Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 19:58 — 8.6MB) | Embed

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Email | RSS

Media relations in the digital age has been characterized by nothing more than email pitches sent in record numbers to reporters who are increasingly frustrated by the irrelevant and tone-deaf requests that flood their in-boxes. By one account, the average reporter gets about 20 email pitches every day. Babbler aims to solve that problem by connecting PR practitioners with reporters who already cover the brands or industries they represent. The collaborative marketplace for journalists and PR specialists is already a success in France, where it was founded. The U.S. will be Babbler’s second market. PR pros can sign up now for the site’s launch on September 14.

In this interview, FIR’s Shel Holtz talks with Babbler CEO and co-founder Hannah Oiknine about Babblr’s origins, its features, the process of connecting reporters through a strictly opt-in methodology, and its success at converting pitches to published stories.

Hannah Oiknine, CEO and Founder of Babbler. Hannah founded Babbler in 2013 with her sister Sarah Azan, at 26 years old, just after receiving her diploma in Science in Business Management (Grenoble Graduate School of Business, MBA). Before founding Babbler, Hannah had experience in top American companies in Paris: Trade Marketing at Coca Cola in 2011, Kinect for Xbox 360 Launch(Microsoft) in 2012. Passionate about innovation, she always wanted to be an entrepreneur and create something ‘new’.

After a chat with her sister, who used to be an independent PR pro, the entrepreneurial PR pros recognized a fundamental problem: there are 5 publicists for every reporter and PR messages are not getting through. While media has gone digital, PR pros continue to contact reporters with emails that go unread and share content in numerous platforms that waste time and resources.

Then they created Babbler. Babbler is the only opt-in network that lets media and PR pros instantly share news, content and messages in a single platform. By moving PR out of the inbox, Babbler is helping journalists and PR professionals meaningfully connect.

Babbler won the French 2013 Microsoft Imagine Cup and is listed in Challenges Magazine’s 2014 Top 100 Best Start-ups To Invest In. Babbler has received significant investment to date from Fred & Farid Group, Fashion Capital Partners and high-level angel investors in the PR and advertising industries.

After having a great success in France, Babbler is launching the service in the US in September 2015 and Hannah Oiknine is in charge of international deployment of the company, she is now located in New York City.

About Shel Holtz

Shel Holtz, ABC (Accredited Business Communicator), is director of Internal Communications at Webcor, a commercial general contractor headquartered in San Francisco. Before joining Webcor, Shel spent 21 years as principal of Holtz Communication + Technology. In addition to integrating technology into communications strategies, his expertise includes strategic communications planning, change management, organizational culture, business initiatives and communications research. Full bio