Onyx’s brief
Invotra provide enterprise Intranet and Portal solutions for organisations worldwide, with clients including almost half of UK central government, and environmental organisation Sierra Club in the USA.
In 2017, Invotra became the first digital workplace provider to introduce Blockchain capability to its platform; allowing organisations to do things like track the provenance of agreements and decisions, eliminate paper trails and enable a meritocracy – where originators of ideas are rightly credited with a permanent record of their idea or suggestion.
Onyx, a founding member of the Global Collective, was asked to manage the PR launch of the new blockchain proposition both in the UK and the United States. Invotra was keen to target Blockchain specific news sites, to generate a buzz around the new functionality and to generally raise awareness of it’s brand in both markets.
The launch
With a main objective of raising awareness of the new Blockchain proposition among potential buyers and decision makers (those in digital communications or digital enterprise roles), Onyx recommended a focus on what the Blockchain implementation allows organisations to do, rather than the technical detail. There was also a recommended emphasis on the fact that Invotra was the first digital workplace/intranet provider to incorporate Blockchain – ahead of large competitors such as Microsoft Sharepoint.
Two press releases were issued, one in the UK and one in the US, to a media list which was far broader than Invotra’s core technology press targets and included Blockchain and crypto currency specific news sites, and some targeted business media. Interviews and briefings were also actively sought for Invotra’s CEO Fintan Galvin, as he explains the capabilities of the platform in a highly engaging way and could effectively bring the Blockchain capability to life in a conversation with a journalist. The aim was to build more wide-ranging feature opportunities alongside news items.
Result
Coverage was achieved in two of the top target Blockchain sites; TheBlockchain.com and ETH news, the latter was secured via an interview with Fintan in which he spoke about the implementation and attitude towards the use of Blockchain by government organisations. Compare the Cloud conducted a video interview with Fintan, exploring the role of Blockchain in the digital workplace and the general evolution of the intranet, which was shared widely on social media and received significant views. Tech Market View are also due to interview Fintan this year to discover more about the Blockchain capability.
The press release issue in the USA generated 276 pieces of coverage, with an audience of 17.59 million. Highlights included MarketWatch.com (with an audience of more than half a million), and the New York Business Journal.
Interest was also secured among selected journalists in the UK who were keen to be kept in the loop as soon Invotra’s government clients began using the Blockchain functionality, and were interested in exploring case studies and proof points in the future, giving the story further traction and helping to build longer term awareness.