COVID-19 is posing an unprecedented challenge for brands as they work to navigate a highly delicate and dynamic market climate. While some brands are pausing or pulling back on PR initiatives in light of COVID-19, others are leaning in and confronting the crisis head-on. In late March 2020, Kite Hill PR mobilized to help Unacast, a location data company, do just that.
Agility
Unacast approached Kite Hill with a valuable and time-sensitive tool designed to capture social distancing behavior in the United States at the state and county levels. The technology was in place, but Unacast needed to get the word out - and fast - to make this data available in the interest of public health education.
The Kite Hill team deployed an agile communications approach and quickly mobilized to develop and execute a strategic PR plan to raise awareness of Unacast’s Social Distancing Scoreboard that would reach a wide population of policymakers, academic and public health institutions, industry verticals and individuals. In less than 24 hours, Kite Hill established key messaging points for the Scoreboard, a press release to explain the story, as well as a Q&A to respond to media inquiries about topics like data methodology and consumer privacy. In tandem, Kite Hill created a media relations strategy to reach press across business, technology, retail, real estate, daily news and broadcast outlets.
Accuracy
The strategy required gravitas in order for Unacast and the Scoreboard to remain credible and gain recognition as a vital public health tool. It was also important that stakeholders like medical professionals, state and local governments and major retailers were made aware of the Scoreboard’s capabilities while making it easy to understand for the average consumer. Kite Hill underscored Unacast’s ability to combine complex technology and data science with easily digestible concepts to resonate with key audiences.
Results
Kite Hill secured an agreement with The Washington Post to break the news with a positive story that would reach a large number of eyeballs. The initial article resulted in hundreds of inbound requests from reporters, qualified business leads, and organizations looking to use the data for public health strategies. Within the first 48 hours of launch, Kite Hill secured over 200 pieces of press coverage. Two weeks after the Scoreboard’s launch, the team placed over 300 original articles and over 100 broadcast clips in outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Business Insider, Cheddar, Fox Business, USA Today, Mashable, Wired and more. Additionally, the Unacast team has seen over 1,000 qualified new business leads and 2.5 million unique page views to the Scoreboard. The numbers are growing as Unacast continues to enhance its Scoreboard with new capabilities and Kite Hill continues to spread the word about the amazing work they are doing - all with the goal of ultimately saving lives.
To learn more about Kite Hill’s work with Unacast, visit here.
- Bianca Illion, Account Supervisor