OnwardMobility

From Stealth into the Limelight – Rainier Launches OnwardMobility and its 5G BlackBerry Device

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Challenge

After working in stealth mode for more than a year, OnwardMobility chose Rainier Communications as its public relations agency partner. The agency’s first task was an OnwardMobility corporate launch anchored with news about its pivotal licensing partnerships with BlackBerry and Foxconn. These partnerships make it possible for OnwardMobility to bring next-gen 5G BlackBerry-branded smartphones to market in 2021.

To launch OnwardMobility into the noisy smartphone space required a well-planned and executed campaign to ensure the company’s strategic messages around demand and market potential for the new smartphones would be highlighted in resulting media coverage. Added to the challenge was the fact that Rainier had less than one month to plan and execute the launch.

STRategy

  • Bring OnwardMobility out of stealth mode and announce the pair of strategic partnerships via pre-launch interviews with the most influential mainstream and mobile tech media in the US and EMEA
  • Prepare OnwardMobility’s executive team with media training, refined and detailed messaging and an extensive internal Q&A document to ensure message consistency and create positive media coverage
  • Continue to conduct aggressive outreach to consumer, business and tech media following the announcement

Results

  • More than 17 briefings with top influencers in the tech media; embargoed press release shared with more than 30 journalists
  • Unique stories appeared in more than 1,900 media outlets around the globe
  • Press release viewed nearly 80,000 times on Business Wire
  • Within 30 days, more than 90,000 views of the CEO’s launch video – “fairly lo-fi,” as described by TechCrunch; the intentionally simple video was conceived, scripted and produced by Rainier to introduce CEO Peter Franklin to the industry and the world
  • Virtually every piece of coverage highlighted the company’s key messages, including PCMag, The Register, Engadget, Forbes and Wired
  • Launch coverage achieved 97% positive/neutral sentiment rating
  • In the first 30 days, the new website had 34,000 users, 41,000 sessions, 108,000 page views and an impressive email subscriber conversion rate of 17%

 

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“The Rainier team made sure the millions of people hungry for the next generation of BlackBerry 5G smartphones learned about our exciting and ambitious story – and they accomplished it all in just a handful of weeks working together. From the onset of our relationship with Rainier, we knew they were invested in our success, and they quickly became integral, strategic members of our team. They weren’t afraid to be tough with us, they consistently went the extra mile to ensure a successful announcement, and they helped guide us every step of the way.”
- Peter Franklin, OnwardMobility CEO, September 2020