Launching a high-growth company into space

The Challenge

After securing early funding and trial success with its inaugural satellite cluster, HawkEye 360 wanted more than the trade media coverage its legacy PR firm had been able to generate. 

HawkEye 360 had a unique disruption story to tell about changing the way in which the federal government collects intelligence, but space reporters at mainstream outlets were lukewarm. Pinkston quickly pivoted to cultivating relationships with key intelligence reporters at top-tier outlets like the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, among others. We proposed and executed on a strategy that brought reporters to the HawkEye 360 headquarters, during which they would have an intimate meeting with select company executives who could share intelligence insights, unique to each outlet, that had not yet been released publicly. Those real-world insights exposed everything from pending global conflicts to illegal fishing, poaching, human smuggling and environmental degradation.

Results

Working in this way, Pinkston secured a New York Times feature that integrated one of HawkEye 360’s unique space-based insights (data which revealed illegal squid fishing off the coast of Oman), a company announcement (a new $10 million government contract) and tie-ins to emerging trends in the industry (the U.S. government’s increasing willingness to acquire intelligence from commercial sources). A few months later, a Wall Street Journal feature similarly incorporated thought leadership from CEO John Serafini alongside company insights into the Russia-Ukraine War.

Once we’d helped get HawkEye 360 “on the map,” we helped the company continuously cultivate new relationships. Over our three-year engagement, Pinkston secured hundreds of online and broadcast hits in mainstream and trade outlets, including print/digital coverage in CNBC, The Washington Post, Axios, Forbes, POLITICO, Fortune, The Economist, TechCrunch, Geospatial World, Breaking Defense, SpaceNews, C4ISRNET, Defense News, Janes, Milsat Magazine, and RealClearDefense, and broadcast coverage on Yahoo Finance, Fox Business and Cheddar.

Growth Summary

While the dramatic increase in media coverage had a significant impact on brand awareness and credibility, it also attracted scrutiny from nefarious actors and hostile nations. As HawkEye 360 achieved new milestones, including deploying new satellites to space, securing additional funding and winning government contracts, Pinkston again evolved its strategy to maximized promotional value while mitigating risk, ensuring these successes were featured across investor, space, defense and environmental-focused media outlets.

The impact of Pinkston’s strategic communication efforts were tangible and impressive. Throughout the engagement, HawkEye 360 raised more than $300 million in funding and announced several significant contracts with U.S. government agencies, including the U.S. Army, U.S. Space Force, National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), and the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL); as well as with several organizations and governments across the Indo-Pacific region.