Case study: ChemNavigator

In the spotlight

Taking a new slant on hot news, feature stories on ChemNavigator appeared on multiple fronts and drove record registration for a seminar at a major biotech conference.

When ChemNavigator launched its Web site in November 1999 -- providing life scientists with online access and ordering of the world's largest library of chemical compounds -- the site generated steady news coverage for nine months, then became old news. Then the human genome project began dominating the headlines, and the Cook & Schmid team put ChemNavigator back in the spotlight to answer the question: the mapping is done, what happens next?

Cook & Schmid reminded the media, in simple, non-technical terms, that nothing can happen without chemistry. The new angle generated interest from public television's NOVA, The Red Herring, CBS MarketWatch, the BBC's Tomorrow's World, local San Diego television news, the Wall Street Reporter, Modern Drug Discovery and BioCentury. In addition, the hot news drove record registration for the chief technology officer's seminar at Drug Discovery Technology 2000.