“We’re very proud to have been recognized as a finalist for the SABRE Awards,” said Gary Thompson, chairman of Citigate Cunningham. “Because Acquia offers commercial support for the well-known Drupal open source project, we had a built-in audience for our launch. Our biggest challenge was to reach beyond the Drupal community and expand the reach of the Acquia story into the enterprise market.”
Drupal, a social publishing system with a vibrant, passionate open source community of more than 350,000 members, is the platform for many well-known company and educational institution websites. Acquia was launched with the mission to increase enterprise adoption of Drupal by providing enterprise-level functionality and support to the open source technology.
Citigate Cunningham recognized that a successful launch would require the delicate balance of generating substantial buzz around the company and its offerings, while remaining sensitive to the Drupal and open source community’s concerns about how a commercial company would impact the Drupal open source project. The agency leveraged Acquia Co-Founder and CTO Dries Buytaert, the original Drupal creator, as an evangelist, community advocate, and open source celebrity, and designed a three-stage strategic PR approach that would build trust within the Drupal community, drive demand for Acquia in a beta launch, and finally bridge the gap perceived by the enterprise community as part of the general availability launch.
To accomplish its goal, the team targeted both social and traditional media outlets including business press, technology trades, Web 2.0 blogs, and influential analysts frequently quoted in the press. Additionally, the agency raised Buytaert’s profile by securing high profile coverage, awards, and speaking engagements that served to seed confidence within the open source ecosystem.
Since it began its campaign in January 2008, Citigate Cunningham has secured more than 100 media placements, 11 speaking engagements and two awards for Acquia.
The Holmes Group, which administers the SABRE Awards, will announce winners of the Gold, Silver and Best In Show SABRE Awards along with Agency of the Year Awards and Individual Achievement Awards at a dinner on May 12th in New York City.
About Citigate Cunningham
For more than 20 years, Citigate Cunningham has shaped the technology PR industry, delivering unparalleled competitive advantage to clients by helping them build brand and drive demand. The agency pairs the spirit of Silicon Valley entrepreneurship and deep technology know-how with a gate to key markets around the world, from Europe to Asia. Headquartered in San Francisco, Citigate Cunningham is part of the Huntsworth Network, which has leading brands in communications all over the world in 45 offices in 21 countries. To learn more, visit www.citigatecunningham.com.
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About the SABRE Awards
The SABRE Awards are administered by The Holmes Group, a public relations newsletter publisher. They are awarded for excellence in public relations programming. The European SABRE Awards attracted close to 1,400 entries from more than 20 European countries.
