Defining the Category & Overcoming Low Awareness

Launched in 2019, 917Ventures’ crucial go-to-market plans were disrupted by the pandemic. This resulted in low brand awareness within the competitive Southeast Asian startup ecosystem, making it difficult to differentiate itself from traditional VCs and communicate its unique value as a strategic corporate venture builder.

The Strategic Insight: Market Education & Leadership

PRecious Philippines developed a PR first, digital supported strategy to formally establish and define the 917Ventures brand. Moving from a communications challenge to a business driving solution, we executed the following:

• Bridging the Perception Gap: We identified a core perception gap where the market did not understand what a “corporate venture builder” was, often confusing 917Ventures with a traditional VC. We aligned the core business objective of increasing high quality deal flow to a clear PR goal: establish 917Ventures as the number one most credible and visible scaling partner for startups in the Philippines.
• Multi-Faceted Leadership Profiling: We developed distinct, powerful thought leadership narratives for each member of the 917Ventures management committee. Building this multi faceted leadership profile allowed them to speak with authority on innovation, scaling, and market entry.
  
• Targeted Regional Activation: We launched a sustained, high level media campaign targeting both local Philippine media to build the home ground story and top tier regional tech media to attract international partners and startups.

Measurable Results: Media Dominance and Deal Flow

The campaign successfully established 917Ventures as a leading startup collaborator in Southeast Asia, delivering measurable business results.

• Dominant Media Presence: Secured 100+ pieces of high-quality media coverage with an earned media value of over ₱439 million.
• Top-Tier Regional Placements: Landed key broadcast interviews with premier regional outlets like CNBC and Bloomberg, and secured in-depth features in influential tech publications such as e27, Business Times, and Tech in Asia.
• Market Leadership: Achieved and maintained the highest share of voice (SOV) in its category throughout the campaign.

Direct Business Results: This dominant media presence directly translated into tangible business opportunities. By achieving the highest SOV, 917Ventures became the top-of-mind partner for startups, leading to a significant increase in high-quality inbound inquiries from founders via LinkedIn. The top-tier regional media solidified their credibility with international partners, paving the way for organic speaking invitations at prestigious conferences like Echelon Asia, which in turn strengthened their deal flow and partnership pipeline.

The PRecious Perspective: Educate to Lead the Category

The Diagnostic: If your business operates within a complex or entirely new commercial model, you cannot simply launch and expect immediate market comprehension. You must first aggressively educate the market before you can expect to lead it.

The Strategic Pivot: To command authority and secure high quality deal flow, executives must abandon generic awareness campaigns. Instead, you need to proactively define the category on your own terms.

The Commercial Engine:

• Deploy multifaceted thought leadership built entirely around your key leadership team.
• Transform your C suite executives into the definitive voices on innovation and market scaling.
• Target both local and regional media to build an undeniable home ground story while attracting international partners.

The Bottom Line: This strategic education process fundamentally shifts your brand from being a participant to the unquestioned market authority, transitioning your communications into a primary driver for sustained inbound investment.