Winter Clothing Drive for the Homeless

The cold weather in the Bay Area is more than just a matter of unpleasantness for many people: for the homeless, this drop in temperatures can be a life-threatening issue. We were extremely saddened to find out that in the past two weeks at least four people have died due to cold exposure in the area – this is something that we just cannot accept.

To help make a difference, BOCA Communications has started a collection drive for winter coats and blankets for the homeless. We’re encouraging donations of spare coats, blankets, socks, and any other winter clothing from our team members, our clients, and anyone else we can get the news to. If you have any extra winter clothes around the house that you can supply, we’ll be collecting them at the BOCA office in San Francisco for the next two weeks.

After we’ve finished with our collection drive, we’ll be sending BOCA team members to hand out these items at homeless shelters and soup kitchens around San Francisco on December 19, before our annual holiday party. We hope you’ll join us over the next two weeks to help make sure that everyone has a safe and warm holiday season this year.

The Season of Humility

Reading the Bateman Group’s recent Fall 2013 newsletter, we were struck by the wonderful opening message about the importance of humility, and what it means to recognize the ways that others have helped contribute to your success. We also couldn’t help but notice how well it went with our blog post yesterday about celebrating professional as well as personal relationships during the holidays.

Maybe it’s the spirit of the season, or the artic cold that’s visiting San Francisco, but there’s definitely something in the air that makes us want to recognize how much we value the warmth and goodness of others. With that in mind, we’d like to reiterate how wonderful it is to work alongside our peers in the industry: superb firms like Bateman Group, Highwire PR, Kulesa Faul, LaunchSquad … the list goes on.

We’re thankful for your partnerships, the lessons you’ve taught us, and your achievements that continue to inspire us. We hope that we’ve been able to offer something valuable too – or at least to keep our Karma balance positive. So, to quote Fred Bateman on humility, let us “never, ever forget where we came from or the people who helped us along the way.” Thank you all for your generosity and goodwill; we’ll be thinking of you this holiday season.

A Holiday Toast to Our Clients and Partners

With the holiday season in full swing, we’re reminded to take time to reconnect with friends and family from near and far. At BOCA Communications, we think of our clients and partners in the industry as friends and family, and we cherish every opportunity to celebrate with them during this festive time.

That’s why we’re so excited to meet up with our friends at the Silicon Valley public relations firm Kulesa Faul for their annual holiday party this evening. Kulesa Faul has been doing excellent work in the field of tech PR (they were named one of the Top Tech Communicators by PRSourceCode), and we value the chance to exchange best practices along with holiday cheers at their event.

We believe that so much of our value at BOCA comes from the relationships we’ve made, and during this season of celebration, we want to take special time out to toast our professional relationships as well as our familial ones. Our bonds with our clients, both past and present, with our partners, and even with our competitors, are all part of what allows us to thrive in the thrilling world of tech PR.

So, as we take time out to be with the people that we value most in our lives, let’s not forget the partners and clients who are responsible for so much of our personal and professional success. We’re especially thankful this holiday season to be part of such a wonderful family.

"Zero-Knowledge Privacy" - Commitment to a Campaign

CEO of SpiderOak -- Ethan Oberman

Successful PR campaigns don’t happen overnight; they take time to gain traction and evolve. BOCA Communications began working with SpiderOak, a cloud storage provider, on a “Zero-Knowledge Privacy” Campaign almost two years ago.

Zero-Knowledge privacy means that a user can store data on a server with the assurance that their data is 100% private, and the server has “zero-knowledge” of the data it stores. Due to SpiderOak’s encrypted technology measures – the company truly had Zero Knowledge of the Data.

Our Campaign Goals

• Ensure Zero-Knowledge Privacy is perceived as a standard in the privacy space and a symbol for trust in the cloud.
• Position SpiderOak as the de-facto cloud sharing and storage company that is committed to the privacy of data and people.
• Successful differentiate in a very noisy space. 

The SpiderOak team fully committed to the concept and worked with BOCA to formalize a plan, a content strategy and identify the competitors we needed to successfully differentiate from.

The results of this commitment have been amazing. 

Zero-Knowledge Privacy Standard officially launched in February of 2012. Impact was instant. Due to DropBox and Box security issues, BOCA immediately seized these data breaches as ways to successfully differentiate SpiderOak.

Now, almost two years later, that campaign continues to take hold.

Zero-Knowledge Privacy messaging is embedded in everything they do. It is part of their tag line and all external communications.

The SpiderOak coverage (see press page) speaks for itself…From the Cover of the San Francisco Chronicle to the New Yorker, CEO Ethan Oberman is now the official King of Privacy.

US News & World Report - 'Zero Knowledge' Encrypted Cloud Service Sees Business Boom

San Francisco Chronicle - NSA revelations unleash flood of new customers for privacy products

New Yorker - Silicon Valley's Surveillance Cure-All: Transparency

TechCrunch - SpiderOak Unveils Hive, Streamlines Zero-Knowledge Privacy Storage

The New York Times - Digital Tools to Curb Snooping

BOCA's Digital and Social Practice - Do it! Own it! Be Great and Rock On...

Entertain

Engage

Socialize

Keep your followers interested

Make me smarter

As an agency, we think about social all the time. Especially, how do we ensure that our “traditional” PR efforts are being socialized in the right way?

When marketers think about their company's social media it is important to engage the audience. This engagement needs to be interesting, educational and entertaining. The content needs to be smart. If not, what is the point.

I am proud of the social media BOCA delivers for many of its clients. We developed 90-percent of GoodData's blog content. We created video for Quorum. By the way, we acted in that video too. The stars are BOCA's very own Sammy Totah and Michael Kellner. We built Narus’ three key social media platforms – Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter – the list goes on.

I keep my Website short and to the point. I don't go on and on and on about our practice groups. That written, in 2014 I am committed to building out a few Web pages to ensure the community as a whole is aware of our digital and social practice. Let's not forget we have an amazing content bureau with formal writers that come from the Gartner Group, major newspapers and marketing trade publications to feed both social and traditional channels with great content.  

BOCA rocks...and people need to know it. 

Let's rock and make great things happen! 

To Grow or Not to Grow

After five years, BOCA is at a crossroads where I must decide whether or not to grow my business. Yes, our little agency, once comprised of me, myself and I plus a few contractors, now employs 20 souls. And despite minimal branding efforts, word of mouth has spread: We've won many accounts, formed strong partnerships and continue to attract high-quality candidates. So with all this in mind, the ambitious PR professional in me says, "Grow!" while my shrewd small-business owner side takes a more tempered approach. 

Favoring the small-business owner side, I recently sat down with the BOCA team and we talked about growth and our brand. (As the owner, I feel it is important to consult and work closely with my employees, as every decision I make for BOCA impacts the universal BOCA team.) Our discussion yielded a unanimous decision: It is time to share BOCA's amazing culture and build upon our great work. "Growth" it is.

I love our current North Beach location. We are located on Francisco Street between Powell and Mason. Our space is an old, ground-level art gallery with beautiful French doors that open up to the sidewalk and afford a ton of natural light. But growth translates to a need for more physical space. So we began to look at spaces around San Francisco. I found that, aside from the deterrent of high rents in the City, I just couldn’t imagine leaving my art gallery space — at least not yet.

So instead, we decided on the "Google campus" approach and signed a lease for two more spaces (an old laundromat and a former hair salon) right around the corner from our current location — literally within 100 feet. We are excited to take these two obscure spaces and turn them into beautiful creative galleries. (You may recall that an early Facebook posting of ours referred to our art gallery spot as a "creative think tank" rather than an office. That's more reflective of BOCA, don't you think?)

Now, BOCA is ready to turn up the dial for its next phase of growth. We plan to promote our brand for the first time ever, and put heart and soul into an awards program that will highlight all the great work we do for our clients. The small-business owner part of me is still understandably anxious, but the PR professional is, as always, fearless. Wish us luck!

BOCA - We are Hiring!

When BOCA started - we were a virtual agency. Today, we have an office in San Francisco - that is almost at capacity - Austin, Texas - that we are growing - aspirations for an office in L.A. (I love So Cal), and possibly an office in New York City.

Until the time comes that I want to move out of our adorable SF space or truly expand into LA or NYC - we are hiring and we are hiring regardless of location. That written, Austin is a key marketplace for BOCA and we are looking for great hires now.

We love super smart, super motivated, super fabulous people that know how to service clients and get results.

So - what is the point of this post - again, we are hiring! (careers@bocacommunications.com)

GoodData - $22 Million in Funding = Amazing Press

BOCA nails it for GoodData funding news - but of course. GoodData is GoodData, an amazing enterprise company. We are proud to call you our PR partner.

Wall Street Journal, Don Clark (6/12/2013)

Brazil and Big Data Drive GoodData Funding Deal

“ ‘We didn’t want to do the typical venture round this time,’ says Roman Stanek, GoodData’s CEO. ‘We feel like we are strong in business in the U.S. and we want to grow internationally.’ ”

AllThingsD, Arik Hesseldahl (6/12/2013)

GoodData Raises $22 Million From Brazil’s TOTVS Ventures

“In addition to the investment, TOTVS has become a distribution partner, giving GoodData access to a market worth about $9 billion.”

TechCrunch, Alex Williams (6/13/2013)

GoodData Raises $22M From Latin America’s Largest Enterprise Software Company

“GoodData has raised $22 million in a Series D round, with funding led by Sao-Paulo-based TOTVS Ventures, the investment arm of TOTVS S.A., the largest enterprise software company in Latin America. Also participating were Andreessen Horowitz, General Catalyst Partners, Next World Capital and Tenaya Capital, who also participated in the latest round. This is TOTVS’ first investment outside Brazil.”

“…A cloud-based business intelligence technology company, GoodData has now raised $75.5 million and looks poised to join the IPO crowd, at least at some point. Founded in the Czech Republic by Roman Stanek and headquartered in San Francisco, the company is one of the leaders in the emerging new business intelligence market.”

Dow Jones, Deborah Gage (6/12/2013)

GoodData Picks Up $22M Series D Led by Latin America's Totvs Ventures

“GoodData Corp., a provider of business analytics software, has raised a $22 million Series D investment led by Totvs Ventures , the investment arm of publicly traded Latin American enterprise software company Totvs SA .”

VentureBeat, Rebecca Grant, (6/13/2013)

‘Caliente’ startup GoodData raises $22M from Latin America’s largest enterprise company

“GoodData is one of Silicon Valleys “enterprise cool kids.” It is a business-intelligence service provider, meaning businesses use its cloud-based technology to make data-driven decisions. The platform includes operational dashboards, metrics and performance reports, data storage, analytics, and collaboration tools. Founder Roman Stanek said GoodData stands out from the crowd because it emphasizes heavily on user experience to make the tick technical elements of big data comprehensible to people outside of IT.”

VentureBeat, Jolie O’Dell (6/13/2013)

Funding Daily: Hey, big spender!

“Big data” company GoodData has raised $22 million from Latin America’s largest enterprise software company. GoodData is one of Silicon Valley’s “enterprise cool kids.”

ZDNet, Larry Dignan (6/14/2013)

TOTVS, GoodData eye Latin America big data growth

“Latin America's largest enterprise software company, TOTVS, invested in the latest venture round of GoodData in a move that highlights how cloud big data and analytics will play a big role in the region.”

Fortune, Dan Primack (6/13/2013)

Venture capital deals

“This represents the first investment outside of Brazil for TOTVS Ventures, the investment arm of listed Brazilian enterprise software company TOTVS” 

PandoDaily, Staff (6/13/2013)

GoodData raises $22 million Series D (announcement in ticker linked to press release)

San Francisco Business Times, Patrick Hoge (6/12/2013)

GoodData raises $22 million more

“Founded in 2007, San Francisco-based GoodData has now raised $75 million, and it is preparing for an expansion campaign to Latin America. Brazil-based Totvs’sAlexandre Dinkelmann will join the board of directors.”

Silicon Valley Business Journal, Cromwell Schubarth (6/12/2013)

GoodData gets bridge to Latin America in $22M Totvs funding

"We're now taking GoodData to the next step: leveraging Totvs's dominant position in the region to extend our U.S. leadership to the $9 billion Latin America software market," Stanek said in a prepared statement.

peHUB, Alastair Goldfisher (6/12/2013)

Brazilian Software Company Leads GoodData’s Series D

“This is the first investment outside of Brazil for TOTVS Ventures, which typically invests in seed and Series A and B deals, according to the firm’s website. San Francisco-based GoodData, which helps corporations crunch data generated by SAP and other enterprise software programs, has now raised about $75 million in total funding.”

Pulse 2.0, Staff (6/13/2013)

Business Intelligence Company GoodData Raises $22 Million

“GoodData has raised a total of over $75 million so far.  TOTVS Ventures is the investment arm company of enterprise software company TOTVS.  Alexandre Dinkelmann of TOTVS is joining GoodData’s board of directors.”

PulsoSocial, Emily Stewart (6/13/2013)

TOTVS Ventures Invests in GoodData, Marking First Deal Outside of Brazil

“So why go with GoodData first? Based in San Francisco, GoodData provides a platform and applications for cloud-based big data analytics. Its on-demand business development services help business users, analysts and IT professionals capture and process data through dashboards, reports and custom metrics. Importantly, GoodData requires no hardware or software for integration.”

QuinnSight Research, Evan Quinn (6/13/2013)

Big Data Go Public Watch – GoodData Good to Go?

“I am bullish on all of the “as-a-service” big data players, like Birst, TreasureData, and Qubole, though the latter two are still quite early stage.  But GoodData has emerged as the option with the most current customer momentum, and the most pizzazz.  While thus far GoodData has focused on marketing and services industry as their primary horizontal and vertical use case, it strikes me that if they could add a few more analytics apps style offerings, they would be ready to qualify for take-off.  Plus, GoodData’s executives and board possess strong, proven entrepreneurial pedigree.”

Tech Market View, Anthony Miller (6/13/2013)

Brazilian Totvs takes stake in US 'big data' GoodData

“The real beneficiary though should be GoodData, which will now have the backing of the region's best known indigenous software firm with which to establish its credentials.”

MR Web, Staff (6/14/2013)

GoodData Raises $22m for LatAm Expansion

“Cloud-based big data analytics specialist GoodData, headquartered in San Francisco, has raised $22m in Series D funding, which it will use to support its expansion into the Latin American enterprise software market.”

NewNet, Staff (6/13/2013)

Latin America software group TOTVS leads $22m Series D in GoodData

“Executive vice president of strategy and finance at TOTVS Alexandre Dinkelmann said, ‘By combining GoodData’s intuitive analytics with our market-leading enterprise software, we are creating the cloud analytics leader in Latin America and giving access to Big Data solutions to our clients in Latin America.”

Venture Capital Dispatch, Staff (6/13/2013)

The Daily Startup: Social Gifter Wrapp Bundles Up New Funding

“Also in today’s VentureWire, GoodData, a developer of business analytics software, has raised a $22 million Series D round led by Totvs Ventures, the investment arm of Latin American software company Totvs SA”