Case Study: Consensys

Consensys is a blockchain software company working at the forefront of the decentralized web.

Background

Web3 is the newest iteration of the World Wide Web, with a focus on decentralization, blockchain and token-based economics. Much like the first dot-com boom of the late 1990s, companies are focusing on securing mindshare and market share. A company with “first mover” advantage in Web3 is ConsenSys, the blockchain software firm founded in 2014 and the company behind Ethereum, MetaMask and Infura.

As the industry began to grow, ConsenSys saw competitors developing rival products and tools. This led the company to prioritize establishing a wider brand presence for their industry-leading development tools and to maintain and grow their market share. This is where Karbo Com enters the story.

In March 2022, ConsenSys hired the agency to help position its developer tools, specifically Infura, as the platform of choice for this community. The company recognized that Web 2.0 developers looking to transition to Web3, or perhaps develop in both worlds, needed to better understand what differentiates ConsenSys and Infura from so many other choices.

Concurrent with all these efforts, ConsenSys was undergoing what was among the biggest events since the company began and perhaps since Web3 originated – “The Merge.” With The Merge, Ethereum was transitioning from “Proof of Work” to “Proof of Stake,” with the objectives of increasing security and scalability while dramatically reducing the energy consumption/emissions.

Within nine months, Karbo had garnered more than 2,300 stories for ConsenSys in outlets ranging from CNBC to TechCrunch to Decrypt, met with top industry analysts, secured speaking opportunities at leading industry events and won top-tier awards.

Objectives

Attract developers (of all types) to educate and retain them with Infura by touting product/service differentiation, ease of use and related benefits
Elevate Infura’s position as the leading platform for Web3 developers by highlighting accomplishments/value and drawing on its history
Accelerate global adoption of Infura by echoing product and brand messages via media channels, influencers and industry analysts
Create a broader sense of community for users of the Infura platform, as well as those of other ConsenSys products.

Execution

The Karbo team began by conducting listening sessions with members of ConsenSys leadership and ultimately leveraged this information to develop a PR plan and messaging. The PR plan focused heavily on media relations, influencer/analyst relations, awards, speaking opportunities and thought leadership.

Over the course of the coming months Karbo Com helped ConsenSys announce a new round of funding, major news such as the Merge and the plan for Decentralized Infura, significant partnerships and new services while building the public profiles for top executives. Karbo also secured briefings with top industry analysts including Forrester, 451 Research, and IDC ensuring these influencers were kept fully apprised of their business strategy and focus.

While it was Spring on the calendar, Q2 2022 marked the beginning of what was dubbed “Crypto Winter,” with leading crypto currencies losing a significant portion of their market cap. Knowing that these types of events are generally cyclical, and that the business media would be looking for insight into what a “thaw” might look like, Karbo Com was able to leverage ConsenSys’ head economist as part of a proactive campaign. The team landed an interview on CNBC to discuss “Crypto Spring,” along with a byline in CryptoNews.com among other coverage.

Industry recognition was also a key objective for ConsenSys. So Karbo Com ran a robust award and speaking award program with the objective of securing recognition and further solidifying Infura as the platform of choice for developers in Web3.

Results

Karbo quickly helped secure significant coverage (e.g., Reuters, Business Insider, Decrypt) for ConsenSys, leading off with the company’s $450 million funding round. This helped set the stage for so many of the forthcoming partnerships and enhancements the company would introduce.

As the company broadened their multi-chain development strategy, Karbo worked with ConsenSys to announce partnerships with NEAR and Celo, garnering coverage in key developer outlets including CoinDesk and The New Stack. From a product standpoint, ConsenSys began to broaden its NFT initiatives, launching a beta NFT tool to help developers create, customize and deploy these tokens. Karbo Com was able to secure key coverage for this announcement in outlets including Silicon Angle and Programmable Web.

As The Merge neared, allaying concerns of the developer community became critical – especially in light of the fact that the event had long been discussed and repeatedly delayed. This resulted in a robust campaign focused on what The Merge meant and didn’t mean for developers while also developing appropriate contingencies in the event there was an unexpected delay or technical issues (none of which materialized). As the September rollout neared, coverage of the event ramped up, with Karbo Com securing stories in the most influential developer-centric publications, as well as mainstream business press. Being as significant as the event was, Karbo Com looked to extend the tail of the news well into October and November, pivoting the focus to podcasts for more in depth discussions and landing interviews for key executives with top outlets including The Defiant and Web3 Breakdowns.

When it came to awards and speaking opportunities, Karbo focused on top-tier opportunities, looking to get the best value for the effort. The company delivered, helping ConsenSys secure two of the most prestigious awards for the tech sector – the Deloitte Fast 500 and CB Insights Fintech 250. On the speaking opportunity side, Karbo Com landed opportunities for executives to speak at leading events including DeveloperWeek ‘23 and API World.

On the analyst relations side, Karbo secured briefings with leading Web3 analysts from IDC, Forrester and 451 Research. These meetings ensured that those who cover the space and influence decision makers best understood what differentiates ConsenSys and its development platform from competitors.

All of these results have helped build ConsenSys’ leadership position, increasing mindshare and market share in the emerging Web3 space.

A sampling of media that have featured Consensys: