Start Spreading the News: SHIFT NY 2016 Consumer Media Highlights

SHIFT New York’s consumer team kept up a full court press in 2016, keeping our clients’ brands top of mind among relevant technology and lifestyle reporters and delivering relevant, timely content to their readers. Whether it was securing placements for the latest outdoor grilling innovation from Char-Broil or letting tech reporters know about a new parental controlled Wi-Fi service, helping to achieve our clients’ communications and business objectives continued to be our mission throughout the year. So… on to the consumer media goodness! Below are a few 2016 earned media highlights from the New York consumer team and the value each of them delivered to our clients.

For Char-Broil, positioning them as an innovator in outdoor grilling continues to be a major priority; promoting its new Gas2Coal two-in-one grill during the all-important holiday shopping season was therefore a must. The team did that and then some when it secured a prime placement and audience giveaway with the top-rated Ellen show and its annual “12 Days of Giveaways”, featuring Char-Broil’s Gas2Coal grill. During the segment, Ellen delivered key messaging around Gas2Coal “giving you the best of both worlds”. The brand reaped additional national exposure when the producer-turned-chef used Char-Broil’s High-Performance Grilling Gloves (holiday stocking stuffer, anyone?) while cooking s’mores on the Gas2Coal.

Tapping into consumer media’s continued interest in IoT, New York’s consumer tech team secured a comprehensive review for new parental-controlled Wi-Fi service, Roqos, in the highly influential technology publication Network World. The review delivered messages on key competitive advantages, including ease of use and cloud-based cyber security protection.

Tasked with driving pre-launch visibility for global weight management experts Slimming World, the NY consumer squad leveraged the Thanksgiving timeframe to share sample Slimming World recipes showcasing the program’s ease of use and meal preparation versatility with The Daily Meal. The team secured four Slimming World-branded, Thanksgiving themed recipes with the site along with a call to action to visit the Slimming World Web site.

For GPS-based crime navigation app RedZone, the New York team helped drive brand awareness and downloads and positioned the company as a leader in using analytics to help keep consumers safe from crime hot-spots. The team secured, among other notable pieces of coverage, a high-profile piece in Digital Trends, which talked about the app’s ability to keep users safe by suggesting alternate travel routes. The success of the PR program also helped fuel investor interest, and in June the company announced it would be merging with global analytics provider Helios & Mathison (HMNY) to expand the app’s capabilities and global footprint. The combined companies have since finalized the merger and announced plans to expand the app’s feature set.

As PR practitioners, we must continue to play a vital role in helping our valued clients achieve their communications and business objectives. Every earned media placement we secure is an opportunity to do just that, and SHIFT NY looks forward to delivering valued consumer media hits for our clients again in 2017. Happy holidays!

Alan Marcus
Senior Vice President

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