Challenge

Norwegian startup Creaza (subsequently renamed WeVideo as part of its US launch campaign) was perceived as a creative and fun Cloud video editing platform that carried great potential, but one that was limited by its small niche as a purely educational tool, and one that had not as of yet translated its potential to significant buzz or massive user numbers. Rebranded as “WeVideo,” the service pivoted to become a more general freemium video platform that allowed the most novice camera user to shoot raw footage from mobile devices and produce high, broadcast-quality video to share with friends in the Cloud.

With the social media marketing and public relations assistance of Social Radius, WeVideo became a technology startup Cinderella story for 2011, taking North America by storm, winning the prestigious title of “DemoGod” at DEMO Fall 2011, and partnering with YouTube to become a Cloud editing plug-in for that service. By the end of the year, outlets like the Los Angeles Times and CNET were praising WeVideo Final Cut Pro for the Cloud, with the latter outlet saying that WeVideo had “the potential to be something big.”

Solution

• Engagement of high-value Twitter followers.
• Consistent social network outreach, management and content creation.
• Extensive outreach to online video thought leaders and enthusiasts.
• Intensive coordination of software sneak previews and executive interviews with top-flight media, especially in the startup and technology space.
• Strong, managed presence at DEMO, the tradeshow that has launched Adobe Acrobat, Sun Java, Palm Computing and TiVO, among others.

Results

• Editorial mentions in 300+ articles in leading media outlets like CNET, GigaOM, the Los Angeles Times, TechCrunch and VentureBeat, all within the short span of three months, representing a publicity value of over $250,000 USD.
• Over 1,250 Twitter followers over the same three-month period. Additionally, more than one-third of these followers tried out the software.
• Aside from the cosmetic, this publicity had a tangible effect on WeVideo’s bottom line: 100,000 users signed up for the service in the first three months of this campaign as a direct result of Social Radius’ outreach.