Presto

A Kleiner-Perkins and Clearstone start-up came to SutherlandGold nearly 12 months prior to its consumer launch looking for strategic marketing help.  Armed with great technology, blue-chip venture backing and a partnership with consumer electronics giant HP, our client had a lot of ground to cover to prepare for its product debut:  The company and product (and its key features) needed a name, its brand position defined, corporate identify developed, not to mention crafting an entirely new category positioning for its offering. 

SutherlandGold stepped in to drive these critical go-to-market initiatives, working on-site weekly with product teams, executive management, engineering and the business development group.  Inspired by consumer feedback and the core benefit of the offering, a digital delivery service that enables friends and families to share digital content without a computer or Internet connection, we helped dub the start-up, Presto.  And once that task was complete, we went to work to tackle brand positioning, messaging, feature naming, building a website and packaging development.

We also wanted to identify key industry influencers well ahead of product launch to build visibility and validation for the Presto service and for the company’s business.  Our aim was to leverage their endorsement to attract the attention of the consumer media –- to make sure we’d secure coverage in key consumer-facing publications in time for the critical holiday shopping season.

We started with Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal, offering him a first peek at what was the magic behind Presto.  So enthusiastic about the approach, he invited Presto to debut at his influential D Conference: All Things Digital.  SutherlandGold leveraged that industry event as a visibility driver for the Presto launch.  Coverage was secured in the NY Times, AP, Wall Street Journal, Forbes and on CNN, to name a few.  In addition, Presto will gain prominent attention from the likes of Parents Magazine, American Baby, O Magazine,Good Housekeeping, Readers Digest and Popular Science in their holiday issues.