Snowden, SpiderOak and the Value of a Strong Point of View

Edward Snowden with the Guardian's editor-in-chief Alan Rusbridger (right) and senior reporter Ewen MacAskill (left) in Moscow. Photograph: Alex Healey for the Guardian

On Thursday, the Guardian released the first video excerpts from its exclusive interview with former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, who has garnered an enormous media following but has so far agreed to talk publicly to only a small handful of news organizations (His first and only interview for an American television audience, with NBC Nightly News anchor Brian Williams, was broadcasted on May 28.). In the Guardian interview, Snowden cited the concept of a “zero-knowledge” privacy environment as a model for cloud computing, and endorsed BOCA’s client SpiderOak as a prime example of this privacy-first model. The widely publicized interview led to a flurry of interest from other high-level media influencers and customers wanting to learn more about SpiderOak and its platform.

The topic arose when the Guardian’s editor-in-chief, Alan Rusbridger, asked about the future of cloud computing and Snowden responded, “What cloud companies need to pursue in order to be truly successful is called a zero-knowledge system.” When asked for an example of this, Snowden cited SpiderOak: “There’s a company called SpiderOak,” he said, “[that] has structured their system in such a way that you can store all of your information on them but they literally have no access to the content of that information. So that yeah, while they could be compelled to turn it over, the law enforcement agencies still have to go to a judge to get a warrant to get that encryption key from you.”

The resulting deluge of coverage, in publications ranging from Gigaom to the Wall Street Journal, has raised SpiderOak’s visibility to unprecedented heights, along with generating a high volume of incoming leads, and BOCA is extremely proud to have helped SpiderOak reach this publicity breakthrough. While it only takes one high-profile interview to bring a client to a new level of recognition, BOCA and SpiderOak have worked together for years to lay the proper groundwork for this moment. It began when BOCA sat down with SpiderOak to develop the idea of a “Zero Knowledge Privacy Standard” in 2011, leveraging the company’s unique approach to protecting customer data to make its offering stand out from the rest of the crowd. When revelations of NSA spying led to a spike in interest in privacy-first technologies in 2013, BOCA had already done the heavy lifting to make SpiderOak the first name in any discussion of “zero-knowledge privacy,” a term coined by BOCA and SpiderOak during our initial messaging brainstorm in 2011.

There has been a rising drumbeat of coverage for SpiderOak over the past few years, including features in the New York Times and TechCrunch, but Snowden’s specific endorsement of the “zero-knowledge privacy” model in the Guardian interview, and his reference to SpiderOak as the best example of this technology, raised the company to a new level. Since Thursday, SpiderOak has been written about by nearly every major technology and business publication, along with many top tier general news and political outlets as well (check out the impressive summary of SpiderOak’s press coverage here), and continues to field interview requests at an overwhelming rate. SpiderOak has also seen an enormous surge in interest from potential new customers – website traffic spiked in the following days and the company experienced five to six times higher signup rates. While the full impact to SpiderOak’s bottom line has yet to be seen, the upside so far looks tremendous.

The lesson that we take from this public relations achievement at BOCA is that a strong and clearly communicated point of view, based on a technology that answers a real market need, will ultimately lead to client success. Though it may not always arrive on a predictable timeline, the benefits of good PR will accrue after serious and thoughtful work to promote the client as an industry leader with a specific message for the market. There is no “magic bullet” solution to put a company on the world stage, but ultimately the value of a creative, well-planned and rigorously executed PR campaign is almost immeasurable. We are extremely happy with SpiderOak’s success, and proud to have helped bring our client this unprecedented level of positive recognition.

BOCA Earns Top “Technology Campaign of the Year” Award for SpiderOak Messaging

PR World Awards announced this week that BOCA’s client SpiderOak won the “Best Technology Campaign of the Year” award for the “Zero Knowledge Privacy Standard” campaign that we developed with SpiderOak to help the company rise above the crowded and competitive cloud storage market. Named the “Gold Winner” of the global award for PR excellence by the SV US Awards judging panel, the SpiderOak campaign won out against stiff competition, including the two high-profile “Silver Winners,” the publicly traded computer processor manufacturer AMD, and the Israeli PR firm Blonde 2.0, which launched the highly successful Viber Desktop application.

We are extremely proud of our work with SpiderOak, and equally as pleased with SpiderOak’s success in advancing its brand and message, and ultimately, its bottom line. Facing deeply entrenched competition from established cloud storage brands such as Box and DropBox, SpiderOak and BOCA crafted an original approach to successfully enter the conversation around cloud storage providers.

BOCA first began working with SpiderOak in 2010 and developed the idea of a “Zero Knowledge Privacy Standard” in 2011, leveraging the company’s unique approach to protecting customer data to make its offering stand out from the rest of the crowd. Shortly afterwards, SpiderOak solidified its position as the secure rival to Dropbox after a major security breach in the same year.

After unveiling its first enterprise-class secure and private cloud in 2012, SpiderOak needed to make a bold move. BOCA worked with SpiderOak on a declaration that 2013 would be ‘The Year of Privacy,’ and built on the Zero-Knowledge Privacy Standard foundation to boost SpiderOak’s role not only as a secure cloud services provider but also as a thought leader on Internet privacy issues. When the Edward Snowden leaks about the NSA’s activities led to a spike in the privacy conversation in June 2013, SpiderOak became the go-to resource for reporters covering privacy and security issues. The campaign effectively positioned SpiderOak as an industry leader and boosted its bottom line with significant lead generation.

SpiderOak’s media exposure in 2013 was unparalleled, with stories about its Zero-Knowledge Privacy services running in publications ranging from daily newspapers to tech-focused blogs. Some of the highlights included a feature in the New York Times, a profile in TechCrunch, and coverage from a wide variety of tier one outlets, including the AP, the New Yorker, InformationWeek, the US News & World Report, and a cover-page story in the San Francisco Chronicle.

SpiderOak and BOCA, which continue to work together to spread the word about the importance and feasibility of a private Internet, will be honored at the PR World Awards banquet on Monday, June 23, in San Francisco. We are delighted to share this achievement, and look forward to many more successful campaigns in the future. To learn more about the PR World Awards, visit www.prworldawards.com.

BOCA and SpiderOak Featured at In2 Summit This Week

BOCA Communications CEO Kathleen Shanahan and SpiderOak CEO Ethan Oberman will share the stage this Thursday to talk about how innovative PR campaigns are changing the way that companies interact and engage with customers. As part of The Holmes’ Report’s first In2 Summit in San Francisco, Shanahan and Oberman will sit down to discuss SpiderOak’s groundbreaking campaign built on the concept of “Zero Knowledge Privacy.”

Facing deeply entrenched competition from established cloud storage brands such as Box and DropBox, SpiderOak needed an original approach to successfully enter the conversation around cloud storage providers. BOCA worked with SpiderOak to develop the idea of a “Zero Knowledge Privacy Standard,” which leveraged the company’s unique approach to protecting customer data to make its offering stand out from the rest of the crowd. As a result, SpiderOak became the “go-to” resource for reporters covering the privacy and security issues as Snowden and the NSA led to a spike in conversation during 2013.

Shanahan and Oberman will lay out how the term “Zero Knowledge Privacy” was developed, and how BOCA hammered the campaign home through media outreach, contributed content, press releases, and speaking opportunities. They will also share how the campaign effectively positioned SpiderOak as an industry leader and boosted its bottom line with significant lead generation.

The event will take place at 4:40 p.m. on Thursday, January 23, at the Four Seasons in San Francisco. We look forward to seeing you there!