CYPHER

Cutting through the noise: CYPHER’s rise as an AI-driven personalised L&D leader

CYPHER sought to differentiate itself in the crowded AI market and demonstrate its impact on Learning & Development (L&D). Through global research, strategic content, and media engagement, this campaign positioned CYPHER as a leader in AI-driven personalised learning. By tapping into trending issues that matter to HR and L&D professionals, we elevated CYPHER’s message to a mainstream business audience. And by building CYPHER’s CEO profile, driving a consistent narrative, and developing strong stories we inserted CYPHER into the news cycle – positioning the company as a go-to thought leader and pioneer and leader in the space.

Objective

The goal was to position CYPHER and its CEO as thought leaders, highlighting its unique AI-driven L&D approach and increasing brand awareness among HR and L&D professionals.

Story

CYPHER was a completely unknown brand in the UK. The HR and L&D media were very resistant to speaking to vendors, preferring to speak to HR directors and those directly involved in the space. This placed the emphasis on developing strong storylines that would resonate with that audience and help us to crack into that very specialised media.

We did this in several ways:

Consistent narrative on AI-driven personalisation: Used storyboarding to develop a compelling narrative, integrating CYPHER into industry conversations and ensuring strong message pull-through. These messages gave us a strong foundation for the programme, allowing us to tailor our response to trending issues, as well as feeding through into all thought leadership, product news and media commentary.

Research-driven storytelling: Created research campaigns surveying both HR and worker audiences to reveal AI’s potential impact on L&D – covering topics such as neurodiversity, digital divides, and compliance. Campaigns helped to drive global coverage, as well as supporting sales by underscoring the relevance of CYPHER’s product and message.

CEO positioning as an industry expert: Utilised Graham Glass’s expertise for media tours, interviews, and thought leadership placements. By timing a media tour with Graham to coincide with the release of research, and combining with a radio day, we successfully drove top tier coverage across a range of titles.

Results

Across almost two years, Spark achieved an average of 16 pieces of unique, quality coverage per quarter, including one mainstream/business press hit per quarter – with the likes of the Financial Times, Sky News Radio, The Times, Forbes, Business Leader, Metro, and The Sun. Our media tour and radio day with Graham, which we linked to the research, helped to secure over 300 pieces of broadcast coverage, as well as a lunch briefing with Bloomberg.

Critically, we were able to build momentum with the core HR and L&D media, such as People Magazine, HR Director, HRO Today, Headspring, and many more – receiving regular inbound requests for comments. This helped to drive an 85% increase in coverage in year two compared to year one.

  • Secured consistent media coverage with HR and L&D publications, leading to an 85% increase in coverage in year two
  • Spark averaged one piece of business-level coverage per quarter, including Financial Times, Forbes, Sky News Radio, The Times and Metro
  • Established a research-driven content pipeline that enhanced media visibility globally and supported sales