PR AND DIGITAL MARKETING FOR AGENTS OF CHANGE

CASE STUDY

Building overseas brand equity

Keychron
Shenzhen, China
Mission
Shenzhen based keyboard maker, Keychron, sought us out to build their brand equity in the United States via press coverage. Over an ongoing mandate spanning several years, they’ve asked to work on all new product launches from their line and focus on big media outlets for reviews.
Challenges
Category wise it doesn’t get much more crowded than keyboards. There are heavily entrenched incumbents, making it harder to get noticed.
Response
As this has been a longer term relationship, our strategies and tactics have varied according to need. Research and observation are the main constant in work on this account. Throughout this mandate we’ve spent significant time conversing with media who’ve expressed interest in customizable keyboards and complained about their own keyboard’s UX.
Part of the reason we’ve enjoyed the work with Keychron so much is because they are careful to include us in discussions about product releases. It’s been a boon for the volume and quality of press and has helped cement long lasting relations with media.
Results
Our work with Keychron has been, hands down, one of our most successful tech media relations efforts in a decade in business.
Impressions number in the billions and Ad Value Equivalency (a metric that puts a dollar value on PR placements based on ad costs) has exceeded over $6 million USD since we began working with Keychron.
Our work has driven over 150 media placements in total, with truly global reach.. All the big name tech editorial outlets have come out to play including TechCrunch, Business Insider, Apple Insider, Ars Technica, PC World, Digital Trends, Ubergizmo, Tom’s Hardware, Tech Radar, WIRED, IGN, and ZDNet among others. We’ve seen wider coverage in large mainstream outlets like the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek and Popular Science. Most media outlets have published more than one Keychron keyboard review and repeatedly included them in seasonal roundups and ‘best of’ articles.
Qualitatively the results are second to none:
The New York Times named the Keychron C1 and C2 among its list of the 7 Best Mechanical Keyboards on the planet, making Keychron the only company with two products on the list.
CNN named Keychron’s Q1 as the “best overall mechanical keyboard of 2022”
Writing for Forbes, reviewer Brad Moon called Keychron’s K3 “easily the best mechanical keyboard I have come across.”
Reviewing Keychron’s K8 Pro, BGR gave the product a 4 out of 4 rating and a BGR Gold Award for 2022.
The company is genuinely a category darling, with a legion of fans in the media. It’s gone from a small upstart to being ranked right alongside the biggest players like Logitech, Razer, and Corsair.


