With more than a decade of experience, Victoria has a track record of success in consumer and business press execution, thought leadership, account management, social media and business relationship development.
In her role as Vice President, Victoria oversees B2B and B2C client accounts in industries ranging from big data and telecommunications to banking and nonprofits. Some of Victoria’s current and former clients include, Information Resources Inc, The Color Run, Mesofilter, Coupa, Humane Society Silicon Valley, Rented.com and FoldiMate.
Prior to joining UPRAISE, Victoria was the Public Relations Specialist at Ustream. In her role, Victoria executed public relations strategies surrounding Ustream’s expansion from a content and media focused website, to a SaaS and cloud-based enterprise solution. Victoria worked directly with Ustream customers to promote their content, including Discovery Channel, NASA JPL, PBS Newshour, Sony and many more.
Victoria received her bachelor’s degree in journalism with a focus in public relations from California State University, Chico.
Here, Victoria shares a few highlights and lowlights.
Q: What was the most out-of-the-box product launch you've worked on?
A: While at Ustream, the engineers decided to develop a new app called Broadcast for Friends (BFF). The product was similar to Facebook Live, including filters and streaming live to your friends on Facebook, but came out four years before FB Live launched.
For the launch, we decided to play off the camera filters, which had been named after Hollywood landmarks, by throwing a Hollywood themed party at Ustream’s San Francisco office. Around 200 clients, partners and media attended. We hired celebrity impersonators including Marilyn Monroe, had a red carpet filled with paparazzi, and capped off the evening with a live demo of the app. The launch was a raging success and resulting in articles in TechCrunch, Mashable, AdWeek, plus many more.
Q: What was the most successful product you've worked on?
A: I’ve been involved in a number of highly successful product launches, but one that sticks out the most was a launch we did with FoldiMate, a laundry folding robot. The CEO gave us two goals: make FoldiMate go viral and hit 100,000 pre-registrations in two months. The virality would create consumer interest while FoldiMate finished the product, and the pre-registrations were especially important to demonstrate to investors market demand.
Before we started, FoldiMate had no following, just 20 Facebook followers for example; as well as 58 pre-registrations.
After securing a story in The Wall Street Journal, The Next Web wrote on FoldiMate and shared it on Facebook, where in less than 24 hours it earned 1.6 million views, more than 3,800 comments and almost 30,000 shares.
Thanks to all the social and media coverage, UPRAISE surpassed FoldiMate’s initial goal of reaching 100,000 registrations. Within one month the company’s registrations had already hit the 100,000 mark and by the end of the engagement they were at 125,000.
Q: What is one of the highlights of your career?
A: One of my favorite clients at Ustream was NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). One of NASA JPL’s most intense and exciting streams was that of the Curiosity Rover landing or crashing on Mars. The event featured a live stream of the NASA JPL team in mission control (this lead to Bobak Ferdowski gaining internet fame as ‘Mohawk Guy’) as they anxiously waited to learn if the car-sized rover had successfully landed after a heart pounding 14-minute feed delay.
Needless to say, the multi-billion dollar Curiosity Rover stuck its landing and NASA JPL as well as the 3.2 million people watching (including myself) via live stream exploded in jubilation.
From the PR side, NASA JPL gained massive exposure as a being in touch with modern communications tools and Ustream landed some impressive media coverage from TechCrunch, National Geographic, CNET and many more.
Q: Have you caused other clients to viral?
A: The Humane Society Silicon Valley (HSSV) came to UPRAISE with a challenge: create significant media buzz that would lead to finding a forever home for an “unadoptable” Chihuahua named Teddy.
The campaign began by rebranding Teddy to “Eddie the Terrible” – a dog who isn’t afraid to hide his terribleness. HSSV created satirical content to be shared across public channels such as their blog, social media profiles and website. UPRAISE then inundated S.F. Bay Area and national media outlets with hilarious stories about Eddie’s terrible behavior.
Within two days of Eddie being featured on the Huffington Post Good News homepage, his article received more than 32,000 likes, 6,300 shares, and 200 comments. Eddie’s story reached more than 5 million viewers when he was featured on Good Morning America and Inside Edition. He was also featured in People Magazine, USA Today, Daily Mail, and numerous television newscasts throughout the country.
