CacheLogic case study

A transatlantic campaign

Cambridge-based CacheLogic (rebranded Velocix) was building “an Internet fast lane” for the large-scale international distribution of digital assets such as video, music, software and games. Today, as Velocix, it is a market-leading content delivery network provider to the media, entertainment, software and telco industries.

The public relations challenge

In 2007 CacheLogic was very much a technology-led company. It was relatively well known in geeky peer-to-peer network circles, which at that time had negative connotations because peer-to-peer was a technology infamous for its abuse by file-sharers and illegal downloaders.
Pat Chapman-Pincher, David Barrett’s former boss at UUNET, had been brought in as CEO to focus the company more on marketing. She asked Creative Industry to develop a PR strategy that would create awareness of the benefits to digital asset owners of working with CacheLogic. The challenge was to build CacheLogic’s reputation while at the same time promoting the enormous advantages to businesses of the legitimate use of hybrid peer-to-peer distribution.

The Creative Industry PR solution

There aren’t many PR consultants who can draw diagrams illustrating the differences and relative benefits of peer-to-peer and client-server IP networks with embedded caches! But when you are trying to convince a semi-technical audience—in particular the media consumed by financial directors of some of the biggest media and entertainment companies in the world—it’s useful if your PR has a handle on your technology and can play the role of cultural interpreter.
Creative Industry spent time with technical as well as sales and marketing people at CacheLogic. We opened a dialogue with industry analysts and trade press editors before developing a year-long PR plan that included analyst briefings and orientation meetings with those editors and journalists with a foot in both technology and media business camps.
As well as a rolling news release programme, we ghost-wrote and successfully placed a number of opinion articles in the media and online gaming press. We proposed, delivered and secured national press coverage for opinion poll surveys. We identified an opportunity to capitalise on business media interest in the forthcoming BBC iPlayer launch. We identified and secured influential speaking opportunities for CacheLogic’s senior executives. We wrote copy for sections of the CacheLogic’s website. We worked in cooperation and coordination with the company’s San Francisco-based PR agency.