Greyparrot, the AI-powered waste intelligence provider, which had raised $18M in funding to date, approached BMV ahead of a major strategic partnership and investment in Q1 of 2024. The partnership and investment it was taking from Bollegraaf held massive potential to set a pathway for the largest rollout of AI into waste facilities in the world. As a result, the Cleantech 100 company was poised to address the plastic waste crisis by helping recycling facilities get more value out of waste while ensuring tons of materials that historically end up in landfills, oceans, or incinerators are directed back into the circular economy.

But it also posed major challenges. Greyparrot wanted to leverage the announcement to target prospective U.S. waste facilities and investors. And with Greyparrot based in the UK, and Bollegraaf based in the Netherlands, there wasn’t a huge U.S. hook for American media. Secondly, while Bollegraaf is the largest builder of waste facilities in the world, it has little brand recognition in the U.S.

Campaign: BMV took the lead on the global media strategy for the announcement while working with supporting agencies in the UK/EU. From strategizing the messaging and narratives within the press release to utilizing pre-announcement media tours in the U.S. and working under embargo with reporters ahead of the announcement date – it executed a strategy to maximize media coverage and broad awareness of the news. 

Results:

• The combined global PR effort secured nearly 50 unique media stories across the globe within the days and weeks following the announcement – led by key coverage secured within top-tier U.S. publications such as The Washington Post and Axios. Coverage in the U.S. also included highly influential trade publications in the recycling and waste sector, such as Waste Dive, Plastics Today, Plastics Recycling Update, and Environment + Energy Leader. 
• Other notable global coverage came from UK-based Natasha Lomas of TechCrunch.
• This media coverage garnered a readership of more than 781M & was valued at an ad equivalency of $7.2M.
• The amount and frequency of top-tier coverage on the announcement made it the most important technology story of the day in the U.S. on February 10, 2024 (Techmeme).