Our Work

Problem:
When Brad Smith was named Intuit CEO in 2008, the company was perceived as a dinosaur still pushing desktop software in the era of SaaS. To counter this, he launched a multi-year effort to transform Intuit into a cloud powerhouse. We needed to convince stakeholders that Intuit was reimagined for the modern technology era and establish Brad as the change agent behind the transformation. Not only was this an uphill battle in overcoming preconceived notions about the company, but Brad was a first-time CEO with little notoriety in the industry.​

Solution:
Embracing a thoughtful content strategy, Access worked with Intuit to establish a new process for obtaining insights, stories and anecdotes from Brad that could feed media relations, social media and speaking opportunities.

Every month, Access developed key questions to guide the broader content discussion pulling from current trends and company happenings. This content was often very personal to Brad and became invaluable to Access’ success in dramatically raising his profile across communications channels.​

Results & Impact:
Over the course of Brad Smith’s tenure, Access secured widespread coverage in marquee outlets, positioning him as a charismatic, effective change leader of an agile, entrepreneurial and relevant company despite its 30+ year history.

The crown jewel of this effort was a multi-page feature in Fortune titled “How Intuit Reinvents Itself.” The story was nearly 2 years in the making. Brad also became an incredibly popular contributor to LinkedIn Influencer program and spoke on the main stage at numerous events, including Fortune Brainstorm, Collision and Harvard Business Review’s speaker series.​

Problem:
COVID-19 brought an immediate acceleration of eCommerce and digital shopping, creating a ripple effect across the global economy. Businesses of all sizes were impacted but small businesses were hit especially hard – forced to either shut down or quickly find new ways to conduct business digitally to align with new consumer behavior and expectations. As part of an ambitious response to COVID, Visa wanted to help them bounce back– leveraging its global network, partners and products.

Solution:
We created a narrative to serve as a framework for products and initiatives laddering up to a tentpole blog post by Visa committing to taking action on “six truths” that would guide its efforts to support sellers in the sudden shift to digital, including the rough road ahead for small businesses. We generated content and buzz week after week – blog posts, press releases, media interviews, speaking opportunities, and more – each telling a different story tying back to the umbrella “supporting the immediate shift digital,” with a particular drumbeat going deep on the neighborhood entrepreneurs who employ half the world’s workers. And we did so globally, working with counterparts and partners in APAC, CEMEA, LAC, and EU to drive consistency across regions. With these synergies, we told more cohesive product stories that gave individual efforts their own spotlight but also drew connections to other recent Visa efforts and ultimately to our greater COVID recovery purpose.

Results & Impact:
We saw top-tier online and broadcast coverage across business, tech and payments media including Axios, BBC, Bloomberg, Business Insider, Cheddar TV, Forbes, MarketWatch, NPR, PYMNTS, TechRadar, Tearsheet, Yahoo Finance, and more. On Visa’s own channels, we amplified content across LinkedIn, Twitter and the Visa Blog.

This framework also proved incredibly valuable in elevating a thought-leadership platform, allowing us to leverage Visa executives and go deeper on storytelling for specific truths. Key players and spokespeople penned blog posts, spoke to platinum press and appeared on industry-forward fireside chats, panels and podcasts. The six truths were the foundation for a keynote speech by CPO Jack Forestell and began to serve as a rally for Visa employees. Forestell even reported having two fintech CEOs play back the truths to him – a testament to the impact of having the right content hit the right people at the right time.

Problem:
AI is top of mind from the C-suite down to IT, but the infrastructure needed for getting AI right is often not in place for many enterprises and is not a primary topic in AI conversations among media or executives.

Solution:
We activated a sustained thought leadership program that kept Pure executives in the AI conversation through bylines, podcasts, interviews for industry pieces, speaking opportunities and a media roundtable dinner event. At the core of this program was impactful narratives built by finding white space in the crowded AI conversation. Throughout the ongoing thought leadership efforts, we launched one major product aimed at AI use cases and created several smaller news moments, where we connected Pure’s products to the AI thought leadership stories we’d been telling.

Results & Impact:
10+ bylines in key tech and trade outlets, speaking roles for executives at multiple AI-focused events, top tier media in attendance at our salon dinner, executive quotes included 15+ AI-related trend pieces, and product coverage across nearly every key tech and trade outlet that we targeted.