Form 4 Dominates Tech Headlines

About Formlabs

Formlabs is the professional 3D printer of choice for engineers, designers, manufacturers, and decision-makers around the globe, including Microsoft, OXO, Ford, and more.

Formlabs’ Goals

Formlabs is the leading 3D printing company with SLS and SLA 3D printers used by top companies, medical providers, engineers, and innovators. The company prepared to launch its first new 3D printer in five years, Form 4, which would be its fastest 3D printer yet. BIG FISH set out to announce Form 4 and establish it as the fastest 3D printer on the market.

The BIG FISH Strategy

To announce Formlabs’ new flagship printer, BIG FISH highlighted the company’s reputation for high quality 3D printing, its partnerships with name-brands, and the impressive print speeds. Our embargoed outreach strategy began several months ahead of the launch date to line up coverage in tech, mainstream, and trade outlets on the launch date. By starting months in advance, we used the time for media conversations, embargoed interviews, and to invite media to Formlabs’ launch event. 

To highlight every facet of the Form 4 news, we pitched multiple angles to land stories in mainstream, tech, 3D printing, dental, and business outlets. We coordinated an embargoed interview with Fast Company and a Formlabs engineer, who discussed the making-of Form 4 for an in-depth piece. Meanwhile, trade media received more in-depth technical details about the printer’s speeds, print quality, and new materials launching and we highlighted how beta users at Microsoft, OXO, and Ford used Form 4 to support the claims of Form 4 performance and business impact tech and business press.

BIG FISH also set the momentum strategy in motion before Form 4 launched, carefully selecting three top media reporters to be the first to get their hands on the new 3D printer for in-depth reviews. To ensure positive, timely coverage, BIG FISH coordinated embargoed interviews with the reviewers to learn all about the new 3D printer, and we stayed hands-on with them in the weeks leading up to their review to  guide them through the printing process and ensure positive and timely coverage.

On the launch date, BIG FISH pitched the news to national, tech, mainstream, and trade and niche media, highlighting the printer’s speeds, dynamic video assets. 

Results

The Form 4 announcement dominated tech media conversations on launch day, earning major headlines and front page inclusions with 17 total articles reaching over 469 million readers. Coverage included six tier 1 articles in The Verge, TechCrunch, Entrepreneur, Fast Company, All3DP, and Engadget. Across coverage, there was strong message pull-through positioning Form 4 as the new flagship 3D printer speeding up additive manufacturing. Fast Company praised the Form 4, noting it “pushes us close to the holy grail of 3D printing.” 

Nearly all pieces were feature articles, and 20 headlines highlighted Form 4 as a fast 3D printer, including The Verge: ‘Formlabs’ new pro 3D printers claim 2–5x speed by ditching lasers for an LCD screen.” Coverage in Entrepreneur, VentureBeat, and 3D Printing Industry quoted Formlabs’ 4 beta users, sharing how the Form 4 impacted Microsoft, Ford Germany, and NASA’s product design and production with the printer’s fast print times that can deliver parts in two hours or less.

In addition to launch day coverage, BIG FISH’s strategy for three in-depth reviews paid off. Within a month of launch, CNET, TechRadar, and 3DPrint.com published glowing reviews that highlighted Form 4’s fast print speeds and high quality, with TechRadar awarding Form 4 a 5/5 star rating.