Situation & Challenge

Blazegraph entered the emerging graph database market with cutting-edge technology, but faced significant hurdles in establishing market presence. While the company boasted engineering excellence led by a technical founder-CEO, it lacked internal marketing resources and needed to compete against established players. The challenge was complex: Blazegraph needed to transform deep technical expertise into market recognition while managing a corporate name change, building a marketing infrastructure from scratch, and articulating technical advantages in business terms that would resonate with enterprise buyers.

Our Approach

Kickstart functioned as Blazegraph’s integrated marketing and communications team, developing and executing a comprehensive strategy that spanned branding, marketing, and communications.

Our first priority was strategic positioning and brand development. Working closely with the CEO, we crafted a compelling narrative that articulated their unique technical advantages in business terms, effectively positioning competitors as excellent for smaller, less complex datasets. This messaging became the foundation for a complete corporate rebrand, encompassing everything from a new corporate identity to refreshed collateral and trade show materials.

With the new positioning and branding in place, we orchestrated the market introduction. We prepared and coached executives for analyst briefings – a first for the technical team – which led to speaking opportunities at prestigious events, including IDC’s HPC User Forum. These efforts resulted in analysts recognizing Blazegraph’s “game-changing approach” to handling larger, more complex data sets at exponentially faster speeds.

We developed a steady news flow by capitalizing on multiple opportunities, from industry trade show presence to participation in a United Nations event. Product launches were strategically timed and amplified through coverage in key publications including FierceBigData, Inside Big Data, Diginomica, and ComputerWeekly. Our targeted outreach extended to industry verticals focused on geospatial and genomic data, broadening the company’s market presence.

The integrated marketing program we implemented went far beyond traditional PR. We created a customer success program, working closely with the company’s customers to determine which would be willing and able to share their stories, orchestrated marketing initiatives with three strategic partners, and developed original content that demonstrated thought leadership. Our social media management not only doubled the company’s follower count but, more importantly, engaged key industry influencers. We provided real-time social amplification of webinars and online events, creating a consistent and engaging digital presence.

Results

Kickstart delivered remarkable results in a compressed timeframe. Within just one year, Blazegraph was acquired by Amazon – a testament to the rapid market presence and value we helped create. The company advanced three positions in the annual Graph Database rankings, and we drove significant spikes in quality website traffic that directly correlated with our marketing and media events.

The success of our customer advocacy program was evident in coverage in top-tier technical and vertical industry publications helped establish Blazegraph as a serious player in the graph database market, while our social media efforts created an engaged community of industry influencers and technical decision-makers.

This rapid trajectory from technical innovator to acquisition target demonstrates the power of integrated marketing and communications in building enterprise value. By functioning as a full-service marketing team, Kickstart helped transform deep technical expertise into clear market leadership, ultimately attracting one of technology’s most sophisticated acquirers.