Pond
The client
Pond Venture Partners manages venture capital funds and invests in early-stage/seed technology companies in the UK and Europe. The partners are experienced in building global technology companies and are based in UK and US.
Objective
EML worked with Pond in 2002/2003 with its Pond II Fund and renewed the partnership in 2005 with the launch of Pond III. The objectives of the current campaign are to raise Pond's profile with entrepreneurs within specific technology sectors where it is looking to invest. Historically Pond has been known as an investor in semiconductor start-ups but it is now looking higher up the technology stack to invest in other sectors such as mobile and the connected home. With this in mind, EML is helping Pond to become known as a player in these areas.
Strategy
A mixture of PR activity has been planned and generated for Pond in order to reach multiple audiences. By maximising news of Pond's investments, whilst building relationships with journalists within new media areas, we are spreading word of Pond's success and expertise across Europe. In addition, to raise the profile of the individual partners at Pond, EML creates and fulfils opportunities for opinion pieces and viewpoints. We also run a programme of engagement with financial media to maintain Pond's corporate position.
The results
Since 2002 EML has raised the profile of Pond Ventures with articles in The Financial Times, The Times, Real Deals and IET magazines alongside many electronics and computing publications. In 2003 EML successfully ran a competition for Pond in conjunction with Electronics Weekly to find the Entrepreneur of the Year. Currently a monthly column, Valley View, is written by one of the partners for Electronics Weekly. In order to help reposition the organisation, EML has set up a series of meetings with publications such as New Media Age and IET Communication Engineer in order to educate editors about Pond's history and experience together with the proposed changes in its portfolio. Articles are also written and placed in a range of publications across Europe.
The testimonial
"We have worked closely with EML for a few years now and find the team's understanding of the technology areas in which Pond invests helps us reach our target publications," said Charles Irving, founding partner at Pond Venture Partners. "The fact that EML has experience of working with start-ups means they understand our business. And on a personal level, they really are great people to work with."
