HawkEye 360 harnesses a constellation of microsatellites to monitor and analyze radio frequency signals across the globe. The growth-stage company engaged Pinkston to raise its profile to match its status as a commercial leader in its field and a source of fascinating intelligence insights.
HawkEye 360's Objective
HawkEye 360 partnered with Pinkston in advance of several critical company milestones, including the closing of a Series C funding round and the launch of two new satellite clusters. HawkEye 360 charged Pinkston with earning coverage that would reach investors and government decision makers, including in top-tier publications.
Pinkston's Approach
Pinkston leveraged HawkEye 360's growth milestones, the company's real-world insights and various industry trends to generate coverage. To mainstream, space, defense and environmental outlets, Pinkston highlighted the implications of HawkEye 360's growth milestones for respective audiences. To drive home the value of HawkEye 360, Pinkston highlighted the company's intelligence insights — such as those about illegal fishing, poaching, smuggling or environmental degradation — to flesh out stories about the company or to win additional coverage.
Pinkston also pursued thought leadership opportunities for HawkEye 360 executives, positioning them prominently within emerging conversations about the commercial space industry, space-based based intelligence insights and government acquisition methods.
Results
Pinkston’s methodical approach to building HawkEye 360’s visibility in increasingly high-profile outlets and cultivating relationships with key reporters resulted in a recent article New York Times article which extensively highlighted HawkEye 360's capabilities and core themes. The article, the result of months of partnership and dialogue with the newspaper's national security team, encapsulated many of the strategies enumerated above: a unique space-based insight (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).
Before and since the Times feature, Pinkston has secured dozens of online and broadcast hits in mainstream and trade outlets, including multiple pieces of coverage in Wall Street Journal, POLITICO, Geospatial World, Breaking Defense, and Space News as well as additional coverage in Axios, C4ISRNET, Defense News, Forbes, Fortune, Janes, Milsat Magazine, RealClearDefense, The Economist and broadcast coverage on Yahoo Finance, Fox Business and Cheddar.
This coverage has provided a major avenue for HawkEye 360 to reach target audiences, including investors. In 2021 alone, HawkEye 360 raised $206 million in funding, one of the largest capital raises in the D.C. area that year.