Company: Red Lorry Yellow Lorry, Boston, MA
Company Description: Red Lorry Yellow Lorry is a global, independent b2b tech PR and marketing agency with a relentless focus on getting you where you want to be. We're experts at making the complex easy to understand by bringing together talented people who know their industries inside and out.
Nomination Category: Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, & Public Relations Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Media Relations
 Nomination Title: Securing the Spotlight: CertiK's Rise to Blockchain Dominance
- 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:
January 1, 2022
- 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 75 words used.
- Attachment #1 - List of media coverage in 2022 & 2023, demonstrating both volume and variety of media coverage that the lorries secured fro CertiK, strictly through earned media relations.
- Attachment #2 - Share of voice in 2022 & 2023, showing the increase in brand visibility that CertiK witnessed over a two-year period across competitors, with only an earned media relations strategy.
- Attachement #3 - Sample of top-tier business press coverage over course of campaign
- 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 244 words used.
Our execution of the PR objectives began by establishing a process to receive audit information on newly discovered hacks and vulnerabilities via CertiK’s platform. CertiK provided technical details and post-mortem write-ups that we disseminated to top-tier crypto, business, tech and cybersecurity media in the U.S. and UK.
The strategy was first tested with a major hack in late January 2022, involving the Qubit Finance DeFi platform, which resulted in over $80M in stolen cryptocurrency. We rapidly shared this breaking news with our media targets, securing coverage and briefings.
Throughout the first half of 2022, we refined our strategy and extended our benchmark goals as we gained momentum. As we approached mid-year, we began to explore what else CertiK could contribute in terms of industry insights outside of our exploit analysis.
To enhance our hack response strategy, we proposed a new concept; CertiK’s "The State of Web3 Security" report series. These reports, created in collaboration with CertiK’s experts, combined thought leadership insights with real-world data and were released both quarterly and annually. This not only provided valuable media content, but also allowed us to incorporate journalists' feedback before each launch. We strategically timed the release of these reports to maximize media interest, and briefed spokespeople ahead of pitching to ensure they were poised to give brilliant comments and interviews at the drop of a hat. Additionally, we developed storylines from these reports for ongoing content placement beyond their launch dates, maximizing our media impact.
- 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 2022. Even if your initiative started before 2022, limit your response to activities and results since the beginning of 2022 only (up to 250 words):
Total 219 words used.
Following the success of our hack insights strategy, we devised a pitch template to expedite media outreach for future incidents. This approach, especially with the launch of The State of Web3 report series, maintained momentum throughout 2022 and into 2023. The series' popularity grew to the point whereby the end of 2022, journalists were requesting to be on our embargo list, marking a shift from our initial outbound-only strategy to receiving inbound requests for 25% of our media interactions.
By May 2023, the end of the 17-month CertiK program, our team had achieved 642 pieces of media coverage, significantly surpassing our target of 10 pieces monthly or 120 yearly. We also exceeded our goal to raise CertiK’s Share of Voice (SOV), flying past our 40% target to achieve a 53% SOV by the end of 2022. In 2023, despite fewer hacks and less news, as well as an uptick in PR activity from competitors, we maintained a 52% cumulative SOV for CertiK until the program concluded in May.
Our media coverage and relationships encompassed top-tier business, tech, and crypto media in the U.S. and UK. Notable coverage included CNBC, Forbes, Fortune, The Verge, VICE, NBC, The Street, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, CoinDesk, Venture Beat, The Washington Post, WIRED, Reuters, The Wall Street Journal, MIT Tech Review and ZDNet, among other
- 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 187 words used.
Founded in 2018, CertiK is a pioneer in blockchain security. It uses best-in-class AI technology to secure and monitor blockchain protocols and smart contracts. Despite being one of the fastest growing blockchain security audit platforms, CertiK was struggling to gain media visibility among competitors that had been running comprehensive PR programs for some time. These competitors were overwhelmingly quoted in breaking news stories on blockchain vulnerabilities and hacks, and therefore dominating conversations in the blockchain space.
As a fast-growing startup that was actively fundraising, CertiK had both limited resources and a clear need to increase their authority and visibility. They wanted a strong, effective and strategic media relations program that could support their top-of-funnel pipeline while they focused on other communication strategies, like improving their social media presence and community engagement.
Enter Red Lorry Yellow Lorry (the lorries), brought in to help CertiK elevate its brand visibility and voice in an increasingly competitive blockchain security market. The key objectives were to increase SOV among these competitors while establishing a regular cadence of breaking news commentary, demonstrating CertiK's authority and building brand awareness through traditional earned media relations.
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