CAMBRIDGE, April 27—Technology public relations specialist FitzGerald Communications, which has recently diversified its offering to include investor relations and public affairs services, has introduced a new service, Direct Connection, designed to assist its clients in gaining thought-leadership in the technology policy arena.

According to agency founder and president Maura FitzGerald, Direct Connections will enable clients to participate in or drive the debate on national technology issues. FitzGerald will identify issues that reinforce its clients’ corporate positioning or participate in debates on public policy issues of importance. Once an issue has been identified, FitzGerald will customize a program to drive technology issues-oriented media coverage. The program may include the leveraging of strategic alliances, third-party endorsements and Capitol Hill events.

“Our clients will have direct access and exposure to the press who cover issues and initiatives on Capitol Hill,” says FitzGerald. “This enables them to extend their sphere of influence and amplify corporate awareness among a new and very important audience.”  

To date, FitzGerald has managed technology policy thought-leadership programs on behalf of BioNetrix, TRUSTe and SquareTrade.  Most recently, the agency has embarked on such a program with its oldest client, MERANT, by the leveraging of a strategic alliance with the ITAA (Information Technology Association of America).

“Government has been a target of some of our clients, and, in this way, we have forged an indirect connection to the press covering technology policy,” FitzGerald says. “Through this new service, we intend to offer our clients a method to create a direct connection with these journalists. Our clients want to have a dialog on the issues, and they want to increase their visibility among those audiences that cover and influence the dialog.
“The opportunity is greater than ever with the growing importance of technology to the nation’s economy and the increased scrutiny by the federal government of technology companies, their products and their markets.” In this year’s 107th Congress, privacy, Internet taxation, immigration policy, antitrust legislation and telecom deregulation are the top technology issues expected to come under debate.