For nearly 20 combined years, we’ve been implementing successful campaigns for both large and small companies. Our clients are long term: three, five and ten-year relationships are not unusual. We consistently place our clients and their products on national and local TV shows and in top tier publications including Fast Company, Men’s Health, Good Housekeeping, Elle, Refinery 29, NYTimes, O, The Oprah Magazine, Brides, Glamour, Elite Daily, BuzzFeed, WSJ, and New York Magazine.
CHARLOTTE’S WEB
The groundbreaking hemp based CBD brand Charlotte’s Web was founded in 2014 by The Stanley Brothers in Colorado. The company is named after a little girl, Charlotte Figi, whose remarkable story with the brothers was told by CNN’s Dr. Sanjay Gupta and kick-started the CBD movement. Her story has inspired an industry to pursue the vast potential of cannabinoids. After the story aired across the country, tens of thousands of medical refugees flocked to Colorado to have access to what is now known as Charlotte’s Web.
Charlotte’s Web became known in the children’s epilepsy community, however, news about CBD’s effect on the human endocannabinoid system and all of its daily health and wellness benefits were just beginning to scratch the surface. Forward thinking media and early adopters were beginning to hear about it but it was still considered a product for stoners, pot users and thought of as just another word for marijuana.
Wunderlich Kaplan Communications was hired to change the hearts and minds of America through media education and editorial storytelling. Charlotte’s Web became known in the children’s epilepsy community, however, news about CBD’s effect on the human endocannabinoid system and all its daily health.
With a superb story, a product that worked, a knowledgeable and compassionate family of founders, citizen science leading the way and with consumer interest, Wunderlich Kaplan Communications knew they had their work cut out for them but felt strongly that they could clear and carve out a path for this brand – cementing The Stanley Brothers as the pioneers of the CBD movement.
Through a targeted strategy, press outreach, influencers, events and educational outreach, Wunderlich Kaplan Communications has been able to amass over three hundred placements with billions of impressions in 3.5 years. The caveat with the press strategy around Charlotte’s Web was that due to legal regulations, the company could not make medical claims. Wunderlich Kaplan Communications had to find the right journalists and influencers to be activists, product evangelists and spoke persons on their own accord. The journalists who explored the product and subsequently had life changing experiences, became ongoing champions of the movement and brand enabling Wunderlich Kaplan Communications to spread the word, one respectable story at a time. In two years, Wunderlich Kaplan Communications has been able to change the minds of the masses.
Most recently, The Stanley Brothers were featured as a cover story in the New York Times and have been featured in top outlets across the world including Forbes, Entrepreneur, Men’s Health, Pop Sugar, CNN, MSNBC, The Daily Mail, Huffington Post, Yahoo Finance, Mashable and Cosmopolitan to just name a few. Sales grew so fast that in October of 2018, Charlotte’s Web became the first CBD company to secure an IPO without being engaged in a reverse merger. The IPO was successfully completed and announced for $110 million dollars.
The Stanley Brothers and Charlotte’s Web have now secured their rightful position as the creators of a $20 billion dollar industry and their company is now valued at $1.4 billion (as of March 2019).
Charlotte’s Web is the number one CBD brand in the USA and distributed through more than 22,000 retail locations, select distributors and online through the Company’s website.
NAJA
Ethical and socially conscious lingerie brand Naja was founded in 2013 by CEO and Creative Director Catalina Girald along with “Jane the Virgin” actress Gina Rodriguez, who became a co-founder in 2015. The duo created a new collection to appeal to seven shades of skin tones and launched the now internationally well known, Nude for All Campaign.
To promote the news, Naja was supported by PR agency Wunderlich Kaplan Communications who used social media and media relations as cornerstones of the campaign. Outreach to selected consumer, fashion, news outlets and blogs resulted in notable placements in major publications including BOF, Huffington Post, Fast Company, Adweek, WWD, Cosmopolitan, Refinery 29, AdAge, and Glamour. The enormous amount of press coverage indicated immense support for the collection and raised powerful awareness for Naja. A strong call-to-action invited consumers to find our their personal lingerie color. The campaign was boosted through subway advertising in New York City; platform poles at the Bedford L stop were covered in different nude shades with the campaign hashtag #nudeforall. The advertising campaign was directed by Badger & Winters.
The multi-faceted campaign went viral generating 800 million global impressions worldwide in four days. Photography associated with the campaign used real women of different ethnicities and professional backgrounds, including a Silicon Valley engineer and a ballet dancer. As of late 2017 the campaign was still receiving press with a total of 2.2 billion impressions.
FARMBOX DIRECT
Farmbox Direct is a subscription-based service that delivers the freshest fruit and vegetables directly to doorsteps nationwide from organic farms. Created by single mom Ashley Tyrner, Farmbox Direct was founded to address the needs of busy moms, food-challenged families and to eradicate the overwhelming food desert problem in America. As a single mom on food stamps, Ashley didn’t always have time to make a weekly trip to her local farmer’s market to pick up fresh produce, nor did she have the money to do so. She realized that people needed access to convenient and affordable fresh fruit and vegetables. In 2014, she rose to the occasion, leaving behind her job to address this void in the food industry. Planning for industry disruption, and witnessing first hand that there was a clear need for this, Tryner brought on Wunderlich Kaplan Communications in 2014 and together they built a story on hope, social impact and perseverance.
In the first year of working together, Wunderlich Kaplan Communications secured placements with Fox News, WPIX, The Today Show, Yahoo, The Daily News, Newsday and more. Over the next few years, these media placements allowed the agency to secure major speaking engagements for Tyrner that directly led to a deal with QVC and established her as a leader in the wellness space.
In 2020, as Americans fervently turned to grocery delivery services during the height of the pandemic, many companies failed to deliver, however FarmBox Direct pivoted and Wunderlich Kaplan Communications helped drive the narrative of Food As Medicine. Going above and beyond customer’s expectations with speed and quality, FarmBox Direct grew 2200% in 2020 and was featured in major media outlets such as CNN, Shape, Health, Bloomberg, ABC News, Popsugar, Fatherly, O, The Oprah Magazine and more resulting in billions of media impressions.
FarmBox Direct’s projections are now at a whopping $28 million projected for 2021 and the brand message focuses on creating foundational health with fresh fruits and produce. Wunderlich Kaplan Communications launched this focus and started the year strong with a prominent placement on the front page of BBC News.
In 2020, Tyrner launched a separate, health care concept of FarmBox RX with her first major media coverage in Forbes. This very Forbes article galvanized what is now a separate division called FarmBox RX, by creating visibility for a small insurance carrier in Pennsylvania. As a result, the company has now expanded FarmBox RX nationally with several top insurance companies.
To date Wunderlich Kaplan Communications has secured over 5.4 billion views of media coverage for FarmBox Direct.
LARUE 1680
Founder of LaRue 1680, single mom and serial entrepreneur, Stephanie Synclair wanted to bring wellness and a bit of ritualistic zen to everyone in 2020. When the pandemic shutdown happened, mindfulness, relaxing and being able to calm the noise became crucial. From her travels through the East, she learned of tea, not only the benefits of it, how tea provided people a moment of peace in time. From this, LaRue 1680 was born to provide a high quality solution for those who desired an organic luxury tea brand and ritualistic experience.
Wunderlich Kaplan Communications was brought on to aid with the launch of the rollout. In December 2020 the wildly popular Netflix shows The Crown and Bridgerton were making tea part of the cultural zeitgeist again and the team at WKC jumped on this opportunity to help Stephanie curate a Bridgerton collection. The media response was immediate and almost instantaneous, WKC secured placements for LaRue 1680 and Stephanie in Vogue, French Vogue, NBC News, Today.com, Reader’s Digest, Martha Stewart, Southern Living, Modern Luxury, Black Enterprise, the cover page of CNN online and The Drew Barrymore show to just name a few. Drew Barrymore proclaimed the brand as “The Best Tea Ever” and sipping a cup was a “Whole Experience.”
From these media placements, LaRue 1680 saw a 500% increase in sales over the weekend. This pop-cultural tie-in strategy resulted in 505M views in media coverage in as little as 3 months. Stephanie recently revealed that due to the press and media success, she was able to reach her yearly financial goal in under five months. She even had to open a warehouse for shipping and production due to popular demand.
Additionally, Wunderlich Kaplan Communications has now secured two major brand collaborations, including a hotel partnership.
WORLD FAMOUS HOUSE OF MAC
Derrick Turton, also known as Chef Teach, the former music manager of Pitbull, was inspired after the death of his father to change the direction of his life and get back to his culinary roots. This promising entrepreneur had dreams to expand from his one local food truck, the original World Famous House of Mac, to a multi location empire with a cult celebrity following.
Hiring and partnering with Wunderlich Kaplan Communications in 2018, the agency helped Turton’s dream become a reality. Expanding from his one food truck to now having three standing brick and mortar locations.
Celebrity fans already including Anthony Hamilton, Pitbull, Dwayne Wade, Gabrielle Union, Nate Robinson, Daymond John, ASAP Ferg, Fab 5 Freddy, Miami’s own Trick Daddy, Christian Combs, Charles Oakley, Uncle Luke, and more, but when Wunderlich Kaplan Communications came to the table, media regularly starting writing about Chef Teach and World Famous House of Mac.
In the two and a half years of working with Wunderlich Kaplan Communications, top media coverage was secured in media outlets like GMA, Complex, The Rachel Ray Show, Delish, Fox Business, Forbes, Eater, NBC, Travel and Leisure, Essence and The Miami Herald.
Most recently, while pivoting his business model during Covid, World Famous House of Mac began a nationwide delivery expansion and his future is blazing bright with packed out locations and major social media buzz. To date, Wunderlich Kaplan Communications has secured 1.84 Billion views in coverage and worked on partnerships with Amazon Prime and Hyatt Hotels Corporation.
