The COVID-19 lockdown should have been Prodoscore’s big moment.

Nearly a third of Americans were working from home (WFH), which aligns perfectly with Prodoscore’s offering: the company helps enterprises manage remote workforces.

But no one had heard of them.

Why?

The two-year-old company was reluctant to talk to the press. They were worried that too much exposure would lump them in the unpopular spyware category - and that would kill sales.

The agency broke into ABBA: "Take a chance on me!" They presented a PR plan with research, insights, creativity, and gumption that would ignite sales.

Prodoscore said yes!

Our media audit confirmed Prodoscore’s fears over spyware. Journalist education on product differentiation would be essential for successful message pull-through.

There were bigger issues, too.

Journalists doubted people could be productive WFH and that Prodoscore would be a necessary long-term solution, believing WFH would be temporary and that we would soon go “back to normal.”

In fact, before COVID-19, when you searched “working from home” you would see people “working” from a pool with a daiquiri in one hand and a tablet in another.

That image encapsulated the objectives we needed to accomplish to make Prodoscore a success - which became part of the creative we successfully recommended.

OBJECTIVE ONE: Change the perception that WFH isn’t truly productive.

OBJECTIVE TWO: Challenge the belief that working from home would be temporary.

OBJECTIVE THREE: Demonstrate that employees would accept a visibility solution like Prodoscore and that it was fundamentally different from spyware.

We drew inspiration from the 1920’s “Hawthorne effect,” the study that discovered workers provide superior output when they are aware they’re being observed.

We believed that if we asked employees and managers what level of visibility they would be comfortable with, we could create a win-win compromise when it came to remote employee monitoring - and not sound creepy!

We determined we needed experts to lead this effort and empaneled the Prodoscore Research Council, an esteemed group of HR, Future of Work, and productivity experts with the ultimate goal of improving employee performance and engagement, and driving success.

We recruited six specialists, including Eric Frazer, Psy.D., Assistant Clinical Professor, Yale University School of Medicine. The initiative’s first report was produced in partnership with a team of Organizational Behavior doctoral students at Claremont Graduate University.

They sought to determine the best practices for working from home - for anyone, anywhere.

PR evaluated 100 million data points and discovered that WFH fueled a 47% productivity increase.

The Prodoscore Research Council discovered 90% are open to their employer having visibility into their daily productivity. When asked what would be most beneficial to their productivity, the #1 answer was “visibility software.”

PR positioned Prodoscore as a WFH coach providing both management and staff the support they needed to acclimate to this new environment.

The key message: both sides want visibility, and now they can have it without the creep factor.

The target audience: C-level business decision leaders.

Our story arc: first react to the lockdown; then give consultative advice; finally, look to the “office of the future.”

PR's Introductory pitches leveraged the rapidly developing news of Facebook and Twitter becoming remote-only workplaces to make the case that WFH management was a business mandatory. Analyst briefings added industry expert commentary to our findings.

Our first national placement started with an exclusive with CNBC’s Eric Chemi. Vonage would reveal they had been using Prodoscore. Chemi interviewed Prodoscore CEO Sam Naficy, May, 13th, asking if the company was simply spyware - just as we anticipated.

“We’re really far away from Big Brother,” Naficy answered, describing Prodoscore as “a productivity tool that engages employees.”

Within five days Fortune, MarketWatch, BBC, Forbes, and Nasdaq all published similar reports. PR secured more than 50 stories in Q2.

Coverage turned consultative in Q3 with recommendations on how to get the most out of working from home in Bloomberg, Entrepreneur, Fast Company, and 60+ outlets.

In Q4, Prodoscore launched the Prodoscore Research Council, showcasing the best of working from home with 25+ placements.

At the start of Q1 in 2021, we looked to the future, convincing Inc. to ask: "Is the Office Dead Forever?" Similar narratives secured over 20 stories.

If you Googled “work from home” on May 21st, the first story was a Forbes Prodoscore feature.

While this was a major achievement just six weeks into the program, more was on the way.

For objective one - proving that working from home is truly productive - we secured coverage in over 20 outlets including BBC, Bloomberg, Entrepreneur, Fast Company, Forbes, and Inc.

When it came to objective two, The Washington Post covered Prodoscore and asked, “Is working from home here to stay?” The publication then detailed why the answer was “yes.” Over 25 others followed suit.

For objective three - demonstrate that employees would accept a visibility solution like Prodoscore - Fast Company, Forbes, Fox, and 20 others published stories about how 90% of Americans want visibility into their own productivity.

To culminate our efforts we hosted a webinar summarizing the findings from the Prodoscore Research Council where we live-tweeted. Social activity shot up: 16,000 shares!

When Eric Chemi’s CNBC Prodoscore story aired, the company received 30 inbound leads within the hour. All from C-levels. Web traffic jumped 90%.

Prodoscore's favorability ratings jumped with sales reporting market awareness at a fever pitch.

PR secured 184 stories, translating to 3-5 inbound calls per placement. Prodoscore credits PR with their pipeline exploding 400% in eight months.

Before PR, Prodoscore's quarterly sales run rate was $30,000.

In Q2 - with PR - it blew up to $600,000.

It grew to $770,000 in Q3 and $1,344,912 in Q4.