France-based cloud gaming platform Blacknut came to us as they wanted to stand toe-to-toe (or rather server-to-server) with the likes of Google, Nvidia, Microsoft and Amazon.
Overview
Cloud gaming has become a hot topic in recent years, with major companies such as NVIDIA, Microsoft, Amazon and PlayStation launching dedicated services that enable fans to stream blockbuster titles without needing the latest consoles or powerful gaming PCs.
All this was nothing new to Blacknut, who, since 2016, has been quietly developing a unique, scalable approach to cloud gaming which allowed it to quickly white-label and launch branded cloud gaming services for telecoms and media companies who understand the opportunity around games but lack the infrastructure, expertise and most importantly, the relationships with games publishers. Blacknut also operates a D2C service under the Blacknut brand, which is available in more than 30 countries.
However, despite being technically more advanced and having the most extensive game catalogue on the market, Blacknut lacked the brand awareness of its competitors. As a result, the business wasn’t reaching the same level of media attention it wanted.
Blacknut approached us to help with their PR, with an emphasis on reaching the telco and B2B games media to help the company in its business development efforts – and to make sure the more prominent brands in this space weren’t drowning it out.
Client
Blacknut
What We Did
B2B PR
We supported Blacknut with all aspects of its B2B PR
- We coordinated various announcements to build media and industry profile, including publisher partnerships, new service launches and collaborations with mobile operators.
- We used the growing interest in cloud gaming as a new digital distribution channel for games to secure interviews and thought leadership articles within a range of publications.
- We helped to create a suite of case studies demonstrating customers’ positive experiences with Blacknut for it to use as B2B sales collateral. This included organising both the filming and post-production of a video interview with the mobile gaming team at POST, Luxembourg’s biggest mobile operator, after it had launched its cloud gaming service powered by Blacknut.
- We developed a plan for ongoing B2B webinars aimed at educating teams within the mobile operator space about cloud gaming and the broader trends driving the growth of gaming globally.
- We provided PR support on the announcement of Blacknut’s collaboration with Samsung and LG, which saw the game streaming service built directly into some of the latest TV sets on the market, as well as a major investment into the company by Japanese gaming juggernaut Square Enix.
We became an extension of Blacknut’s marketing team
Before coming on board with us, Blacknut had only released a couple of press releases. But with several telecommunication companies ready to launch their cloud gaming services using Blacknut’s technology, there was an immediate opportunity to scale up the news distribution aspect of the PR.
We were also very aware of the many opportunities available with the telco and B2B games media and the fundamentals of cloud gaming technology itself, having worked with another cloud gaming service provider, PlayGiga (which was acquired by Facebook).
BGM worked side-by-side with Blacknut’s in-house team in Paris, taking the lead role in drafting and distributing joint announcements to media outlets as well as pitching bylined articles, and just generally providing insights and ideas of how to get Blacknut into the media. We also coordinated directly with Blacknut’s customers and partners on announcements and launches, taking pressure off Blacknut’s marketing team.
In just over a year, we worked on cloud gaming launches with the teams at POST Luxembourg, Drei Austria, A1 Telecom, AIS Thailand, NOS Portugal and Partner TV in Israel, plus technology partner InterDigital in France.
The results
Our knowledge of the sector and our extensive media outreach program – which utilised a combination of direct outreach to our close contacts and newswires for regulatory requirements and extra reach – enabled us to successfully secure news articles across many key industry B2B publications and websites.
These included Telecoms.com, Vanilla Plus, ITProPortal, Mobile World Live, MCV, Venturebeat, European Gaming News, GamesIndustry.biz, Game Developer, PC Games Insider, Telecompaper, Le Figaro, Game World Observer and Pocketgamer.Biz.
Overall, we achieved almost 200 pieces of coverage with an audience reach of 96m with 495K coverage views.
