As a B2B technology PR agency, we tend to usually work on software and hardware solutions’ projects but, to switch things up, we also work on B2C clients too. B2C is different from B2B in that it is businesses selling their products to consumers, rather than B2B which is business to business.
The best part of working on B2C campaigns for our clients is the launch of products or getting media reviews for new consumer technologies. Here are the consumer technology PR campaigns that we have worked on in the last couple of years that are our favourites.
US unibody e-bike
Our US-based client, known for manufacturing carbon fibre composite products, launched a brand new product on Indiegogo and needed our help to secure coverage to help drive interested buyers to that crowdfunding page.
The product was a 3D printed e-bike and it was stunning – great colour options and designed to be specifically tailored to the rider’s height, weight and riding location and preference – so sturdier for rural consumers and more lightweight for commuting in the city.
Reviewing the project brief, we noted that the e-Bike’s unibody design was a world first as the combination of custom, unibody and carbon fibre frame had never been done before. We used that as our selling point for retail and consumer tech, lifestyle, luxury, design and national media, securing coverage in media such as Times, Wired, GQ, Top Gear, Stuff magazine, Pocket-Lint and Daily Express.
For achieving coverage with the biking media, we used a slightly different angle – the made-to-measure, bespoke down to the spokes offering made the Superstrata stand out in the e-bike marketplace, so we focused our media outreach efforts on securing inclusion of that model in seasonal buying guides and as a focal point for e-bike features in media such as Cycling Weekly, Cyclist, BikeBiz
The company came back to us for help in promoting the availability of the new product and we immediately secured media reviews using samples with T3 and BikeRadar. The BikeRadar reviewer was so impressed by the new e-bike that he also covered it as that media’s “Bike of the Week”, which the client was ecstatic about.
Asian air purifier
Another new project was an Asian company expanding its portfolio to encompass a new air purifier. Now we all know that the spotlight on healthcare and healthcare technology has never been fiercer, thanks to COVID, but with this product coming along later than other similar products, we had to come up with another angle to secure media interest. So rather than going for healthcare and medical media, instead we targeted leisure, travel, parental and consumer technology media.
This was a success because, in addition to securing five reviews for the five samples that we had for media to try out, we also negotiated and set up six competitions with Good Housekeeping, Country Living, Prima, House Beautiful, Men’s Health and Women’s Health for readers to win one of the new air purifiers for themselves. The six competitions had over 72,000 entries, which the client was super happy about.
UK mobile accessories
Our mobile accessories retail client has launched many new products over the years but our favourite was the wireless portable light cube speaker, which was the first own-brand product that the client debuted its new accessories lab distribution arm with.
Thanks to how unique and cool the light up cube-shaped Bluetooth speaker was, we secured positive rave reviews with media including The Digital Lifestyle, eSeller News, Fortitude Magazine, Auto Express, Mobile Choice and PC Advisor, amongst others, and competitions with media including Tech Radar plus comments on breaking news stories online with PC Retail and blogs such as Tracy and Matt and LondonMums.
In fact, the product launch was so successful that we used it as the entry for an award-winning submission for various awards, including, the Mobile News Awards, ECMOD Awards, the Online Retail Awards, What Mobile’s ‘Best Accessory Retailer’ and as a finalist in the Retail Week Enterprise Awards and Mobile Choice Accessories Awards.
US digital cameras
We worked with a very well-known traditionally analogue photography brand to launch its new range of digital cameras.
Thanks to most smartphones having in-built cameras, the project was a challenge, but we rose to it. By promoting the digital cameras as the ultimate travel and outdoor adventure and action accessory, we secured 8 Tier 1 media reviews including Trusted Reviews. We also supported the client at various industry and vertical events, including The Photography Show, Photokina, CES and IFA, achieving mentions of the camera range in write ups and recommendation features after those events.
The cameras were mentioned in 360° round ups throughout the year and we received requests from influencers including Paul Steele aka the BaldHiker who helped us achieve social media promotion of the cameras and retweets/shares to assist in reaching a wider consumer audience than media coverage would have alone, and London-based urban photographer, Nicholas Goodden.
Coverage of the camera range appeared in Photography Blog, ePhotozine, Camera Jabber, The British Photography Industry, Photography Blog, TechRadar, The Gadget Head, PhotoBite, Fascinating Tech, Mighty Gadget, TechNuovo and ePhotozine.
Vitis PR’s product blasts and promotional emails highlighting the right cameras for the different seasons helped secure Kodak PIXPRO cameras being included in summer round ups with TechRadar on the Best 360-degree action cameras for travel holidays and Christmas gift guides, such as Sunday Woman, Digital Camera World, The Next Web, a Luxury Travel Blog, Holiday Living, Camera Jabber, ePhotozine, TechRadar, The Voice, and DadvWorld.
Competitions were also secured with PhotoBite, Practical Photography, Go Ape and Look Magazine over the summer.
If you’re planning to revolutionise your retail strategy or you have a funky new product to attract buyers to, we are here to talk about how the Vitis PR team could help support and make your consumer technology PR campaign a huge must-have success.
