Spark Coverage Cup

Media relations is at the heart of a successful campaign and our team take great pride in beating their colleagues to win the weekly Spark Coverage Cup vote.

The winning piece of coverage isn’t just about circulation or credibility. A great business national or broadcast piece doesn’t always beat trade coverage – outcomes are key. How effectively was the client’s message communicated? What was the engagement like? Did it result in leads?

While earned coverage is now only part of what we do, the impact of what we deliver is often why clients choose to work with us in the first place. It’s why 80% of our clients come through referral and why some of our clients have stayed with us for over ten years.

Below are some of our previous highlights:

Coverage Cup 21/01/2020

With the excitement of Christmas firmly behind us, we’ve got a bumper edition of the Coverage Cup this week to brighten up the gloomy January weather. Although it’s the first Coverage Cup of the new year – and the new decade, there’s still another New Year to come – with the 25th January marking Chinese New Year. As we head into the Year of the Rat, the Spark team has truly been channelling the qualities of the Chinese Zodiac sign when it comes to securing coverage.

Despite the overcast nature of January in the UK, the account teams have been full of energy, particularly when it comes to features. Kicking off this week is the IOActive team, which secured coverage in The Observer, with comments on two-factor authentication appearing amongst other cybersecurity tips for 2020. The SoftwareONE team’s enthusiasm also helped secure national coverage, this time in Forbes. The piece looked at how to secure Windows 10, with SoftwareONE’s comment discussing how users can make the most of the existing, underused features and capabilities Microsoft provides.

Another trait the Spark teams have been channelling is optimism, particularly when it comes to customer stories, which offer an interesting insight into what our client’s customers are doing with technology. The Couchbase team’s enthusiasm about customer Carnival Cruise Line secured a briefing and subsequent coverage in Computing. The JDA team were also confident when it came to customer stories, with a release announcing how the company is supporting M&S’s workforce scheduling. The team secured an abundance of coverage including Intelligent CIO, Retail Systems, Retail Technology, IT Supply Chain and Essential Retail.

While the Chinese Zodiac might refer to the Rat as stubborn, we prefer the word persistent – and that summarises the Betterworks team this week. With journalists getting back into the swing of things after the festive period, some determined follow-up from the team led to coverage of a Betterworks byline about linking employee goals and business goals on Engage Employee. The Elsevier and Pistoia Alliance teams also channelled this persistence, securing coverage in IT Pro. With obtaining coverage in the tech press no mean feat for our life science clients, it was a great result to have Elsevier and the Pistoia Alliance discussing the safety and ethics considerations of AI in the article.

With the Rat deemed to be particularly likeable, the lovely life science teams were turning on the charm (and getting clients to do the same) this week to secure coverage with a range of interviews. The Pistoia Alliance team secured several pieces of coverage after the spokesperson talked with The Medicine Maker about FAIR data standards and to Scientific Computing World for a similar feature looking at data standards across the life science industry.

Finally, taking on the quick thinking – and writing – attribute of the Rat was the IMImobile team. Using the announcement of Google’s Verified SMS, the team saw an opportunity to discuss how it could improve security in the banking industry, with the IMImobile team securing coverage in IBS Journal, Telemedia and Financial IT as a result of their speed in responding to the news.

  • The Observer – Article with top tips on how to remain cybersecure in 2020
  • Pharmafield – Byline about how to overcome the challenges of making pharmaceutical data FAIR
  • Scientific Computing World – Article on the need for data standards across the life science industry
  • Forbes – Article on steps to make Windows 10 more secure
  • Supply Management – Article discussing research on innovation and the supply chain
  • Information Age – News about Dynatrace’s autonomous cloud product
  • American Lab – Byline about the Internet of Lab Things and the future laboratory
  • The Medicine Maker – Interview about FAIR data and its benefits for the life science industry
  • The Pharma Letter – Article about The Pistoia Alliance’s report on the future of life science
  • IT Pro – Article on the safety and ethics issues surrounding AI
  • Information Age – Research about deep learning and its current implementation in businesses
  • Verdict AI – Article on 2020 prediction about artificial intelligence
  • IBS Journal – Piece about how Google’s Verified SMS service could help banking become more secure
  • ComputerWorld UK – Piece predicting what will happen in banking technology in 2020
  • Engage Employee – Byline about how to link employee goals to overall business goals
  • Supply Management – Article on the key procurement trends for 2020
  • ComputerWorld UK – Predictions about sustainability in 2020
  • SC Media UK – Article on cybersecurity vulnerabilities in Cisco’s networking equipment operating system
  • NS Banking – Byline about how AI can help to overcome the issue of IT failures in the banking industry
  • Computer Business Review – Byline about advanced Natural Language Processing (NPL) tool – BERT
  • Computing – Article discussing Carnival Corp’s use of edge computing
  • TechRadar Pro – Byline about the identity management trends expected in 2020
  • SC Media – Byline discussing the increase in third-party cybersecurity risk
  • IDG Connect – Article looking at the specifics of cyber insurance
  • Computer Business Review – Article on how to prevent and respond to ransomware
  • Retail Technology – Byline about why AI should be a focus for retailers this year
  • Intelligent CIO – Article about how JDA’s solution has helped M&S transform workplace scheduling
  • Essential Retail – Article discussing M&S’s new workforce management solution