3 years of recession, and the U.S. was looking for answers. Siemens had them, already at work throughout the country. But who knew? The key would be to make the right people aware.

Targeting policy-makers, we set out to thrust Siemens into the national policy conversation. We believed that more Americans would know about Siemens if a few key Americans would tell our story.

To show how Siemens could help address the specific challenges of the Great Recession, we showed places where it was already happening: 'Somewhere in America' - Hutchinson, Kansas where a new wind turbine factory was giving a heartland town new jobs and a new life. Los Angeles, California, where 75% of hospitals use Siemens technology to sustain residents’ health. And Charlotte, North Carolina, where Siemens provides trains, job-training and a new turbine factory with 2,000 jobs.

These stories surrounded policy-makers, in TV spots during Sunday news shows and radio spots as they sat in traffic on the Beltway. OOH as they flew in and out of Reagan airport. They were used as conversation starters by Siemens representatives with mayors, congressmen, and administration officials eager to lend pragmatic solutions to their policy positions.

The results were dramatic. We moved the needle among policy-makers 169%, and got one very important person to become a Siemens evangelist on the biggest stage possible: the State of the Union address.

As a result of our efforts, President Barack Obama promoted Siemens to 100 Senators, 435 Congressmen and 38m Americans on live TV.

We focused on 3 cities - 'Somewhere in America'.

We began with the première of the Hutchinson documentary at a theatre in Hutchinson, Kansas during a weekend of events attended by Kansas Senator Jerry Moran.

Next we highlighted Los Angeles. A film told the story of a healthier city. And billboards in Washington, DC’s airport told lawmakers that Angelenos are 'Growing up healthy in a growing city.' Then we turned to Charlotte. We engaged the former mayor for a film about the rail system. We told the story in radio spots on Washington, DC stations. We ran TV during Sunday news shows showing the clean turbines powering Charlotte and the new factory we built there to make more of them.

All of these traditional vehicles were tightly coordinated with dozens of media placements and speaking engagements on the same topics. As well as constant outreach by Siemens Government Affairs office.

The PR effort produced a 169% increase in awareness of Siemens among policy-makers.

Yet the most compelling evidence is anecdotal. On a tour of the Siemens rail facility, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said of Siemens, “This can be a model for the rest of the country of a company that’s putting Americans to work.” The U.S. Export-Import Bank Chairman Fred Hochberg declared in the press, “As far as I’m concerned, Siemens is an American company.” And President Obama put the Siemens turbine plant in Charlotte, North Carolina at the heart of his State of the Union address, using it as an example of what should be happening across America. And 100 Senators, 435 Congressmen and 38m Americans heard the President of the United States telling our story on live TV.