Glowria case study:

on-demand & in demand

Weaving the fabric of an independent brand
through a maze of culturally different markets
glowria: on-demand and in demand

Challenge: • Position glowria, a French company specialized in on-demand home entertainment – that
is, on-line DVD rental and video on-demand (VoD), as the leading independent player in
the European VoD market, particularly France, UK and Germany, markets dominated by
large media corporations.

• Raise the visibility of glowria in order to attract and drive key decision makers of studios,
media partners and ISPs to select glowria as a partner.

• Differentiate glowria from its competitors by positioning the independent company, in

both B2B and B2C, as the expert in on-demand entertainment, and as the best service
provider, driving sales of glowria-branded and white-branded technology to telecoms,
ISPs, cable operators and retailers.

Situation: glowria, a French company founded in 2003, provides on-demand digital entertainment.
Initially specializing in on-line DVD rental in France, the company expanded this service to
Germany, strengthening its market position. Once firmly established in these two
countries, glowria rolled out VoD in France, which was quickly followed by German and UK
roll-outs, and will “conquer” the rest of Europe next.
However, upon entering the VoD market, glowria faced a new group of players on
different terrain from that of the on-line DVD rental market. Instead of independent
players of roughly the same size, glowria was now head-to-head with media behemoths
such as TF1, Canal+, Alcatel Lucent and Virgin Mega, all of which offer their own content.
In addition, tackling three separate countries and their respective markets was a delicate
operation. Even though unified under the European Union, the entertainment cultures of
France, Germany and the UK – and thus, the needs of each – were still distinctly different.

Strategy: Since glowria’s growth was directly proportional to the number of new content and channel
partners it could sign, Ballou PR positioned glowria as THE partner of choice in this
industry, emphasizing that glowria is the only independent company to offer both VoD and
on-line DVD rental in continental Europe on PCs and TV, with no content barriers.
Furthermore, leveraging what would otherwise be a handicap, Ballou PR showcased the
fact that the company was not part of a larger communications network or group, meaning
that it had no constraints regarding what content could be shown (while TF1 can’t show
Canal+’s content, for example, glowria can show both).

Tactics: Media: Ballou PR reached out to the media key to glowria’s business in each country,
including global publications that packed great “punch” like Wall Street Journal, as well as
La Tribune, Les Echos, Ecran Total, Digital World, Journal du Net, and Le Film Français,
working hand-in-hand with them so that they would come to identify glowria as their
source of information for anything related to VoD and home entertainment.
Market analysts: Ballou PR targeted key analysts from Ovum, IDC, Screen Digest,
Forrester, Strategy Analysis and Gartner to concretize glowria’s position as having the most
diverse library and as being the most reliable technology partner for telecoms, ISPs, cable
operators and retailers.
Speaking opportunities: Ballou PR positioned glowria’s founder and president, Mihai
Crasneanu, as a visionary in the industry and placed him at key conferences where he
would not only be present alongside the largest industry players, but also be in front of
potential customers.
glowria: on-demand and in demand
Corporate Glowria’s increased visibility in the media led to numerous business contracts,
Results: increased sales and infrastructure. In particular, the founder and president of glowria,
Mihai Crasneanu, credits Ballou PR’s efforts in helping achieve the following business
goals:

• Glowria is now continental Europe’s leading independent provider of personalized

on-demand digital entertainment.
• Sales in 2006 rose from €3m to an estimated €8m.
• German B2B press strengthened glowria’s negotiating stance against competitors in
the acquisition of two German companies, DiViDi and InVDeo; both deals were
completed by H106.
• German press helped glowria recruit a high-profile director general for German
operations – the head of Yahoo! Germany, Martina Bruder, who joined the company
in November 2006.
• Glowria’s employees increased to 80, of which 50 in France and 30 in Germany.
• Glowria developed and currently manages DVD and VoD services for Fnac.com,
France’s leading retailer of cultural products, and leading French alternative
telecommunications provider Neuf Cegetel, with over 150 000 subscribers.
• Glowria signed strategic marketing partnerships with market leaders such as
AlloCiné, Bertelsmann, FreeNet, Pro7Sat1, ProMarkt, Sony, Thomson and extensive
revenue-sharing partnerships with all the major movie studios and a vast majority of
independent video distributors, including Warner, Fox, Buena Vista, MGM, M6, NBC
Universal, TF1, and Studio Canal.
• Glowria is now well-positioned in Europe to develop partnerships in Spain, Italy,
Benelux, and Scandinavia.

Media lowria is positioned as the on-demand entertainment player in Europe, and media
Results: coverage clearly defines glowria as the European leader (and only player) in branded
and white-branded VoD technology. glowria has been featured in over 330 articles in
key publications in France, over 100 in Germany, and over 30 in the UK, including: Les
Echos, La Tribune, Digital World, Journal du Net, International Herald Tribune,
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Die Welt, One to One, Der Kontakter, Kress Report,
Cue Entertainment, The Hollywood Reporter, Variety, Advanced Television, Global
Telecoms Business and Telecommunications International, and covered by analysts
such as Screen Digest, Ovum, and Strategy Analysis.
Mihai Crasneanu has become a much-clamored-for guest on key French radio and TV
shows, including France Inter, Sud Radio, Radio Classique, BFM, RTL, RMC, LCI and
Demain.