Spreading the news in 42 different European countries and reaching over 165 clippings in local, Pan-European, and global media outlets. Read the case study of our event PR project for the EU-supported accelerator.
Client: EIT Jumpstarter is a programme to create a sustainable impact in the Central-Eastern and Southern-European Regions by boosting innovation and entrepreneurship within this part of Europe. It is a selective, competitive program for the earliest-stage start-ups, which have not funded a company yet, and often have only an idea. The accelerator is supported by the European Union.
During the Grand Final, teams – from healthcare, agri-food, raw materials, energy, urban mobility, manufacturing and sustainable living – pitch their business ideas at a live event, after which the jury picks the winners. The top 6 start-ups in each category compete for the first prize of €10,000.
In 2022, the event took place in late-November in Krakow, Poland.
Task: Organization of the EIT Jumpstater Grand Final event, marketing and communications services, including:
- Announcing the results of the 2022 EIT Jumpstarter edition, keeping in mind that the EIT Jumpstarter Grand Final is also an important stepping stone for the recruitment of early-stage start-up teams for the future editions and engaging the innovators community;
- Supporting recruitment of the event’s participants (viewers, attendees) and building an engaged event community before, during and after the EIT Jumpstarter Grand Final;
- Building general recognition of the EIT Jumpstarter programme as one of the most important pre-accelerator programmes for early-stage innovators in Europe.
Timeline: 3.5 months
Main challenges: Communication of the results of the 2022 EIT Jumpstater edition in the countries where the winners come from – up to 10 from 42 different countries that were eligible to participate in the program – just right after the winners are announced during the Grand Final ceremony.
Prework
As a first step, we divided the tasks to undertake within the execution period into three major phases: pre-event (including planning and arranging sub-phases), D-day, and post-event. Those stages we precisely described in a complex communications plan (Gantt chart) with strict deadlines and assignment of all tasks related to the event. It
helped us to structure the work in the most effective way and complete the assignments consequently.
At this point, we also created one virtual space for all the documents related to the communications part of the EIT Jumpstarter Grand Final, and set up weekly follow-up calls with the Organizers and the event agency responsible for the final organization.
Pre-event media relations
We started with researching possible media relations – we looked through local and Pan-European media outlets that could be interested in teaming up with the EIT Jumpstarter Grand Final as a media partner or that would like to send their journalist to attend the event.
Having prepared a list of suited outlets and having it accepted by the Organizers, we started to contact the editors and/or journalists we listed. We also took into consideration paid collaborations within media partnerships.
One of the challenges we faced at this stage of the project was the amount of startup-related events, conferences, and competitions in the months of October-November. It naturally makes the media hesitant to attend all of them and so, we decided to engage an extra budget to spend it on paid media partnerships to guarantee pre- and post-event publications.
Coordinating the announcement of the results
At the same time, we prepared a list of all the countries that may be participating in the Grand Final. To each market we assigned an Enterie partner agency that could locally dispatch the post-event press release in case there are local winners. By getting in touch with the agencies on such an early stage of the project, we made sure we can count on their services – translation of the English press release template, its localisation, and dispatch on the day of the event.
As an alternative, we got in touch with the European News Agencies in each of the markets to have one more possible option of distributing the post-event news.
Pre-event publication & media partnerships
One of the tasks of the project was to arrange a top-level pre-event publication in international media on the topic of EIT Jumpstarter and early-stage startups.
We decided to get in touch with EU-Startups, one of the Pan-European startup media outlets and see the possibility of publishing the piece. Thinking about an interview, we prepared a list of questions to be asked and then conducted the interview with a high-level EIT Community official. After transcribing and editing the interview, we asked the interviewee for the authorization, and once it was accepted, we arranged the publication to be released within a month before the event.
Other partnerships secured were MamStartup.pl – top startup medium in Poland, where the final was organized, and W-Insights – an outlet focusing on women in business.
What was crucial, is that despite the fact that the publication was already secured (media partnership), it still had to be relevant and interesting to the audience of the given outlet. Long, marketing articles praising the event do not necessarily work, so we made it objective. An interview and a success story of the previous winners did work, as well as presenting real people behind the project, not only the organization.
Drafting the press release
During the last two weeks before the EIT Jumpstarter Grand Final, when we already knew which countries would be represented during the event, we prepared a draft of the post-event press release – first in English, and then, once it was approved by the organizers, we asked our partner agencies to work on a local news. At this point, the press releases were only missing the information about the winners to be added once the awards are announced.
Despite the English version of the press release that we shared with our partner agencies in the countries where the finalists come from, we shared the descriptions of the projects qualified for the Grand Final and pictures of the speakers. This facilitated the task of distributing the news just right after the event.
At the same time, we created relevant media lists to be used to distribute the news – both locally and internationally.
To make your press release appealing internationally, read our guide.
Arrangements for the invited journalists
Couple of weeks before the event we made the final reservations for the invited journalists – we booked the transportation of their preference and hotel that would be close to the venue. We also made sure the journalists received info-packages with the event’s agenda, information about the finalists, and all the logistics details.
We also started to arrange interviews for the invited journalist. Having provided them with a list of participants, some of the journalists chose finalists that they would like to interview. This led to in-depth texts such as this or that one (in Polish).
D-day & press release dispatch
The sixth edition of EIT Jumpstarter Grand Final gathered over 150 participants – startups, innovators, experts, and EIT community members. The event was organized in Krakow, Poland (in a hybrid model, as the event was also available for live streaming), and lasted one entire day, when the finalists from seven different categories pitched their ideas and jury members could reach their decision.
The Grand Final event, in spite of the pitching sessions in different rooms, included keynote speeches, networking coffee breaks, and dinner – all that was finalized with an award ceremony where the prizes were granted in each of the seven categories and the winners of four special categories were named.
The very final version of the press release was finalizedwith the details/winners/quotations immediately after the eventand we got the organizers’ green light just after the award ceremony. While the winners were announced between 6-7 pm, the press release – in English and the local language – was ready around 10 pm on the event day.
This was a crucial part, as the news is the news only for about 24-48 hours after the award ceremony. Working on it one day after the event, getting acceptance the next day, and finally distributing it to the media outlets would make it completely irrelevant and wouldn’t score any publications.
On the same day in the evening we distributed the news to: (1) our partner agencies in the countries where the winners come from, (2) European News Agencies. On the next day in the morning, the news was dispatched to the local media outlets and to the Pan-European ones. On the same day, the corresponding agencies in the countries of our interest sent the news.
When working with the local PR teams, it is advisable to use reliable partners, such as Enterie that covers most of Europe and offers a single press release distribution service. Working with the local team gives the opportunity to consult activities (there is a consultant assigned to each distribution), assess KPIs, localize the press release, and translate it. At the end of the day, they are distributing the news to the local journalists they have already built a relationship with.
The most desired way for local journalists is to get the localized version of a press release – not only professionally translated but also consisting of content referring to their country – in this case, the winners. In the localized versions it’s possible to explain why the topic matters in the given country, add quotations of the local teams team and their pictures.
We recommend having not only the same press release sent to all the countries, but in fact dozens of different press releases – with the same basic info (like the organizers’ quotations) and slightly different structures, formatting, and local aspects highlighted. And, of course, the language! That increases the chances to have your story published – but does not guarantee it of course, as we are talking about an organic, earned media model.
On the other hand, newswire services very often guarantee publications – some of them on really good platforms such as finance.yahoo.com. However, be aware that those are – to some extent – ‘hidden’ publications. Seen by Google (good for SEO reasons) but not read by real users (not presented on any of the main pages etc.).
Publications’ results
During the period of our cooperation, the information about the EIT Jumpstarter Grand Final has been mentioned at least 165 times in local, European, and global media, including:
- 42 countries and regions where the Grand Final news were dispatched:
Albania, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe Islands, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Greenland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Macedonia, Malta, Moldova, Montenegro, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UK. - Pan-European and global outlets, i.e. EU-Startups, W-Insight, Yahoo Finance, Euractiv;
- top local business and startup media outlets, i.e. Forbes (ES), Puls Biznesu (PL), Ekonomist (TR), Money (IT), Dnevnik (SI).
The total potential audience is estimated at 118.5 million users.
Reporting
Once the emotions subsided, within 1-2 weeks after the event, we collected all the clippings from (1) the local market, (2) the partner agencies that distributed the news locally in their countries, (3) European News Agency, and prepared a clippings report.
Together with the clippings report, we delivered a performance report where point-by-point we analyzed the tasks undertaken during the cooperation.
Do you want to promote your event? Let us know to see how we can help you!
