Straight from the laboratories of the University of Minnesota, this seed-stage biocatalyst company came to Antenna after being selected as one of the top-three clean-technology companies to be awarded a prestigious ARPA-E grant from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE). In 48 hours the company would receive an endorsement from U.S. Secretary of Energy, Dr. Steven Chu, and a window for press opportunities. How could it quickly seize this announcement to catapult onto a larger stage?
This company’s skill lies in chemical catalyst conversions, not crafting strategic communications. Knowing Antenna’s reputation for being proficient across a range of clean technologies and quick studies of complex markets, the company approached Antenna over the weekend with the request to help broadcast their exciting news.
Analysis
Antenna began the process by refining the company messaging. Working in the vacuum of a lab setting, the client’s story boiled over with too many divergent product offerings—catalytic conversions for jet fuels, biocatalysis for water treatment, biocatalysts for biopreservation—making for a diluted and confusing message. Biocatalysis is not an everyday concept. Antenna’s advice: define a singular platform technology to concentrate the vision of the company.
Antenna then developed messaging that reinforced the technology’s potential to vastly improve the status quo. Antenna played up the private-public, University-lab partnership for an additional news anchor. It was also important to have a role in the policy conversation, as this was where the majority of the coverage would land. Getting into the politics as a mostly tech-based company can be daunting: Antenna provided media training for the company executives, polishing their talking points on the DOE conversation and increasing their professionalism with methods to pivot around discussions in less comfortable areas.
Action
Antenna worked swiftly and was able to get in front of the news, offering the company and the University for commentary on the DOE grant and the company’s business mission. In just one day, Antenna secured coverage in New York Times, followed by local business press including Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal and Star Tribune. Profiles and industry quotes continued in MSNBC, CNN and Wired as well as category-specific verticals, Biofuels Digest, Greentech Media and Green Car Congress.
|
