When a company’s efforts lead to publications in prestigious American outlets like Variety or The Hollywood Reporter, it’s worth taking a closer look. Here’s the story of our award-winning campaign for PlumResearch.
PlumResearch provides advanced analytics, competing with industry giants like Nielsen in the global market for measuring the performance of streaming platforms such as Netflix, HBO Max, Disney+, and Amazon Prime. Starting from zero recognition, the company became a trusted partner for Hollywood clients and prospects, including Paramount, Sony, and Warner Bros.
Challenges of Doing Business in the U.S for an Anonymous European Brand
“Who exactly are you? Will you still be here next year? We don’t know you, we haven’t heard of you…” ⬅️ These were some of the questions and doubts faced by PlumResearch’s sales team in the U.S. – especially in California and Hollywood, where most of their clients and potential clients are located. The brand’s lack of recognition caused trust and credibility issues. The key was to establish the company’s credibility among Hollywood decision-makers by the brand based in Poland, an Central-Eastern European country. But how?
PR Agencies in the U.S. Can I Afford It?
The PlumResearch marketing and communications (MarComm) team was formed in January 2023 and soon reached out to us, as our mission is to assist companies in expanding internationally.
One of the key challenges is the high cost of PR services in the U.S. Large, networked agencies, especially those based in cities like New York, Los Angeles, or San Francisco, often charge more than $15,000 per month. For many companies – particularly those in the tech sector or startups, this price is simply out of reach.
At Enterie, we have identified top boutique PR agencies in the U.S. and proven their effectiveness through numerous partnerships over the years. Our partner agencies have worked with brands like Sotrender, Piwik PRO, and Zmorph, showcasing their expertise through successful campaigns. We’ve also secured competitive rates for these services. Tasks that can be managed remotely – such as concept development, paperwork, and initial proposals, are typically handled from abroad. Meanwhile, strategic activities like media relations and public relations are led by the local team, who bring a deep understanding of the market and strong connections with journalists and opinion leaders. This approach was also applied to the PlumResearch project.
Together with the client, we explored potential strategies.
Read: B2B Public Relations in the USA. Best practices
Origins and Strategy
With limited recognition, non-American roots, and a media landscape dominated by well-established U.S. research firms in the SVOD measurement space, building credibility with Hollywood decision-makers was crucial.
We couldn’t rely on well-known founder-entrepreneurs to build trust. In other markets, interviews with them—such as those in Forbes—might have added credibility, but in the U.S., this carried little weight. Similarly, while securing 10 million PLN in funding is notable in other regions, in the U.S., $2.5 million is seen as a relatively modest round.
We couldn’t rely on brand recognition, as it was limited even in its home market, let alone in the U.S. Nor could we depend on a large local sales team in Hollywood, as the company’s headquarters are based in Warsaw.
Mission impossible? Not for us. 🙂
In the U.S. entertainment industry, tier-one media outlets are regarded as authoritative voices. We understood that leveraging these channels to communicate with key stakeholders (typically aged 40+ and 50+) would be more effective for building trust than relying solely on owned or social media channels.
To support our sales efforts, we aimed to become an active player in the U.S. media landscape by providing journalists with consistent, high-quality content.
This led us to focus on media relations and data storytelling, using PlumResearch’s strongest asset—its in-depth analyses and compelling data.
3, 2, 1, Action! How We Executed a PR Campaign in the U.S.
We decided to regularly promote the following media content:
- Rankings (weekly communication),
- Major reports (1 report every 2 months),
- Expert articles (thought leadership),
- Analyses (1 content piece per month).
Our PR tools included press releases, expert articles, exclusives, media pitches, and landing pages. 
After identifying key journalists and building targeted media lists, we distributed content through a combined effort, partly managed in-house by the PlumResearch MarComm team and partly through our U.S. PR agency partners. This included:
- Weekly viewership rankings on Netflix. The consistency of our press releases and accompanying visuals led to coverage in major industry outlets like The Hollywood Reporter, What’s On Netflix, and Media Play News. Even if the content wasn’t published every week, journalists regularly engaged with the PlumResearch brand, recognizing it as a reliable source when needed.
- Rankings of the Least-Liked Shows. PlumResearch broke new ground by analyzing and reporting on less popular SVOD content, a topic that had previously received little attention. This unique approach resulted in coverage by prestigious outlets like Variety.
- Reports and Thought Leadership. Our reports aimed to highlight American cultural nuances and go beyond conventional analysis. For instance, we focused on the fact that the Spanish-speaking community represents 19% of the U.S. population. PlumResearch, in partnership with the consulting firm Omdia, conducted an analysis and created a dedicated landing page titled “Netflix Latin America: A Deep Dive into Local Content and Audience Preferences” (featured in Latinvex).
Read: Ultimate global press release guide
We also provided Hollywood clients with insights that guided their business decisions, such as the report “Netflix Originals Account for Less Than 40% of Viewing in Key Markets” (published in The Streamable and Yahoo) and analyses on binge-watching behaviours among American viewers, as well as factors influencing streaming platforms’ decisions to continue or cancel popular shows (published in The Wrap and Yahoo Entertainment). We also engaged a lot of our team members to be the Ambassadors of the brand:
Responsiveness and Media Relations
We prioritized quick responses to inquiries from interested journalists, even when time zone differences posed a challenge, ensuring they received accurate and timely data. The presence of U.S.-based team members, with whom we closely collaborated, was a significant advantage in maintaining these relationships.
Read: Multi-market merger communication [case study]
Results
From January to September, we achieved 282 publications, with an advertising value equivalent (AVE) of $15.2 million and a reach (UVM) of 1.6 billion readers, according to Muck Rack data. While we treat these metrics with caution, they offer a general view of our campaign’s impact.
We take particular pride in the quality of the outlets that featured our content, including Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Yahoo. Most importantly, these results directly contributed to business growth—63 U.S. companies entered PlumResearch’s sales funnel! This success allowed us to meet all the key KPIs set at the start of the campaign:
- One exclusive publication in a tier-1 outlet per month.
- Generating 50 inbound leads within six months.
The described campaign, titled “A Polish Company Takes on Hollywood,” won in 2023 prestigious “Złote Spinacze Awards” in two categories: Media Relations and Business-to-Business PR.
