PAN Comms’ product-launch campaign for Sisense earns Bulldog Bronze

Having already established itself as a leader in self-service analytics, removing IT complexity and enabling everyday business users to participate in the business intelligence (BI) revolution, Sisense had made a name for itself in the BI market due to its traditional BI technology. But while the company was growing exponentially, the market had already witnessed what happens to established players who build great products, but fail to continue innovating. Sisense had reached a critical juncture of its growth and was in a position to deliver its vision for the future and to become more than just a traditional BI startup—it was poised to become an industry disruptor.

To showcase Sisense as a leading enabler of the connected workplace, PAN Communications was tasked with launching the company’s Sisense Everywhere program. The mission of the campaign was to establish Sisense as a disruptor in the BI market with a tangible innovation and first-of-its-kind product announcement. Read on to see how PAN helped establish its client as an industry leader with its highly successful launch campaign—earning the firm and client a Bronze Award in the “Best New Business Product Launch” category in Bulldog Reporter’s 2017 Media Relations Awards.

The Challenge: In looking at the current competitive landscape, no specific BI player was delivering on advancements in Artificial Intelligence and the Internet of Things—which presented a ripe opportunity for Sisense to step in. These two topics were driving the media conversation across the broader technology, business and consumer landscapes. Where it pertains to data and BI, however, theory and predictions trumped real-world use cases. The media had an appetite to see real-world innovations and use cases for these technologies in the business world—and Sisense aimed to be the first player to truly deliver AI and IoT opportunities in the BI market.

“The initial goal of this campaign was to introduce a completely new and better way to consume business data beyond two-dimensional computer screens,” says Guy Levy-Yurista, Sisense’s head of product, who worked closely with PAN on the campaign. “PAN and Sisense worked together to accomplish this by conducting research about how the program’s increased engagement with data could impact business outcomes. PAN worked with Sisense to design specific messaging that announced the integration with Amazon Echo and IoT lightbulb, which demonstrated how Sisense is delivering a larger promise to move business analytics beyond the computer screen,” he adds.

“The second goal of the campaign was to increase awareness of Sisense and its Everywhere program in the B2B market through tier-one media coverage,” Darlene Doyle, senior vice president at PAN Communications, offers.

The Execution: The campaign team planned to launch Sisense’s Everywhere program through a one-time launch announcement, announcing both the Amazon Echo and IoT lightbulb innovations within the same press release. “PAN pre-pitched the press release to the media one week prior to the program’s launch,” Doyle relates.

The announcement established Sisense as an enabler of the connected office and, more importantly, human consumption of data. Messaging conveyed that the Amazon Echo and the IoT lamp integrations are just two examples of how Sisense is delivering a larger promise to disrupt the BI market.

PAN partnered with Sisense to develop key assets, including key messages, press release, FAQ, briefing materials for spokespeople and customers, product screenshots and a video to announce the new product.

“PAN approached the media at an angle that showed that Sisense delivers a new program that completely disrupts the way Business Intelligence is consumed. AI and IoT are hot topics in the media, but they lack real-world stories of how businesses are putting these technologies to use. This campaign sought to give them a tangible way that businesses can use AI and IoT in a business environment,” Doyle explains. “Developing strong pre-pitches well in advance, and emphasizing the strength and capabilities of the program, helped PAN and Sisense garner interest from top-tier reporters and influencers.

PAN introduced new, compelling iterations of AI and IoT innovation in the form of a product announcement and two customer case studies to satisfy the media’s appetite for real-world business use cases. PAN pre-pitched only top-tier business and technology media, targeting those that focused on innovation and business and technology disruption.

The Results: The PR efforts led to multiple pre-announcement interviews, resulting in top-tier coverage. Message pull-through in media coverage was optimal, with all coverage focusing on how Sisense is delivering a completely new way to consume Business Intelligence, and delivering on AI and IoT’s promise to simplify how users access and analyze data. “The pitching efforts resulted in 15 pieces of top-tier coverage including Fortune, TechCrunch, NetworkWorld, InformationWeek—surpassing the goal by 250 percent,” Levy-Yurista says.

Since its launch, the program has proven to be a critical part of the next generation of Sisense, creating market visibility for the company as an enabler of accessible business insights and innovation in the market.
In addition to the coverage mentioned above, the following metrics were secured:

• 12 media interviews with top-tier reporters
• 50M+ reach on secured articles
• 100+ customer sign-ups for the program within the first week of launch
• 3,888 Twitter impressions on the date of the launch, a 177% increase from the daily average in the previous three months

Secrets of Success: Doyle offers the following takeaways to help you with your next product-launch campaign—demonstrating why this campaign won PAN Communications and Sisense a Bronze in Bulldog’s 2017 Media Relations Awards:

• Set yourself apart from competition. “Emphasize what your product offers that other products currently don’t.”
• Focus on messaging that is tailored to each reporter. “What topics do they typically cover? What kind of relationship have you held with them in the past?”
• Don’t be discouraged if you don’t land top-tier coverage immediately. “Good things take time.”