Earning interest for credit.com's expertise

Credit.com had the knowledge and expertise to become a respected source of personal-finance advice, but it lacked the necessary name recognition.

Its CEO was former New Jersey Consumer Affairs Director Adam Levin, and its stable of experts included former credit-industry insiders John Ulzheimer and Emily Davidson. Still, the company wasn't known as a go-to source for consumer-credit information.

Executives wanted to raise Credit.com's visibility and drive up the number of potential clients visiting the Web site. In summer 2006, they engaged Padilla Speer Beardsley's New York office, which developed messaging that promoted the talents of Levin and his team and positioning them as the premier voice of credit education.

Using key media contacts, Padilla gained exposure for Credit.com's personal-finance experts in top-tier outlets such as USA Today, Time magazine, the Wall Street Journal, Reuters and TheStreet.com.

Today, Levin and his team are sought-after spokespeople. Fox News Channel asked Levin for consumer tips to avoid holiday debt. WCBS-TV contacted him for a segment on identity theft during the November "sweeps week." And during a two-week blitz this spring, Credit.com was mentioned by numerous media outlets, including CNN, the Los Angeles Times and The Dallas Morning News. The company's prominent profile helped double its Web-site traffic during the blitz.