Marinus Analytics

Marinus Analytics, a Pittsburgh-based Carnegie Mellon start-up, uses technology to fight human trafficking internationally. The Marinus team came to Markowitz Communications because they had a major new product announcement: they had created the first facial recognition technology, called TrafficJam, designed specifically to stop global human trafficking. The MC team looked to generate national media attention for the product’s release.

Insights
While facial recognition technology has been around for a number of years, this was the first of its kind designed specifically to halt global human trafficking. Markowitz Communications was tasked with explaining both the general idea of facial recognition and how the program would be used to identify victims of human trafficking. Additionally, we knew that we’d be speaking to a variety of reporters, from technology to general interest, who would have vastly different levels of knowledge about artificial intelligence and facial recognition.

Groundwork
The Markowitz Communications team began work by writing all of the press materials for the program’s release date. Our team then crafted a list of more than 400 reporters who have written about facial recognition or human trafficking in the past six months. On the release date, we emailed the final press release to every reporter on the list. Our team also crafted social media postings for the Marinus Analytics team to announce the new product.

Additionally, the MC team had just one week to prepare all of the necessary materials.

Strategy
Almost immediately after sending out the release, we received responses. Our first response came from CNN, who asked to interview Marinus Analytics once they have measurable results from implementing the program.

Most public relations agencies would be content with just blasting out the initial press release, but instead, our team proactively called key members of the media who would be interested in reporting on TrafficJam, both locally and nationally.

Nationally, the story was picked up by Mashable, Texas Public Radio, the Christian Broadcast Network, and more.

Locally, WTAE, WPXI, Nextpittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Magazine, and KQV, along with a few other outlets interviewed the Marinus team.

On an international level, the French version of Mashable also picked up on the story.