Category: Technology

ZoneFox appoints Aspectus as its UK communications agency

London, 10th April, 2017 – Aspectus, the specialist communications agency for the financial services, energy, technology and engineering sectors, has been appointed by Edinburgh-based cyber security start up ZoneFox to deliver its UK communications programme.

Aspectus was appointed as the company’s UK communications agency after a successful project to launch its machine learning platform, ZoneFox Augmented Intelligence (AI). Alongside a traditional PR programme, Aspectus will also work with ZoneFox to deliver a fully integrated search and PPC programme.

Founded by Dr Jamie Graves, ZoneFox specialises in providing world-class security systems that effectively combat the growing business issue of insider threats. Graves spun ZoneFox out of Napier University, where he was studying for his PhD, in 2010. Over the last seven years the company has grown to 22 people and in February of this year closed a £3.6M round of investment – the largest book to be closed by Archangels, one of the longest standing VC syndicates in Europe.

Lynsey Jenkins, Marketing Director, commented: “Aspectus is proactive, creative and has an innate understanding of the security market. Acting as our brand ambassador and delivering a constant source of press opportunities, Aspectus will massively help ZoneFox elevate our brand in a very noisy market and engage with our audiences around our User Behaviour Analytics (UBA) platform, technical expertise and USPs.”

Sophie Hodgson, Head of Technology, Aspectus added: “ZoneFox is such a fast paced, dynamic and exciting company. We’re thrilled to be working with them and have already seen some great results. Moving forward we want to utilise our expertise and relationships in order to establish the company as the authority on User Behaviour Analytics and the insider threat, by promoting their award winning technology and Jamie and the team’s expertise across multiple channels.”

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About ZoneFox

ZoneFox focuses on providing world-class security systems that effectively combat the growing business issue of insider threats. Through ground-breaking and sophisticated machine learning technology it provides rapid insights that are critical for helping businesses create a strong security posture, all from a single dashboard. This allows security teams to see where business-critical data is going, who is accessing it and importantly who is doing things with it they shouldn’t be – either accidentally or maliciously – quickly, easily and without impacting on endpoints or user privacy.

Based in Edinburgh, ZoneFox is headed up by Dr Jamie Graves, a former PhD student at Edinburgh Napier University. In November, it launched a new machine based learning solution, called ZoneFox Augmented Intelligence (AI). The product, which is the most advanced of its kind to be developed in the UK, has been created over the course of six years and is targeted at a wide range of business sectors.

About Aspectus

Aspectus, the engagement agency, is an international communications agency specialising in financial services, energy, technology and engineering.

In our hands communications transforms the way businesses engage with their markets. Our award-winning approach, creativity and market knowledge builds brands, increases sales, attracts investment and supports business growth.

To find out more, visit: www.aspectusgroup.com.

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Five ways to make a name in blockchain


Written by Joe McGurk

Blockchain has become the poster child for the challenge of building a fintech brand.

The distributed ledger technology that supports the bitcoin digital currency has been heralded by some as the ultimate fintech solution for transaction efficiency. Others, including a number of the financial institutions that need to buy into it, see blockchain as an incessant push for yet more technology that hasn’t been proven trustworthy or necessary. After all, sales pitches for banking ingenuity have been going strong for about 4,000 years. That’s roughly when an entrepreneur sold the first customer on the idea of storing a season of hard-earned grain in the entrepreneur’s vault, with trust that the small trinket they walked away with would prove there was wealth being protected.

From trinkets to blockchain, disruption in financial services throughout history started with proving that change was needed, dispelling mistrust and providing reassurance that wealth is protected.

There’s no shortage of blockchain solutions and innovators ready to alleviate the concerns blockchain brings. That may be any brand’s biggest problem: The sheer number of solutions crowding the fintech landscape. Once convinced a technology change must be made, a financial institution must wade through sales pitches and news articles to find something that can be trusted as well as have a sense of what competitors agree is the solution.

It takes more than just being the best solution. Could Apple have disrupted without Steve Jobs? Would electric cars be taken seriously without Elon Musk? Whoever pushes blockchain to the front of the fintech line will project a unique personality that offers a brand that can be trusted. Blockchain may be new, but looking through the lens of experienced public relations and marketing among fintech disruption, building the blockchain brand is rooted in time-tested best practices:

1. Being different is important – but being someone is critical

Before you can tell the world who you are, you need to make sure you know yourself – and what makes you different. One of the easiest ways to do something that no one else is doing is to have an identifiable personality. Your brand is your product, therefore your brand needs to be distinct and accessible and visible. It’s a critical component to building positive relationships with the press and other influencers you need to tell your story. An identifiable brand builds credibility in the fintech industry and gets the attention of the people needed to help expand the business. This requires a spokesperson who can infuse personality into a company or solution.

2. Know your own story

Your message is what sets you apart. That messaging should be consistent and woven into every narrative you have. Everyone in the blockchain world has a story to tell, but the standouts know how to tell the same story over and over again with consistent passion. That means across social media, in press interviews, across your website and throughout your sales and marketing collateral.

3. Ask for help when it’s time to tell your story

You may be good at tech and financial services. That doesn’t mean you’re good at telling your story. Not many leaders can dedicate the time it takes, day in and day out to sell their story. That’s where you find the value of partnering with an evangelist, someone who can talk to all of your audiences with the same zeal you have for your business. Specialist communication pros make good hype teams, and may be even more excited about your plans. A good PR partner will be instrumental in building a strong identity, and getting you in front of the right people using the right channels.

4. It’s not all (always) about you

Would you go to a cocktail party and insist on only talking about how great you are? It tends to turn people off. The same social grace can be applied to your branding. Once you launch a product into market, it’s critical you’re seen as plugged into the market. Work with someone who can insert you into the conversations already happening. Meeting journalists face-to-face will deliver ROI over a long term if you establish that you can help them understand the market as much as they can help you get visibility in the market. Have an opinion on the industry that is shaped by your own key messages.

5. Know your customers and know their rules

Knowing the market and what keeps financial service pros up at night is as important as knowing how your product works. Markets change, so a partner who is keeping tabs on competitors, legislators and more is invaluable. A PR firm will have launched many businesses and built them through to an end game. They most likely have worked in your core sector so know how it functions – the influencers, the media, the market structure and the regulations and rules that underpin it.

Blockchain has a shot at being the next great banking innovation. To make it work as promised, blockchain may need not one, but several, technologies and providers stitched together. Getting into that network takes visibility. Getting third-party validation from media is a time-tested route to building brands. Even the best product in any market is going to fail if no one knows about it.

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The lunch remains the same: The enduring importance of the journalist lunch


Written by Matthew Sheahan

We live in a time when communications are becoming faster paced and our ways to interact with the world are multiplying. The advent of popular social media makes for a dizzying array of choices and interfaces. Am I out of date because I don’t have a Snapchat account? Does anyone under the age of 30 use email for anything other than work?

As the forms of communications are constantly changing and being updated, face time (no, not FaceTime!) is going to remain important. That’s why every single public relations worker should be taking journalists to lunch and making those personal connections as often as possible. Having that personal connection buys you a VIP table in someone’s headspace. Don’t turn down the chance to put a face and a good memory of a tasty lunch to your name; when a journalist sees your name in his or her inbox and is prompted to respond, you’ll be glad you made the effort.

When I worked as a journalist, I heard from a lot of public relations people. Some were good at their jobs and some were bad. The ones I remember most easily were the ones I had met in person. Those tended to be the better ones to begin with, because they took the time to foster a real relationship and get to know what it was that interested me and informed my work.

Even if I had no particular use for what those PR pros I had met were pitching me, I would make it a point to read through their email, hear them out, and see if their story was useful to one of my colleagues. A select few of them I’d go to when I was looking for a source, to see who among their clients may be able to speak with me about this particular subject or that.

Going to lunch with a journalist gives you another chance to ask them what they are working on, catch up on the latest people moves at their publications or sister publications, and let them know about you and your clients in a relaxed atmosphere. It gives the journalist (and you) a chance to get out from behind the desk for an extended period of time.

Having good relationships with journalists is central to what we offer our clients. Building those relationships is good for business and means we stand a better of chance of succeeding in our campaigns. Just as we don’t form long-lasting relationships with clients without in-person meetings, we’re not going to form the best journalist relationships without in-person meetings either.

Media Relations are key to what we do at Aspectus. Our reputation is going to precede us in everything that we do. We want journalists to have a positive association with us before we reach out to them on behalf of our clients. Our clients want us to know the media inside and out, and you’ll learn a lot more over a lunch than clicking through LinkedIn.

We encourage the team to invite two journalists to lunch every week, and aim to invite a journalist into the office to get their take on the state of media and journalist/PR relationships (over lunch). We keep a spreadsheet of these lunch invitations so we can track them and avoid too much repetition. We often mention going to lunch in a follow-up email after pitching a journalist or in conversation as part of a pitch. We try to make sure it’s a routine part of our outreach. They won’t always say yes and they often won’t respond, but you don’t know unless you ask. Fortune (and fortune cookies) favors the bold.

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Aspectus unveils new approach for driving engagement through communications

London, 16th June, 2015 – Aspectus, the global communications agency, has expanded the services it offers to clients across the energy, engineering, financial services and technology industries. The revamped offering tops a run of successes for Aspectus, taking in new headquarters, senior appointments and awards.

The model incorporates a mix of new, improved and existing services, and integrates them in a way that drives real engagement between clients and their markets. Services now include expanded content development capabilities such as animated videos, infographics, cartoons and other visual content as well as broader search engine marketing capabilities such as pay per click and social advertising.

“It’s a fresh way of creating engagement, but it’s also a case of evolution rather than revolution,” explains Alastair Turner, Global CEO. “We’ve been adding services and changing the way we do things for a few years now. The model is the result of us thinking long and hard about what it meant to integrate everything. We realised that, good as they are on their own, our services have to engage with each other in the right way to drive engagement between our clients and their target audiences.”

This comes at a time of incredible growth and recognition for Aspectus. A re-designed website has been launched to better reflect the services on offer, the UK headquarters has moved to the heart of Tech City in Old Street, London, and PR industry veteran Jed Hamilton has come on board as head of North American operations in New York.

Furthermore, Aspectus has recently been both shortlisted for the In2 SABRE, PR Moment and Financial Services Forum Awards, as well as winning 2015’s In2 SABRE award for persuasive content. Aspectus also climbed to 79 in PR Week’s 2015 top 150 UK agencies, jumping more than 40 places in two years and making Aspectus one of the UK’s fastest growing independent agencies.

Another recent hire has been Otilia Martin, recruited from Hill and Knowlton to head up Aspectus’ Visual Content offering. “What makes Aspectus stand out is its commitment to client business outcomes,” says Martin. “That’s why we are always looking to innovate and go for the most effective option rather than the easiest – whether it’s an article, an infographic or a video – whatever best reaches and influences the audience. It’s what makes us the Engagement Agency.”

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About Aspectus

Aspectus, the engagement agency, is an international communications agency specialising in financial services, energy, technology and engineering.

In our hands communications transforms the way businesses engage with their markets. Our award-winning approach, creativity and market knowledge builds brands, increases sales, attracts investment and supports business growth.

To find out more, visit: www.aspectusgroup.com

Media contact

Alastair Turner
Aspectus
T (UK): +44 (0) 20 7242 8867
T (USA): +1 (646) 792 2375
T (Asia): +65 6597 0954
E: pr@aspectusgroup.com
www.aspectusgroup.com

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Aspectus adds Institute of Engineering and Technology to growing list of Event PR Clients

London, Tuesday 15th October 2013 – Aspectus PR, the global business communications agency, has announced its sixth new client in the events sector this year with its appointment to promote the Prestige Lecture Series for the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET).

The lectures are part of the IET’s charitable remit to promote engineering knowledge among the profession and to a wider audience. The PR campaign will be focused on increasing attendance at the lectures as well as raising the profile of the IET.

Commenting on Aspectus PR’s latest event client win, Amy Redhead, Account Group Director, said: “We have a lot of experience in this market and a proven model for generating profile for events, increasing visitor numbers and engaging with other audiences, such as commercial partners. Our model is very results focused, which clearly appeals to event organisations.”

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About IET Lectures

Attending an IET Lecture is your opportunity to see the future of engineering. IET Lectures are free to attend and are a key highlight of the IET’s events calendar. Showcasing the latest ideas and technologies, the nine lectures cover a variety of engineering disciplines, ranging from general interest to the more technical. The President of the IET begins his year in office with an inaugural lecture every October. Many of the lectures were established in memory of engineers who achieved exemplary and ground breaking work in their day. The speakers invited to give IET Lectures are of that calibre – innovative, forward-thinking and at the top of their game. For more information, please visit: https://www.theiet.org/events/

About Aspectus PR

Aspectus PR is a global communications and PR agency focusing on Financial Services, Energy, Engineering and B2B Technology and Events. As an integrated mainstream and digital communications agency, Aspectus PR provides targeted, intelligent, strategic and creative media campaigns that push all the right buttons with all the right people. For more information please go to: https://www.aspectusgroup.com

Media contact

Amy Redhead
Aspectus PR
www.aspectuspr.com
T (UK): +44 (0) 20 7242 8867
T (USA): +1 (646) 202 9843
E: pr@aspectuspr.com

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Aspectus PR appointed for new biometrics brief

London, Wednesday 14th August 2013 – Aspectus PR, the global communications and PR agency, has been appointed by Simeio to promote a biometrics product for managing access, safety, costs and data. Simeio’s Site Roster Control Platform delivers a more accurate and automated way of reporting time and attendance, carbon use and health and safety compliance on construction sites.

Aspectus will manage a media relations focused campaign positioning Simeio as a leader in the access management of construction sites. This will be supported by a social media campaign designed to drive traffic to Simeio’s new website and support its SEO and wider marketing activities.

“Construction site management is still a relatively low-tech environment,” said Amy Redhead, head of Aspectus PR’s Technology Group. “Simeio’s technology is a real game changer so it’s an exciting brief for us.”

Aspectus PR is a global PR agency focusing on technology, energy, financial services, engineering and events.

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About Aspectus PR

Aspectus PR is a global communications and PR agency focusing on Financial Services, Energy, Engineering and B2B Technology and Events. As an integrated mainstream and digital communications agency, Aspectus PR provides targeted, intelligent, strategic and creative media campaigns that push all the right buttons with all the right people. For more information please go to: https://www.aspectusgroup.com

Media contact

Amy Redhead
Aspectus PR
www.aspectuspr.com
T (UK): +44 (0) 20 7242 8867
T (USA): +1 (646) 202 9843
E: pr@aspectuspr.com

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