“Smart, curious, collaborative, fun, relational, and driven—NewGround is top shelf and the best PR and communications team I have ever worked with, period. They took the ideas, insights and concept homes from our America At Home Study to national trade and major media exposure—USA Today, Washington Post, CNN, Fox Business, Forbes, Urban Land Magazine, BUILDER, Professional Builder to name a few—with their blend of strategy, media relationships, and powerful, tireless execution. Carol, Katy, and their teams are true partners, and approach their engagements as much more than a PR team. They look at business goals, integrate their efforts with marketing strategies, target and make opportunities happen in multiple media channels from traditional print, to broadcast TV, to the most niche and loved podcasts. I bring them into every client engagement possible. They generate results that exceed goals and outperform predecessors, and the public awareness and interest their efforts generate for our projects make our job in marketing that much easier. I would work with them every day of the week, and if you’re lucky you’ll get to as well.”
— Teri Slavik-Tsuyuki, tst ink., America at Home Study
From research to residences: Data from The America at Home Study informs concept home design
Services provided
- Media relations
- Media training
- Strategic partnerships
- Industry relations
- Thought leadership
- Event planning and support
CHALLENGE
In response to changing desires of homebuyers around the nation during the pandemic, marketing expert Teri Slavik-Tsuyuki, market and consumer researcher Belinda Sward, and architect Nancy Keenan, launched Wave 1 of the America at Home Study, shedding light on how Americans feel about and live in their homes. Wave 2, conducted to confirm trends that emerged in the first wave, verified that Americans now wanted new thinking around home design. Though data from both studies was compelling, the big question was: how to convey it? The answer: The America at Home Study Concept Home: Barnaby, a concept home that supports safety, comfort, and wellness through separate homeowner and guest entries, two dedicated office spaces, flex spaces, a guest suite with outdoor access, a larger family bathroom, multiple covered outdoor spaces, improved kitchen functionality, flexible storage, drop zones for package deliveries, and more.
Providing data to journalists is an important part of pitching. Reporters love it because it allows them to write more in-depth and evidence-based reporting and offers a nuanced perspective on a wide range of topics, from politics and economics to social and environmental issues. But the challenge for NewGround? There was an excessive amount of data and information from both waves of research— but what was the human story behind it all?
- Excessive amount of information
- No story behind the data
STRATEGIES & TACTICS
The NewGround team is known for its storytelling prowess and immediately went to work. We met with the research team and marketing partners then built media campaigns around the different waves of research, concentrating on the human aspects of the research to tell a compelling story supported by data. Taking the massive amounts of data, we worked with the design team to visualize the data with infographics that we shared with the press. The Barnaby home, a real-life home driven by data, allowed us to invite reporters to the grand opening, and craft myriad pitches and angles for reporters, ranging from national news to home design publications.
The media plan included:
- Press releases
- Bylined articles
- Customized and targeted regional and national pitches
- Barnaby grand opening event
MAJOR ACCOMPLISHMENTS
How would the press respond to the data, the infographics, and the concept home? We soon found out. By creating our own storylines from data and from the concept home, we were able to convey the paradigm-shifting importance of the study and garner an enormous amount of media coverage. The success of the two waves of the study and the Barnaby concept home has inspired yet another study wave and a new concept home, built entirely offsite, currently in progress.
