mentioned Arthur D. Little and our work in one of his speeches on government funding to help green technologies.
My international colleagues were also barraged with reporters. The backgrounder and FAQs were excellent resources. Non-technical media also covered the event and our scientists had to answer numerous questions about the technology using layman terms.
Nuvera Fuel Cells is born.
Shortly after the story hit the press, Arthur D. Little spun this technology and science team into a new company. The new company then merged with an Italian fuel cell maker creating a new company called Nuvera Fuel Cells.
My second in command was hired as the Marketing Director for the new company. He was an amazing hire and I was honored that my mentoring helped launch this chapter in his career.
