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Park Street CapitalPark Street Capital spun out of Tucker Anthony, the early leader in private equity investing nationwide. Its mission is to provide an exceptionally selective and professionally diversified portfolio of private partnerships to sophisticated investors who are familiar and comfortable with the risks and opportunities associated with private market investing. Park Street Capital may be found on the Web at www.parkstreetcapital.com.IndustryPark Street Capital invests within the niche private equity investment arena known as "fund of funds." Investors of this style of investing include smaller institutional investors, other private equity firms that wish to diversify their holdings and high-net-worth individuals.Business Challenge- As one of Boston’s most storied investment institutions readied itself to close shop after more than a century of success, a small group of its core investment staff prepared to take on a new opportunity. Tucker Anthony, a Boston hallmark for well over a century, had been acquired by the Royal Bank of Canada, leaving a void in the Boston private equity community—a community that considered the Tucker Anthony Private Equity Group to be one of its founders. Tucker Anthony’s private equity team harnessed the entrepreneurial spirit that had guided the firm and spun off and founded Park Street Capital. But the question was, could they carry on the legacy?
- Due to SEC regulations restricting communications during private fundraising and Park Street’s legal counsel expressing concerns that PR activities would appear as advertising, there was a limited time frame for media outreach (approximately three weeks).
- Additionally, the private equity marketplace relies strongly on past performance. Park Street was about to become the new kid on the block. Schwartz needed to evangelize the market opportunity for a fund-of-funds firm while differentiating Park Street. In addition, the PR team needed to act quickly to provide comprehensive, rapid results within the project’s short time frame.
Schwartz PR StrategyTwo factors helped define the parameters of the PR strategy: Park Street’s request for a lightening campaign culminating in a launch event and SEC restraints. Schwartz had to act very quickly.
- Schwartz immediately researched appropriate reporters in targeted financial and business press, developing a list of media contacts who could be reached quickly and would understand the issues involved with this story.
- The Schwartz public relations team crafted strong and succinct messages that could be incorporated across all levels of the Park Street organization and understood by both investors and media. Schwartz' due diligence included interviews with Park Street’s principals and outside private equity experts to help shape concise, clear messaging. The messages illustrated Park Street’s principals’ personal backgrounds and relationships, the strength in having offices on both U.S. coasts, and how Park Street provided investors with access to diverse fund managers frequently not available to smaller institutional investors, high-net-worth individuals and educational endowments.
- Schwartz also relieved Park Street of the burden and organizational worries involved with planning a launch event, allowing them to continue to focus on core investments.
Results- Schwartz landed coverage in all of the firm’s targeted publications spanning local business press as well as the most influential national publications in the investment community. These outlets included the Boston Business Journal, The Boston Globe, Private Equity Week, The Daily Deal, Buyouts, San Francisco Business Times and Dow Jones News Service.
- The launch event was well attended and went off without a hitch, thanks to strong organizational execution and creative thinking on the part of the Schwartz team. The event was timed with opening day of the Boston Red Sox season, and Schwartz arranged for imprinted baseballs with Park Street’s logo to be given away at the party.
- Soon, due to the extensive media coverage and quiet period restrictions, Park Street executives had to start turning down media requests for interviews. The results of the project led one director to say, “We work with a lot of different vendors and outside companies, but we received the most value for our money with Schwartz.”
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"Our Schwartz team was able to start showing results pretty early on because of their strong understanding of the market issues in healthcare IT. They have been responsive to our needs and we have seen a notable increase in the quantity and quality of our media coverage."Rick Foster
Director of Marketing, Misys Healthcare |
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