Seattle and the greater Pacific Northwest region have quickly become one of the nation’s largest tech hubs. With an increasing number of B2B tech brands vying for media attention, our Seattle team has continued to help our West Coast clients stand out from the crowd, reach key target audiences and earn credible recognition through strategic public relations programs that secure strong media results. We’re honored to have that work recognized at this year’s PRSA Puget Sound Awards, where we took home two wins for our work with Fuse Venture Partners and Limeade.
The PRSA Puget Sound Awards recognize projects and programs that demonstrate excellence in public relations in the Puget Sound area. This honor could not be made possible without the hard work and dedication of our Seattle PR and content teams who continue to generate strong results for our clients, and we’re grateful to be able to work with incredible companies like Fuse Venture Partners and Limeade.
Here’s a recap of the work recognized by the PRSA Puget Sound Awards:
Launching New Seattle VC Fund: Fuse Venture Partners
Our PR work for Fuse Venture Partners received a Certificate of Excellence in the Marketing Communications category. Fuse Venture Partners, a VC firm founded by two former VC pros and Bobby Wagner, captain of the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks, needed a PR partner to help them announce the firm’s launch and make a splash in the media. The fund is focused on investing in Seattle B2B technology startups that are reinventing the economy with software – a space where Walker Sands has deep media relationships and expertise.
To launch the fund and build awareness among Fuse’s target audiences, Walker Sands developed a multi-faceted PR strategy that included targeted reporter outreach across media types, thoughtful storytelling, interviews leveraging founding partners and high-profile limited partners, and deliberate timing of embargo outreach to ensure great coverage on the launch day.
The PR strategy successfully exposed Fuse to the core VC community on both a local and national level, while exceeding coverage expectations with a total of 35 media placements, 14 of which were in top-tier outlets including GeekWire, Wall Street Journal and CNBC Squawk Alley. You can learn more about our work with Fuse here.
Positioning Limeade as a Trusted Source on Employee Care During the Pandemic
Our data-driven PR program for Limeade also received a Certificate of Excellence in the Marketing Communications category.
We partnered with Limeade, an employee experience software company, in Q1 of 2020 to produce a data study focused on the importance of employee care in preventing employee burnout and turnover with the goal of increasing brand awareness through top-tier media coverage.
When news of coronavirus began to dominate headlines ahead of the report’s March launch, the Walker Sands team quickly pivoted their strategy and identified findings from the data study that were relevant and timely to conversations happening in the media. The findings addressed topics around employee health and well-being during lockdowns while also positioning Limeade as a thought leader and trusted source of information in its field.
The success of the first report led to the creation of a second report later in 2020 that focused specifically on the impact of COVID-19 in the workplace. The campaigns around both reports secured 39 total placements, reaching a potential audience of nearly 1 billion. You can learn more about our work with Limeade here.
Congratulations to Fuse and Limeade, as well as our Seattle team members, on this well-deserved recognition for these campaigns. We look forward to the PRSA Puget Sound Awards next year!