Pasadena Agency Outlines Detailed Plans for City’s $108,000 Deep Tech Marketing Campaign

The Pasadena City Council recently awarded a $108,000 contract to Echo Factory, a local marketing agency, to develop a campaign promoting the city’s burgeoning deep technology sector. The initiative, which aligns with the city’s new Economic Development Strategic Plan, aims to attract investments and support the growth of advanced science and engineering companies in Pasadena.

During the Economic Development and Technology Committee meeting on June 18, 2024, Echo Factory CEO and founder Mike Schaffer presented the agency’s plans for the year-long project. 

“We wanted to promote Pasadena’s growing deep tech sector,” Schaffer said, emphasizing the importance of increasing community awareness and excitement about the existing deep tech ecosystem to attract more companies.

Schaffer highlighted Pasadena’s strong position to leverage its highly-skilled workforce and established cluster of deep tech businesses through targeted events and campaigns. He also noted the availability of public and private funding opportunities that the city could tap into by showcasing its accomplishments in the field.

Echo Factory’s workplan includes a detailed timeline, with two months dedicated to discovery and strategy, three months for branding and messaging, two months for audience testing and strategy development, two months for content strategy and media planning, two months for campaign development, and ten months for ongoing content marketing, PR, and event marketing.

The agency will develop a tailored narrative and visuals for the deep tech campaign, conducting interviews with educational institutions, tech incubators, and business associations to inform their strategy. 

The campaign’s deliverables encompass one blog post per month, two social media posts per month, 5-8 social ads, 8 banner ads, 5 Google text ads, and one master ad for print. Echo Factory will also create a strategic communications and public relations plan, updating messaging across various platforms in both English and Spanish.

Edtech Chair and Councilmember Tyron Hampton expressed support for the initiative, encouraging Echo Factory to target potential CEOs and venture capitalists outside Pasadena to attract more investments. 

“Maybe it’s the CEOs, maybe it’s the potential venture capitalists where the CEOs get their funds from,” Hampton suggested.

With 15 years of experience working with tech, aerospace, and engineering companies, Echo Factory has previously led marketing campaigns for local organizations such as the American Immigration Lawyers Association Pasadena chapter, Huntington Health, and Motiv Space Systems.

As the project progresses, Echo Factory is set to provide updates to the Economic Development and Technology Committee to help ensure the campaign aligns with the city’s goals of fostering a thriving deep tech sector in Pasadena.