Sometimes a story that seems like old news takes a lot more sleuthing and creativity to get media attention. Such was the case when Edifecs, a healthcare technology company in Bellevue, Washington, asked us to use its new eco-friendly headquarters to recruit top talent in a highly competitive local job market.
We quickly placed two “cool office space” articles in top-tier publications but felt we could do a lot more for our client if we gave the story a more unusual twist. While sifting through notes from our conversations with Edifecs executives, we noticed that one of them had mentioned an employee who kayaked to work. That was it, we realized—the golden hook! The story could be about the company’s much broader embrace of healthy living and environmental awareness, with striking visuals of the kayaker paddling through a nature preserve on his way to work.
It so happened that a local TV magazine was planning a series on alternative work commutes, so we pitched them a simple angle about the kayaker, saying little at first about the new Edifecs office building. Then when the hook was set and it was clear that the kayaker would be featured, we invited the magazine’s producer to visit the Edifecs campus and got the complete story we envisioned. And it really took off.
We eventually placed nearly a dozen unique stories in local print and broadcast media, human resources blogs and a variety of healthcare, green and design publications. So as in many of our campaigns, the main story went viral, but it all began with our discovery of the kayaker, the golden hook that caught the first big fish.
