The Challenge

Rheaply initially came to 3Points in February 2020 for help with a seed round funding announcement, but soon after retained 3Points to greatly expand its PR efforts, particularly in earned and owned media. These PR efforts had a few key objectives, including:

Expanding the thought leadership of Rheaply’s CEO and co-founder, Dr. Garry Cooper
Generating awareness and adoption of circular economy principles
Getting Rheaply in front of a larger audience

For 3Points, part of the challenge was familiarizing ourselves with the circular economy and climate tech, industries that were not only new to us but also not widely known in general. We were thrown an additional curveball just weeks into the engagement,
as the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020.

The Solution

The 3Points team immediately got to work immersing themselves in Rheaply’s business and the principles of the circular economy.
3Points built local and industry-specific media lists and a pitching strategy to secure placements for both the company and Garry.
At the same time, we researched and curated a list of speaking opportunities and awards, then began regularly submitting Rheaply
and its team for consideration.

In light of the urgency of the pandemic, we also acted quickly to help Rheaply announce and communicate its new initiatives related to COVID-19, the Emergency Resource Exchange and the Chicago PPE Market (an initiative in partnership with the City of Chicago), both of which aimed to connect organizations, especially small businesses, with much-needed personal protective equipment (PPE). Through a combination of social media posts, a Reddit AMA (Ask Me Anything) with Garry, outreach to small businesses, and media pitches, we successfully brought attention to Garry and the young startup, and highlighted their important place in Chicago’s tech and business community.

Once the most dire PPE shortages had been resolved, 3Points continued to cement the company’s and Garry’s expertise by creating and executing a content strategy. We worked with Garry to develop bylined articles to be published in targeted publications. Additionally, 3Points worked with LinkedIn to get Garry approved for the platform’s new newsletter feature, then helped Garry develop the concept of the newsletter, ideate topics, and execute monthly posts.

The Results

3Points helped Rheaply dramatically grow its reputation locally and nationally, and assisted on a number of key initiatives. We worked directly with Rheaply and the City of Chicago to announce the Chicago PPE Market, which culminated with Garry speaking at a press conference with the Mayor.

Our pitching strategy helped Rheaply gain placements in local, national, and trade publications. These placements included
Entrepreneur, Waste360, and Technori. They increased awareness of Garry and the company, which led to further opportunities for them.

As Garry’s reputation grew, we helped him earn awards and recognition from various publications and organizations, including the Crain's 40 U 40 list, the Forbes The Next 1000 list, and Revolution's Rise of the RestⓇ, as well as speaking opportunities, for which we helped him prepare. For one major speaking appearance, Circularity 20, we also designed animations to buttress his presentation.

Garry’s content pieces also helped grow his reputation as a thought leader. His LinkedIn newsletter proved highly successful and resonated with a wide audience, growing to over 30,000 subscribers through its first seven editions, and gaining over 200 engagements per post. Garry’s bylined articles in Forbes and sustainability trade publication GreenBiz further established his expertise.

After six months, Rheaply decided to expand its retainer with 3Points, and in February 2021, less than a year after the successful seed round funding announcement, 3Points helped Rheaply announce an $8M Series A raise. This led to a further expansion of PR services as Rheaply prepared to launch numerous new initiatives.

Placements Included:

Testimonial

“Rheaply has grown and evolved tremendously since our seed funding, and 3Points has been an integral part of that success. They have fully immersed themselves with our team despite all of us working remotely, and have created an earned and owned media presence worthy of the important work we are doing for economic and environmental sustainability.”

– Garry Cooper, Rheaply CEO