Company: Caster Communications, Newport, RI
Company Description: Caster Communications, Inc. is an award-winning tech PR, social media, and consulting firm that specializes in helping emerging and established technology companies establish their brand. With extensive experience across growing market categories including smart home, IoT consumer audio and video, wireless technology, and AI Caster helps its clients expand their global reach.
Nomination Category: Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, & Public Relations Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Communications or PR Campaign of the Year – Technology
 Nomination Title: The Metaverse Standards Forum
- Which will you submit for this nomination, a video of up to five (5) minutes in length about the nominated PR campaign or program, or written answers to the questions? (Choose one):
Written answers to the questions
- If you are submitting a video of up to five (5) minutes in length, provide the URL of the nominated video here, OR attach it to your entry via the "Add Attachments, Videos, or Links to This Entry" link above, through which you may also upload a copy of your video.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this first question: Specify the date on which this campaign or program was launched:
June 21, 2022
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this second question: Describe the genesis of the nominated campaign or program: the reasons it was initiated, the challenges it was created to address, the problems it was developed to solve, etc. (up to 250 words):
Total 232 words used.
After Facebook changed its name to Meta in 2021, a group of companies came together and approached the Khronos Group, an open standards organization for 3D graphics and AR/VR, to build a way for all the Standards Development Organizations (SDOs) and companies working on metaverse technologies to cooperate and join forces.
Nine months later in June 2022, Khronos launched the Metaverse Standards Forum (MSF). This launch required coordination across 37 founding member organizations, including several of the biggest companies in the world: Microsoft, Meta, Nvidia, Epic, Unity, Google, Wayfair, IKEA, etc. Caster Communications was charged with coordinating media outreach across all founding members, including securing quotes and buy-in for the initial press release, organizing outreach and interviews among spokespeople, and spearheading social content and strategy.
A core goal of this launch was to push Khronos, a long-time behind-the-scenes force in gaming, graphics, and XR, onto center stage as a mainstream source of industry thought leadership, providing education on the challenges with creating an open metaverse. At the same time, the Metaverse Standards Forum needed a distinct identity as a wholly independent entity with organizational and industry credibility and critical mass of companies involved in metaverse related technologies and standards as members.
Caster was the group to publicly bring this initiative forward and give it credibility. What we never expected was the viral engagement across media, social, and forums that the launch brought.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this third question: Describe the development of the campaign or program: the planning process, the goal setting, the creative and media development, the scheduling, etc. (up to 250 words):
Total 250 words used.
To guide the timing and strategy for this launch, Caster monitored media sentiment post-Meta rebrand. Messaging had to be carefully constructed to enforce the idea that the Metaverse would not be built by one company. Caster advised Khronos on timing, balancing the need to wait until the Metaverse Standards Forum had enough support from top-tier industry players to stake a legitimate claim against the risk that the news would be leaked.
A year prior, Caster began organizing joint media and opportunities with Khronos and prospective Forum members, including panel presentations at events such as Augmented World Expo and Real-Time Conference, as well as co-authored blog posts with other organizations – all of whom became founding members of the MSF.
As the Forum took shape, Caster worked to build an asset-rich press kit and brand identity that would support a high-profile launch, consulting on the creation of the Forum’s logo, website, messaging, visual identity, and guiding the strategy for the launch of social channels.
As the ranks of founding members swelled, Caster forestalled leaks by holding embargo briefings with the press most tuned in to the metaverse rumor mill, including Axios, Reuters, and Forbes. We also secured advance placements in VentureBeat and on the Voices of VR podcast, guaranteeing a long trail of coverage.
Caster worked with member companies to coordinate the launch and social posts to drive a wave of engagement and outreach on the day of launch, propelling the MSF to trend across social and in the mainstream media.
- If you are providing written answers for your submission, you must provide an answer to this fourth question: Outline the activities and concrete results of this campaign or program since the beginning of 2021. Even if your initiative started before 2021, limit your response to activities and results since the beginning of 2021 only (up to 250 words):
Total 248 words used.
The Forum launched on June 21, 2022. By June 24, it had garnered 290 stories, including top tier coverage from Financial Times, Venturebeat, and The Verge. Media reported the news from a wide variety of angles, deriving dozens of unique perspectives from Caster’s media briefings and press kits. The release spurred a flood of in-bound requests from analysts, media, podcasts and events, establishing new press relationships for Khronos, The Metaverse Standards Foundation, and Caster for future story opportunities.
The industry’s response was as strong as the media’s. In the first 48 hours after release, the Forum gained 573 new member requests, and the news was shared on Twitter over 300 times. The Forum had launched with a strategic corps of industry stakeholders; within a week, it swelled to an army.
Today the Forum has over 2,500 members and earned over 3200 pieces of unique media coverage from top publications including MSN, Forbes and Financial Times. End-of-year trends pieces by publications like Entrepreneur and Wired made it clear that the launch was one of the biggest and most positive tech stories of the year.
Caster established a Forum Speaker’s Bureau to meet demand for information about the metaverse and to respond quickly and authoritatively to media requests for comments on metaverse-related topics. Caster has gathered over 100 global representatives speaking 25 languages. MSF members have recorded more than 40 podcasts and been invited to speak at over 50 events, including CES 2023, MetaBeat, and The Economist’s Metaverse Summit.
- Optional: Reference any attachments of supporting materials throughout this nomination and how they provide evidence of the claims you have made in this nomination (up to 250 words):
Total 46 words used.
The Khronos Group client newsroom on the Caster website: https://castercomm.com/client/the-khronos-group/
Khronos/MSF case study: https://castercomm.com/case-study/the-khronos-group-launching-a-first-of-its-kind-forum/
The MSF website shows the list of 2500+ MSF members, media coverage, and events: https://metaverse-standards.org/
MSF top clips:
https://www.theverge.com/2022/6/21/23176755/microsoft-meta-epic-metaverse-standards-forum-founded
https://medium.com/@NeoTech.Finance/introduction-to-metaverse-standards-forum-9e656c348297
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