What is it you do?
Even though we consider ourselves good communicators, we find it hard to describe what we do. Partly because what we do varies according to the client and partly because much of our work is intangible and hard to measure (although we are getting better at putting value on it).
In short, clients hire us to build and implement a communications program that increases visibility and credibility for the company. We typically lead with public relations and augment that with a range of digital marketing services depending on business objectives.
So, our day-to-day activities vary based on the client however the core value we bring is our experience, intellect and ideas.
We think before we act. We understand the value of a company's reputation and work to improve it with every communications tactic. We know that it is the intangible aspects of a business that ultimately sets it apart - so helping companies build and manage their reputation and personality is core to what we do.
Other ways to express this:
Every company has a personality and a reputation. While these are intangible concepts, they are essential to all aspects of its operations and success.
At our core we are a public relations firm that has morphed into a digital marketing agency. We define marketing in a very broad way " starting with a communication strategy that supports the company's business goals and helps it elevate the value of the brand.
Reputation is an intangible thing " it is the set of beliefs/opinions that are held about a person or company.
All companies have a personality, a voice, a feeling/projection they give to their audiences (which are normally: customers, investors, employees, potential employees, industry influencers, media, community, partners). You can choose to manage this or let it be created for you.
How to think about Wired Island and what we do for clients.
Our clients have brilliant ideas/products/services that they are working hard to bring to the market. Everyone inside the company is rallying around the same goals and focused on the same things. When it comes to marketing and hiring an outside company to support your efforts - you want to know that they care as much about your business as you do. This is what you get when you partner with Wired Island. We think about your business like you do and know how to become a seamless, effective extension of your team. We know the value of working together to accomplish a common goal. So, when you hire Wired Island you are bringing on board a group of communications professionals who will not only execute on marketing programs for you but will always be thinking about your business and how to move to the next level (even if it extends beyond our scope of expertise: marketing).
(Point here is clients hire WI not just to get a set of deliverables or activities " but for our experience and the thinking we put into our work for them)
What is the typical engagement model for working with WI?
We've been working in the service business for a long time and have had the most success with long-term business partnerships. We like to boast that it is common for Wired Island to work with clients for decades (we worked with Xilinx for 17 years; Optomec for 13; Coventor for 9) and have had clients who have been repeats. This speaks to our model, which is primarily relationship based. Our clients all have a technical story and by working together with them on a consistent basis we are better able to fully understand all the nuances and build an effective narrative that builds and grows as the story develops.
With this in mind " we prefer to engage with clients over a period of six months to a year, with the option to extend. Based on the client's business goals, we identify the top one to three communications goals that guide our efforts and then establish more measurable KPIs. From here we set a base monthly fee that enables us to provide consistent effort and service to the client (the fee is based on an estimated average level of support needed with the understanding that at times the service level may be somewhat higher or lower. If/when the service level exceeds the estimated time by more than 15% we bill for this in addition to the monthly fee). This provides both the client and us a predictable base for operations. Our base monthly fee starts at $4,000 USD.
(I want to put a number here so we have a starting point and to rule out tire-kickers or clients that don't want to commit. Also if we put this on our site our existing clients will see it)
Why don't you work on a project basis?
We understand that projects are a good way to work for a lot of businesses " but the nature of what we do is hard to package into a one-time project. We prefer to work over longer horizons so that we can build the relationships needed and achieve the most lasting results. We can work on a project basis " especially if tangible goals and a scope of work is established.
What does it take to be successful with Wired Island?
Wired Island measures its success by the success of our clients. While we celebrate one-off wins and want to make sure we collectively learn by any misses " we see success as something that is continuously developing. This means as our clients grow we grow and want to be able to continue to be part of the journey. Success for us is working with clients over a 10 year or more period " helping the grow, evolve and dominate their category"¦
(my point here is that the partnership/relationship is how we judge and measure our success " while we like to get big hits " what we feel most proud of is the relationships we have).
What services do you provide?
Wired Island is a core team of communications professionals with backgrounds in PR and journalism that can also extend to a network of trusted consultants who specialize in other marketing domains. However, before we put any marketing programs in place, we begin with the why? We always lead with the why? Why are you communicating what do you want to achieve? Why will anyone outside of the company care about what you have to say? WIIFT (What's in it for Them). We know that you know what you want to say "our job is helping you say it in a way that your key audiences care about. With this background here is how we talk about the services we provide " they fall into three categories:
(idea here is that we sell our thoughts/advice and experience as equal to our ability to execute these activities)
Just before the pandemic hit, our client Back Market got a big boost from investors to the tune of $120 million. This milestone announcement was one we were excited to release but because of the shut down around COVID-19, we decided to hold off for a few weeks. The waiting paid off. Wired Island worked with Back Market's international PR teams to coordinate the latest funding round announcement, this one led by global icons Goldman Sachs, Aglaé Venture and Eurazeo Growth. We saw this as a major endorsement of Back Market's hard work and dedication to supporting the circular economy model and a big opportunity to communicate Back Market's vision. We helped develop a strategic communication plan for the announcement, which included emphasizing the fact that Back Market was seeing exponential growth in part due to COVID-19 related demand. This double whammy of triple-digit funding and triple-digit growth during Covid-19 provided a great hook to reach top tier outlets and secure quality coverage.
While the large funding number and investor names helped to catch the eye of many journalists, we found that Back Market's growth trends we're equally, if not more, interesting to the press. As many people shifted to working and learning from home, the marketplace saw a spike in demand for laptops and other electronics. This led to some interesting discussion points around how COVID-19 has disrupted the tech device industry, and how we can do better post-pandemic. Like many PR pros, we have been thoughtfully and strategically navigating our outreach during this COVID-19 dominated news cycle. Fortunately, in addition to this significant news we could also offer our client as an important solution and thoughtful leader.
Wired Island managed press outreach and interviews in the US and beyond, while coordinating overlap in contacts and key outlets with the international team. We secured coverage in key tech and start-up outlets such as VentureBeat, Sifted, and TechCrunch, and top business publications including Business Insider and Fortune. Additionally, a few trade publications took interest such as Retail Tech Innovation Hub and BusinessGreen. The announcement also presented an opportunity for Back Market to discuss their larger issues around fair tech with outlets like Cheddar and Medium's OneZero. Finally, we were psyched to see Back Market's reach further syndicated in highly engaged newsletters The Hustle, Inside Venture Capital, and Business Insider's 10 things in tech you need to know today.
It seems like we are all seeking stories with positivity and a silver lining these days and with April being earth month, we figured this is the perfect tie to highlight a recent campaign from Back Market who literally found a silver lining in e-waste. Earlier this year, the refurbished electronics marketplace, partnered with NoWa, to launch G.OLD, a sustainable jewelry collection crafted with metals mined from discarded phones. The G.OLD line was created by Dutch designer Eva Schreuder for NoWa, a jewelry company that uses gold and silver extracted from old cell phones to create unique pieces that promote a "conscious connection."
The goal of the campaign was to prompt conversations among influencers and customers about e-waste. Launched just in time for Valentine's Day, Back Market asked consumers to show the planet a little love too.
Wired Island worked with Back Market to highlight this story via a multimedia news release using the reportable platform. Reportable enabled us to present this news in a more visual way by making the video and image assets easily shareable with journalists and other influencers.
This resulted in high-quality stories in Forbes, Android Authority, and Grist. The reportable news release helped increase the efficiency of the campaign, by giving journalists all the information they needed (in a visually compelling way) to write a story. The campaign also allowed us to make new important connections with journalists who had not previously worked with the Back Market team. As we hoped, the interviews lead to deeper discussions around Back Market's mission to foster a more circular economy, in addition to getting attention for the G.OLD jewelry line. The success of the launch encouraged the companies to partner again - so look out for more to come.
It has been an exciting six months for our client Prophesee. Last Fall we announced a new round of funding and the launch of Prophesee's first off-the shelf product, the Metavision sensor. Both announcements garnered significant press coverage which we helped amplify via Prophesee social media channels.
In February, continuing to build on this momentum, Prophesee announced a development partnership with Sony that combined Sony expertise in advanced 3D stacking CMOS manufacturing process technology and Prophsee's unique event-based vision technology resulting in the industry's smallest pixel size and highest HDR performance for this type of sensor.
The team was excited to announce this breakthrough, which was presented at a prestigious industry conference, ISSCC, The news that an industry giant such as Sony sought out Prophesee as a partner to expand Sony's presence in the sensor industry, where it already dominates, speaks to the growing status of Prophesee as a leader in vision sensing and processing (which targets industrial automation, robotics, autonomous vehicles and other machine vision-enabled applications). Wired Island worked closely with the client to best communicate this in a way that honored both business' ambitions, the terms of the partnership and Sony's stringent communications guidelines.
Wired Island briefed key trade, tech and mainstream targets and also worked with Sony to pitch a Japanese version of the release to key outlets in the company's home country such as Nikkei. The news was featured in prominent French publications such as Le Figaro and L'Usine Digitale, as well as some top English-speaking outlets such as EE Times, IMVE, IEEE Spectrum, Embedded.com, Electronics Weekly, and Ubergizmo.
The opportunity for additive manufacturing in repair applications is significant. Corrosion and wear cost the US economy $300 billion per year, and of that the global commercial aviation industry spends almost $100 billion annually on repair.
Wired Island worked with Optomec to announce its acquisition of Huffman, a trusted supplier of machining systems for metal part production and repair. With the Huffman acquisition, Optomec aims to expand the use of its LENS additive manufacturing solutions to the world's leading gas turbine manufacturers. Optomec wanted to communicate that this was a positive move for both Huffman and Optomec customers and to the industry in general as it will help drive greater adoption of cost-effective repairs for mainstream industrial applications. The results show that the messages resonated.
Here are some of the trade publications that capture the meaning and significance of this announcement: Additive Manufacturing and 3DPrint.com.
Does your team need communication consulting on an upcoming acquisition or announcement? Read more about how Wired Island can help on our media relations page.
The news release has lovers and haters. Some say it is an antiquated and ineffective way to communicate. Others see it as a valuable tool for helping companies build trust, credibility and value. Whatever side you are on - one thing is clear - the news release is not going away. In fact, it may be more important now than ever before.
The news release came on the scene 100 years ago as a way to respond to a tragedy and today still remains a vital tool for companies and brands to talk to key audiences. Recently with social media and a proliferation of other channels bombarding audiences everywhere - the news release has become even more misunderstood and misused.
So we thought it would be a good time to take a closer look at ways to make sure your news release is effective in today's extremely competitive environment. Here are four points to consider:
When used properly, the news release works. The news release still remains a valuable tool for companies to build product and brand awareness and for journalists to source story ideas. It just has to be used properly.
As an integrated PR and digital marketing agency for B2B technology companies, Wired Island has been issuing news releases for clients since the early 90's. Our 30-year track record of helping technology companies leverage PR to increase awareness and market share demonstrates that PR still works and the news release is far from dead. In fact, it is why we are so excited about at tool like Reportable. Reportable is a new way to create, share and host a multimedia news release on a dedicated URL that serves up exactly what busy journalists are looking for in a way that's relevant and meaningful in today's era of digital and social media
Side Bar - how to create Visuals for news releases
Often times the nature of a news release means there are not a lot of visual elements handy to issue with the release. This means we need to get creative. Here are some ideas for how to come up with visuals to support the news release. (See graphic "Don't have a visual" )
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).
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.
Trying to get attention for a new product or technology at CES, one of the largest trade shows in tech, is never easy, and often not a strategy we recommend, especially for early stage start-ups who don't yet have a market-ready product. But last month, we set course for Vegas along with a handful of our clients from Ceres Holographics, Prophesee, and Back Market. While the show is always well attended by the media and analysts, creating many opportunities for valuable face-to-face meetings, it can be difficult to navigate with all the excitement and flood of product announcements. So ensuring maximum return for our client Ceres required a plan to leverage the unveiling of a newly debuted holographic transparent display system, before, during and after CES.
Ceres develops Holographic Optical Elements (HOEs) for next-generation transparent display (TD) and augmented reality head-up-display (AR-HUD) solutions. It's a technology that has a long gestation period and Ceres has been carefully navigating the supply chain ecosystem in which it must participate in order to achieve success. Wired Island has been working with Ceres for several months to help develop a messaging and go-to-market communications plan. This includes ramping up its social media program as well as revamping its web site, and ultimately introducing the company to key influencers.
Following an initial funding announcement in December, at CES, the company announced their latest TD prototype system that offers key advantages for automotive applications including full-color display, wide field of view and desired small package size. We decided, with the client, to plan this announcement campaign around CES to maximize on the buzz and traffic of the event, and to take advantage of an offer to do some joint promotions with their technology partner Texas Instruments at the show.
The Wired Island team curated and evaluated the full CES press database, along with our previously developed industry contacts to offer pre-show briefings and press release embargoes. We then scheduled and prepped the client for meetings at CES, and also coordinated with their partner TI. Attending the show allowed us to be even more involved in press meetings industry networking that will be crucial to building long term relationships, as well develop content for social media.
Despite the noisy environment, CES ended up being a great "coming out' event for Ceres and they managed to create a bit of buzz in their space, even catching the attention of one of their better known competitors. Coverage regarding the announcement continues to roll in. Ceres was interviewed by a variety of trade and tech publications including Display Daily, Electronics 360, and the MarketScale podcast.
Wired Island prides itself on long-standing relationships - both with clients and with the media. For some of our trade press contacts, Wired Island has deep relationships that span more than a decade. One example of this is Electronic Engineering Journal (EE Journal). We have been working with this trade publication from the time it was formed in 2003 as part of TechFocus Media. For even longer, Wired Island has been working with Coventor, a leader in semiconductor process technology, providing public relations support. When Coventor was acquired by Lam Research in 2016 the focus of our PR efforts become more streamlined. Now the strategy is to secure quality coverage of its unique technology and flagship product in key trade publications that reach engineers in electronic product design and research. Wired Island worked with EE Journal to share the announcement of new features to Conventor's SEMulator3D 8.0, a process modeling, analysis, and simulation platform that is used for fast and accurate "virtual fabrication' of advanced semiconductor devices and micro-electromechanical systems (MEMS). The resulting article covered one of the key new features of the platform - how the analytics are tuned to let engineers get it "just right" - in a highly effective way with its title and link to Goldilocks. It's this kind of precise and creative approach that makes EE Journal one of the most highly respected trade publications in the business and why we enjoy working with the whole team there so much.
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