Secret’s Out on Zooloo

By on April 16th, 2009 In Best Practices

zoolooHave you heard of Zooloo yet?   If so, it was probably through social media.  Marketing/PR Director Melissa Rzeppa (pronounced “Zeppa”) shared with me some of the Scottsdale company’s background and PR strategies.

Zooloo was created by Jeff Herzog, the previous founder of iCrossing. Already the company employs 22 people (a boon to the local economy!), not to mention a few marketing interns who have auditioned on YouTube as part of the Super Fantastic Zooloo Intern Contest.  What exactly is Zooloo?  All they will say for now is that it is an internet product that they believe will create a revolution, and their formal launch will be later this year.
Their PR strategy incorporates many social networking tools, including blogs, Twitter, Facebook, Stumble, Delicious, Reddit, Technorati, and Digg. “PR is our number one source for promoting Zooloo,” says Melissa, and she is overseeing a campaign that is being implemented in tiers. Phase one is the social media, which has helped spread the image of “Zooloo as a secret.”  “It’s been a game of releasing bits of information, sharing just enough to entice but not to overwhelm and annoy people. Importantly, we established a solid voice before any of the ZooLoo team engaged in our social media strategy. We’ve also had face-to-face meetings with some Phoenix-area media and will be meeting with a few more over the next few weeks to get the ball rolling.” Tier two and beyond includes a major Phoenix launch first and then reaching out to national media and bloggers.
Melissa joined the company last fall, and has been in PR in Arizona for 4 years. Prior to Zooloo, she helped with the launch of popular website http://www.mommytalk.com/.
Check out Zooloo’s blog here.  You can find them on twitter @doyouzooloo and @MelissaPR and on Facebook.

I’m relieved to see another high-tech company in the Valley emerging from the wings.  With so much local talent available, they should be able to find plenty of high quality interns and full-time employees.

Comments

Marketing Sociologist Says:
April 17th, 2009 at 9:05 am

Sounds like another Friendfeed or Digg. Yet mention on this blog is how marketing is done today. Creating a “buzz” for a new product without a press release or traditional media ad. It works. Details at marketingsociologist.blogspot.com

Check out all the bands offering prizes on MySpace. It is all about Buzz and it’s working! That’s the amazing part.

Dan Wool Says:
April 17th, 2009 at 9:26 am

Anyone who describes their own product at launch as “revolutionary” is doomed to failure. You set image expectations too high to ever catch up operationally.

In Len Gutman parlance, this is the equivalent of giving yourself a nickname.

Let users decide and talk up revolutionary aspects.

Melissa Rzeppa Says:
April 17th, 2009 at 1:38 pm

Revolutionary is not exactly what we’re calling it, but I appreciate the nice article Linda!

We had an idea that we thought was cool, and we’re testing it with a large group of private testers who are giving us great feedback on the product which we are using to make it even better before we launch.

We’re excited about it, and Dan, I’ll make sure that you get in on the Beta testing when we open it up so you can see it for yourself!

Valley PR Blog » Blog Archive » Time to get your ‘Zoo’ on Says:
July 7th, 2009 at 9:23 am

[...] few months ago Linda VandeVrede told us about a Scottsdale start-up called ZooLoo that was getting ready to launch. Well, according to TechCrunch it looks like today is the big day [...]

Add your Comment


Want Your Picture Icon? Go to gravatar.com and set a picture up to your email address for free. It also works on thousands of other websites, too!