Flamingo is an e-scooter company created by 21-year old Wellington entrepreneurs, Nick Hyland and Jacksen Love, who saw the need for a first and last mile transport option that eases congestion on roads and helps New Zealanders get around their cities in a fun, affordable, safe and easy way, whilst reducing their reliance on cars.
Following competitive pitches, Flamingo was chosen to be the only New Zealand-owned company providing e-scooter services in Wellington, Auckland, Christchurch, and the only single operator with a presence in all three markets - meaning users only need one app as they travel between NZ’s three largest cities.
Thrive New Zealand was tasked with creating buzz around their launches, driving media & influencer engagement for the brand across the country in Wellington, Auckland and Christchurch.
Throughout Flamingo’s launch phase in Wellington, Thrive New Zealand became the company’s press office, a hub for all reactive and proactive media relations. A tailored media strategy was crafted to ensure a layered and diverse mix of publications received targeted pitches about the Flamingo offering and company story. Thrive facilitated the media relations with journalists from national, local Wellington, news, lifestyle, technology, business, sustainability and trade publications, pushing Flamingo’s strong key messaging around safety, the future of urban mobility in New Zealand and the importance of supporting local and environmentally friendly brands.
A key element of the media strategy for this campaign involved pitching and facilitating press interviews with Nick and Jacksen, with Thrive conducting comprehensive media training and prep sessions with the boys.
Thrive also engaged a range of nano and micro influencers in Wellington who captured Flamingo’s target market to participate in the launch activity, gifting them discount codes to embark on Flamingo journeys of their own. This approach resulted in effective, high quality organic content.
This strategic media and influencer relations campaign has resulted in outstanding campaign results, with positive Flamingo coverage appearing in Newshub, The NZ Herald, The National Business Review, Stuff.co.nz, The Press, FutureFive, bizEdge, NZBusiness, Concrete Playground, The Dominion Post, CIO and The Spinoff, a TV feature on Q+A with Jack Tame and radio interview with Newstalk ZB’s Mike Hosking, to name a few.
The Wellington launch alone garnered over 30 media hits across print, online, TV and radio with direct references to Flamingo E-Scooters and strong coverage of their key messaging. With the Auckland and Christchurch launches still to come, Thrive New Zealand looks forward to continue working alongside Nick, Jacksen and the Flamingo team to educate and excite New Zealanders about their offering and inspiring brand story.