Antigen diagnostics startup became known globally overnight

Situation

By 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic was rapidly advancing across the globe. The FDA predicted a need for 35M tests each day to beat back the pandemic and attempt a return to normal.

Diagnostic company Reliable-LFC™ was founded in 2020 as a rapid antigen test that delivers results in minutes. It was ready to prove that slow and steady methods like PCR molecular tests, while prudent and more accurate according to experts, were not as quick to help win the race to decrease daily cases, hospitalizations and the spread of the virus.

Reliable was the only rapid test of 250+ antigen applicants and one of five diagnostic companies to win a $1 million award by the prestigious XPRIZE Foundation.

Complication

Despite winning the prize, no one knew Reliable-LFC™. It had a name, logo and two employees, but no revenue, partners, distributors, brand equity or marketing materials.

Solution

In two weeks of learning that it was one of five startups to receive the award, the Ballast Group distilled the constant deluge of COVID-19-related news to distinguish Reliable-LFC™ and place it front and center with potential partners, distributors and customers such as employers needing to test employees weekly. Ballast identified what made its antigen test best fit the FDA’s call for more rapid tests during a global emergency.

Ballast managed communications nationwide to build a landing page in one week, develop and distribute a press release with a finalized narrative for media pitches centered on why more testing options could quickly diagnose cases and help stop the spread of the virus.

Results

  • Distributors in Canada and Europe
  • US and Asian manufacturers to boost test production at a time when the government demanded competitive testing companies pool their resources
  • Employers with hundreds of employees needing to be tested before entering the workplace daily
  • A partner who could help produce 3 million tests a day using the same lateral flow chromatography line used to manufacture fertility tests

This award-winning, rapid-response, three-week long media relations campaign exceeded our client’s objectives, established long-term beneficial relationships for the company, catalyzed other components of business decision making, and created the messaging platform for Reliable to execute its commercialization and future marketing plans for additional funding.