Success Story eCommerce & Retail Tech

Harnessing timely consumer insights to drive thought leadership 

Client

Leading eCommerce and Retail Company

Program & Deliverables

PR & Awareness, Content Marketing

Introduction

Business and trade media momentum 

A leading B2B technology company that provides full-funnel, authentic user-generated content (UGC) and social commerce to its clients was looking to elevate thought leadership and break through the noise of a competitive retail tech landscape. The company works with thousands of the world’s leading brands and retailers who trust their technology, services, and expertise to drive revenue, extend reach, gain actionable insights, and create loyal advocates.  
 
Throughout the brand’s partnership with PAN, the tech company has led with a data-driven approach focusing on the voices of global consumers to understand evolving shopper behaviors and larger retail trends. These insights fuel the companies thought leadership platform which informs brands and retailers on the actions they should take to improve consumer experiences across the entire customer journey.  
 
While the company had consistent, strong global research pushes throughout the year that supported the media relations program and larger marketing efforts, these larger research assets didn’t always satisfy the needs of media. Additionally, with shrinking newsrooms breaking through the noise with reporters covering more with less time on their hands was a constant challenge.  

PAN identified a whitespace opportunity for highly tailored data and insights tied to specific trends to break through the influx of data from others in the market and to continue to elevate the brand’s thought leadership with the right media contacts.   

44

pieces of coverage  

4

consumer surveys tied to timely moments in time/breaking news (in 6 months) 

4.8B

Potential Impressions

Solution

Breaking through the Noise and Data Overloads with Reporters  

By anticipating important moments in real time and reacting quickly to retail industry developments, the brand team at PAN gathered insights from consumers by conducting a 10-question survey issued by Dynata. Through these surveys, data and insights were collected, analyzed, and used for pitching top tier and broadcast outlets.  
 
By leveraging data from Dynata, PAN was able to offer the company branded insights to reporters and develop original commentary on behalf of the company.  
 
As part of the research process, PAN leveraged daily news scans to audit hot topics and to develop survey themes that would drive the highest impact.   
 
In one example, PAN conducted a survey to show how ‘retail shrink’ is impacting consumers’ in-store shopping behaviors and perceptions of retailers. The survey data was included in a Squawk Box segment on CNBC titled “Retail’s ‘shrink-ing’ inventory issue.” The segment received more than 60K views between promotion on CNBC’s and the reporter’s own social profiles. In other examples, PAN capitalized on important moments in time like Amazon’s Summer Prime Days, the launch of Instagram’s Threads and Black Friday and Cyber Monday to secure interest with reporters and secure commentary opportunities for the company’s executive team. The data from multiple surveys led to over 40 media hits and helped the team achieve the goal of securing top-tier coverage.   

result

Capitalizing on a Moment in Time 

Armed with timely, relevant consumer insights tied to important moments in time aided the team in securing coverage across retail trade, business press and broadcast media. Moreover, the data often served as a launching point for garnering interest in the company’s larger research pieces. In the case of the Threads survey, the consumer insights initially pitched secured interest from the reporter who sought expert insight into how brands may respond to the new platform from an advertising standpoint. Through this, the company’s CMO was featured in articles on Vogue Business and WWD (syndicated across the Yahoo! News network) promoting data from the company’s “Channel Mix Study” report which shows brands’ shifts in online advertising spend to owned and earned channels.      
 
Overall, data from the Dynata surveys supported ongoing media touchpoints keeping the brand and its subject matter experts top of mind for all things related to consumer and retail trends. Coverage was secured in top publications including CNBC, WWD, Vogue Business, Retail Today, Retail Customer Experience, and more.   

What sets our collaboration apart is not just the vibrant storytelling, but our shared commitment to a data-driven approach. Together, we’ve crafted timely and creative storylines that not only reflect the rapidly evolving retail and ecommerce landscape but also resonate deeply with our target audience.”

Laura Beauregard, VP at PAN  
Laura Beauregard, Vice President at PAN Communications, headshot