In 2013, Sam Chandler—founder and CEO of document productivity company Nitro—came to Keep Left with a powerful startup success story. Not only did we want to spread his unique story, we wanted to position Nitro as a technology authority alongside other leading brands like Atlassian, Freelancer.com and 99 Designs. Three years later, this homegrown start-up has transformed into a global tech powerhouse, and we continue to increase awareness through spokesperson profiling, thought leadership and national research campaigns.

During the first two years of our partnership, we leveraged Sam’s passion and in-depth tech knowledge to cement a strong profile for the rapidly expanding start-up. Within a year, Sam won Ernst and Young’s Emerging Entrepreneur of the Year, became a go-to commentator in the Australian start-up sector, and received recognition from politicians campaigning for greater innovation. Through this surge of brand awareness, we secured a range of profile opportunities—from Lateline to Radio National—for Sam to discuss Australia’s innovation landscape.

Throughout the last four years, Nitro has continued to grow—scoring everything from big logos to a $US15-million injection from VC firm Battery Ventures. As the company expanded, so did our profile focus. We began to feature other influential members of the leadership team, including Gina O’Reilly, COO. In 2016, we also highlighted Nitro’s APAC Director, Adam Nowiski, as a thought leader in digital transformation, digital literacy and productivity.

We kicked off Adam’s first foray into the Australian media with a consumer research campaign to position Nitro and Adam as thought leaders in the space of digital transformation, digital literacy and productivity.

The research showed that 9/10 Gen Y’s were battling to manage their digital lives while Baby Boomers were managing much more readily. This gave Adam the perfect platform for sharing his advice on ways to manage productivity in everyday life and business – a key message for Nitro as a document productivity company.

A mix of mainstream and business media, including The Herald Sun, AFR Boss and CIO covered the story with more than 17.5 million people reached, a Keep Left average impact score of 80 achieved and 100% of the coverage featuring commentary from Nitro’s newest Australian spokesperson.

Keep Left’s public relations program plays an important role in supporting Nitro’s global growth while maintaining and driving share of voice across Australia, the company’s home market.