Bloomreach, an e-commerce personalization platform, has been a PANBlast client for more than two years. Through PANBlast’s PR efforts, Bloomreach wanted to not only increase its awareness over competitors within the crowded retail tech industry but also become an authority in AI and e-commerce. PANBlast developed a PR strategy focused on thought leadership, data, and customer elevation to make Bloomreach a central part of the AI-driven retail conversation.
Challenge
The AI-driven e-commerce search and personalization space is both highly competitive and ever-evolving. PANBlast faced the challenge of setting Bloomreach apart and amplifying its position against larger, public competitors.
In addition to increasing media share of voice, one of Bloomreach’s main goals was to become an authority by elevating a broad bench of executives as thought leaders, including the CMO, CEO, CTO, and CPO, and leveraging well-known customers in the media.
Strategy
PANBlast employed a comprehensive PR approach centered on the primary AI narrative, pulling multiple levers to ensure consistent results. By targeting and landing relevant thought leadership interviews, customer interviews, contributed content opportunities, and high-impact coverage in top-tier industry outlets like Fast Company, Vogue Business, and Adweek, PANBlast was able to meaningfully expand Bloomreach’s reach within the e-commerce space.
PANBlast’s tactics included:
- Harnessing proprietary data: PANBlast leveraged Bloomreach platform data to highlight top-rated and trending e-commerce search terms like “Barbie” and “Tomato Girl Makeup” and reinforce ongoing industry trends related to Motherʼs Day, Black Friday, the diminishing appeal of luxury brands online, and more. This data-backed media outreach garnered interest from several key industry news sources throughout the year.
- Identifying priority subject matter experts based on topic focus: PANBlast held strategic discussions to determine which executives should be prioritized each quarter to reach the maximum desired results, including who was the best fit for each opportunity based on the subject matter.
- Leveraging customer relationships: PANBlast worked with Bloomreach to identify customer success stories and those willing to participate in media. The agency was able to leverage key customers like Sur La Table within its outreach, landing written and live interviews with niche target publications. These opportunities focused on showcasing AIʼs power to boost online discovery, customer experience, and e-commerce opportunities.
Campaign Results
In looking at a one-year snapshot, PANBlast’s PR strategy resulted in a significant number of impactful opportunities for Bloomreach, including:
- 113 pieces of coverage across tier-one business, retail, marketing, and tech publications and podcasts, nearly tripling the initial goal.
- 75% of coverage included keywords AI+ e-commerce
- 62% of coverage was high-impact (features, quotes, contributed content, etc.)
- Interest from nearly 30 tier-one publications for multiple SMEs, including Axios, Fortune, Forbes, Fast Company, Bloomberg, Business Insider, WIRED, NYSE Floor Talk, and more.
- Written and live interviews with industry publications MarTech, MediaPost, Chain Store Age, and the Total Retail Talks Podcast.
- Increased PR-driven website traffic, with a 35% increase in active users and an 86% growth in engaged sessions year-over-year.
- Increased share of voice in the crowded market, from 18.8% in 2023 to 20.7% in 2024.
- Increased average domain authority of coverage to 69, exceeding the goal of 59.