Blurb, now a wildly popular and fast growing creative publishing
service, enlisted Atomic in mid–September, 2006 to ignite
its public relations strategy and successfully bring its 1.0
product to market. Blurb was well–regarded among a small
subset of creative press in vertical market publications, as
well as by a growing legion of "Blurbarians," the company's
rabid fan base; thrilled to make bookstore-quality books for
affordable prices. The company had received some roundup–style
mentions and blurbs, pardon the pun, around its Beta launch
and some notoriety in a few "future of publishing" stories working
with another firm. Atomic's challenge was to drive feature coverage
in media outlets beyond the technology and investor publications;
and to position the company more broadly with mainstream consumer
hobbyists, without alienating the existing core audience of
early adopters and photographers. Atomic's ComContext™
analysis established starting baselines identifying specifically
where Blurb sat within the media environment among top competitors,
and the volume and tone of overall category coverage. Following
the analysis, the Atomic team arrived at two subtle, but very
key insights. These insights drove a simple and powerful strategy
that catalyzed Blurb's explosion onto the consumer media landscape.
Results
- Increased Blurb's coverage more than 300% in the first
45 days of engagement.
- More than 1000% increase in coverage since the beginning
of Atomic's program.
- More than 160 unique consumer broadcast pieces, print
articles, targeted vertical coverage and top technology
blog postings from September 15, 2006 to end of year.
- Dramatic increase in media presence for CEO and founder
Eileen Gittins.
© Atomic Communications, LLC
