The Operating System of Finance
OPENFIN
Helping a unique desktop technology provider become the “Operating System of Finance” through content and PR
THE CHALLENGE
When we met OpenFin, provider of the “operating system” that powers hundreds of thousands of financial desktops, the firm was already an established name in the capital markets and fintech space – but the headwinds were intensifying. Two well-funded new competitors had recently come to market, and while OpenFin was confident in its own approach, communicating its differentiators given the highly technical, niche nature of the space was becoming more of a challenge. OpenFin engaged Forefront to globalize its public relations and content strategy to establish a position as the definitive leader in the application interoperability space.
THE STRATEGY
To highlight OpenFin’s status as the market leader, we leveraged the numerous ways that their products interact with both enterprises and the industry at large. To start, we sought to broaden OpenFin’s appeal beyond the business level to multiple levels within the tech organization, from developers and designers to project managers and senior leaders. By targeting those who would be on the frontlines of working with the product, we hoped to position OpenFin as not just a driver of business efficiencies, but also a panacea for numerous challenges faced by financial technologists today. We also sought to highlight the breadth and depth of OpenFin’s user base and strategic backing, as well as the many innovative vendors basing their business on OpenFin. With competitors trying to position themselves as technological equals, we knew we could differentiate by focusing on OpenFin’s massive ecosystem of users and organizations: It is used by 90% of global financial institutions, deploying more than 3,500 desktop applications to more than 2,400 buy-side and sell-side firms.
EXECUTION
To gain exposure among technologists, we knew we had to bring OpenFin out of their small-but-crucial corner of the space and into the defining issues that these individuals in this industry care about. To that end, we produced a steady cadence of thought leadership from CEO Mazy Dar on topics including what Silicon Valley can learn from Wall Street, why Big Tech should embrace greater oversight and regulation and more. In addition, we played a leading role in amplifying and growing OpenFin’s numerous industry events, including its flagship FinJS conference series, which brings together capital markets technologists from both vendor and user firms relying on OpenFin to share their visions and discuss key topics. We also worked with our close European agency ally, with whom we were partnered on the account, to focus the PR program on customer and partner announcements, case studies and industry awards. Each of these efforts emphasized OpenFin’s huge industry reach, endless use cases and focus on the financial services community at large.
RESULTS
OpenFin became a ubiquitous name on both capital markets and technology topics, with over 300 media placements in 2019 alone – highlights included a Financial Times profile, a WatersTechnology cover story, inclusion of Dar as one of Business Insider’s “10 People Transforming Finance” and significant coverage of the firm’s Series C funding round.
300+ MEDIA PLACEMENTS IN ONE YEAR
We also wrote nearly a dozen content pieces, as well as recaps and live tweets from several industry events. This publicity helped lead to award wins from WatersTechnology, Intelligent Trading Technology and Harrington Starr, which further raised OpenFin’s profile.
PLATFORMS VIE TO BECOME THE CONNECTIVE TISSUE OF WALL STREET
DESKTOP APP INTEROPERABILITY:
ON THE FRONT LINES WITH RBC AND OPENFIN
THE 10 PEOPLE TRANSFORMING FINANCE
WELLS FARGO AND BARCLAYS BACK FINTECH COMPANY OPENFIN
WHAT WALL STREET CAN LEARN FROM SILICON VALLEY
AN OPERATING SYSTEM FOR CAPITAL MARKETS
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