Client Spotlight:  The Consulate General of Canada in Boston

If there is one team familiar with working across borders, it's Wired Island.  Our name alone is a nod to our nomadic lifestyle, which was well in place before COVID made working remotely "normal."  Our current client base reflects our international reach and experience "“ we are working with clients from five different countries. Our roots include working with economic development groups such as Scottish Enterprise and its Locate in Scotland campaign;  Business France and its La French Tech initiative and more recently in our current home with the Charleston Digital Corridor and the Charleston County Economic Development organizations.  We even did work with the government of the Turks & Caicos Islands to help promote their tourism and fisheries industries back in the early days when Wired Island was literally on an island.

So, when the opportunity to work with the Consulate General of Canada in Boston came across our radar screen (thanks to a partnership with have with Reportable), we were eager to connect to see how our experience in promoting a region or country could be useful to them.

The Consulate General of Canada in Boston is part of the Canadian Trade Commissioner Service network operating in 160 cities around the world.  Its main charter is to help Canadian companies and entrepreneurs grow by establishing connections in the New England region of the US. With a mission to connect Canada and New England, The Consulate General of Canada in Boston leverages shared values, history and culture to make it easier for companies on both sides of the border to work together, grow and prosper.

The Consulate General of Canada in Boston works with Canadian firms seeking to enter new markets by providing advice and connections, and running support programs (such as the Canadian Technology Accelerator).  American firms interested in investing in Canada are also supported with curated advice, strategies and introductions and works with regions across Canada and Invest in Canada.  The Covid-19 pandemic has made these efforts more vital and challenging yet the Consulate helped companies such as Moderna expand to Canada last year.

The Consulate's strong network and knowledgeable trade commissioners are a huge value add to the organizations it works with. The team is constantly growing and strengthening this through events and other initiatives. A key part of Wired Island's work has been to make sure these efforts translated to their now almost exclusively virtual audience through effective and efficient communication strategies.

"We appreciate the objective perspective Wired Island brings to the table and how they operate as a seamless extension to our team," said Valerie La Traverse, Senior Trade Commissioner for the Consulate General of Canada in New England. "Wired Island understands the unique challenges of implementing effective communications programs around growth and investment initiatives like ours.  We value the ideas, energy and experience Wired Island brings to the group."

Wired Island has been partnering with the Consulate to boost digital presence by keeping its social media profiles on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook updated and generating content for its web site. We have initiated an external communications effort to help increase its visibility in the US, resulting in a trade press feature story among other media relations efforts.  Building on a solid communications framework we helped establish, our role with this team is to raise the profile of the group and the Canadian companies it works with to increase opportunities for business success.

To date our efforts have included supporting the strong team of trade commissioners, who are aligned by industry sector, with professional communications strategy and implementation. We've worked with each of the trade commissioners to help promote events they host and to uncover success stories and other content to showcase on their website: Canada Boston Connect.  This site serves as a base for communications.

Having worked in three different countries we offer a unique blend of practical, results-driven focus combined with creativity, experience and a team approach to working with clients.

Q: Before we get into the more important content of this interview, I am interested to know more about your relationship with Back Market. How long have they been a client of yours? How has that relationship changed over the years? 

A: We have been working with Back Market since their launch in the US in 2018. Our goal was to gain awareness for their brand, and equally as important, to use PR to shift consumer attitudes about refurbished through education and messaging. When we first started working with them, they had virtually no awareness in the US, and refurbished electronics were known as a cheap option, but more or less seen as a compromise to new. We are proud to have secured feature coverage in a handful of mainstream publications, allowing their audience to get a full view of what the company is all about and their mission to make buying refurbished safe and fun, plus showcasing the expertise behind the marketplace so consumers can understand their refurbished devices are receiving professional care. We also continue to see Back Market included in conversations and coverage evaluating consumer options from some big established names like Amazon Renewed, EBay and Best Buy. This not only shows they are a major player in the space 3 years later, but when the quality assurances are broken down, Back Market often comes out on top. Wired Island has helped the brand achieve this elevation by introducing them to several journalists and other influencers such as analysts. Our team continues to be involved in refining their message for various target customer segments through additional content such as contributed articles, social media, awards and more. 

Q: Given Back Market has such a wide audience, how have you modeled your efforts to bring more value to them?  

A: Back Market's huge target audience represents a ton of opportunity, but that doesn't mean the message is the same for that audience. Even for large company announcements, our job is to refine their message and explain why it matters to their various audience segments.  

Q: A little over a year ago the Wired Island Team helped Back Market make an enormous announcement about their recent funding. Could you offer more details into that funding? How do you think this positions Back Market in the industry going forward? 

A: Back Market raised $120 million during the pandemic and then another $335 million a year later. This is a big deal and really speaks to the maturity and the potential of refurbished electronics industry. Due to the size of this deal, collaboration among investors, as well as Back Market's international communication plan were extremely important. Wired Island was key in coordinating messaging and timing of the announcement, press outreach, interview prep, and more among the English speaking efforts. This resulted in coverage from mainstream media such a Rueters and Forbes, trade and regional pubs such as BuiltInNYC and Sifted, and broadcast opportunities such as Cheddar (grab links for clip report or ask Mandy). 

This interview comes on the heels of a huge PR milestone for Synaptics: A feature on CNBC’s premier stock talk show, Mad Money hosted by Jim Cramer. With that, I wanted to sit down with Mike Sottak, who heads up the Synaptics account for Wired Island, o

Q: Before we get into the more important content of this interview, I am interested to know more about your relationship with Prophesee. How long have they been a client of yours? How has that relations