Our Work
Early in the year, we began discussing ways to gain the interest of reporters and meteorologists during the launch of and throughout hurricane season. Vaisala is the largest maker of dropsondes, which are the devices sent into hurricanes by hurricane hunters to obtain much-needed data to track the storms. With the company’s help, we obtained 20 dropsonde props to send to the media.
To kick off hurricane season, we sent national media and targeted markets in the hurricane zone a Vaisala-branded dropsonde prop with which they could explain tropical weather forecasting. We also worked with Vaisala to prepare an infographic that described the anatomy of a dropsonde to explain what it did.
We pitched the dropsondes and an interview with Vaisala’s chief science officer at the beginning of hurricane season. Later, we pitched into hurricanes Lane and Florence, as well as Tropical Storm Gordon, reminding the outlets about the dropsonde they had in their possession and delivered the new infographic. As the storms continued, we freshened up the pitch with lightning data and a GIF that Vaisala provided as Hurricane Florence came toward landfall in the U.S.
The Results
When hurricane season started, we had success with meteorologists using the dropsonde prop to explain hurricane forecasting. The Vaisala expert was interviewed by several top-tier outlets, including Popular Science and The Weather Channel.
In late August and well into September, Hurricane Lane, Tropical Storm Gordon and Hurricane Florence provided a steady cadence of tropical activity, affording our PR team with plenty of pitching opportunities. Between the prop, the infographic and the lighting data (and GIF), we obtained coverage from ABC News, Forbes, NBC News and the Wall Street Journal online, on television and on social media.
The Coverage
