Leading 3D printing company Formlabs collaborated with 3D printing solutions company Adia and New Balance Athletics to create a harness to help Charlotte, Mystic Aquarium’s green sea turtle suffering from bubble butt syndrome.
After five years of collaboration, Formlabs, Adia, and New Balance were ready to reveal the bespoke 3D printed harness for Mystic Aquarium’s green sea turtle, Charlotte. Beyond helping this sea turtle, the teams sought to spread the word of their innovation to help other turtles also suffering from bubble butt syndrome. By sharing the story behind their custom creation with Formlabs 3D printers, the team would show how these devices can be used to help sea turtles nationwide.
Equipped with spokespeople close to the project, and assets providing a behind-the-scenes look at how Charlotte’s harness was 3D printed, BIG FISH set out to make Charlotte’s story go viral. We targeted Popular Science for an exclusive story that would kick off coverage on the announcement date. Interviews with Formlabs and Adia gave the reporter background on the process and results of the project, for an in-depth story with unique quotes. An embargoed media outreach strategy targeting tech, mainstream, broadcast, regional, science, lifestyle, and other publications interested a wide range of media to cover the story, and we invited local media on-site to Mystic Aquarium to see Charlotte wearing his new harness in-person. We prepared for additional briefings after the story went live, jumping on each opportunity to provide unique quotes for additional in-depth coverage.
The exclusive story in Popular Science broke the news, covering bubble butt syndrome, how the project got started, and how Formlabs, Adia, and New Balance created the “Ferrari of turtle harnesses” for Charlotte. The story went viral across mainstream, tech, and local media with coverage in 3DPrint.com, Boston.com, Engineering.com, Good Good Good, Mashable, and others. Coverage continued for over two weeks, with additional pieces and tier 1 coverage in Ars Technica, Boston Business Journal, Connecticut Post, NPR, People, VICE, and other publications.
All coverage was positive, including Formlabs’ imagery and linking back to their website and YouTube video. The interviews and resulting coverage had strong message pull-through, with most reporters capturing important details about why Formlabs’ SLS 3D printers and Nylon CF 11 Powder material were chosen for the project. In total, coverage exceeded 230 hits and 1.12 billion impressions.
Proactive PR and landing key launch moments elevated Formlabs’ national awareness with 9 award wins and coverage making over 5 billion impressions.
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