Case Study · Defense & Unmanned Systems
4.2 million impressions from one week in the desert.
XTEND
SKYLORD GRIFFON
Overview
An Israeli drone startup with real technology, real U.S. Department of Defense contracts, and almost no presence in the American defense press. Six months later its systems had been written up by the U.S. Army, Defense News, Breaking Defense and Janes.
A six-month engagement
The Challenge
XTEND was already delivering counter-drone systems to U.S. Special Operations users and had been selected, alongside Israel's Ministry of Defense, for a joint Department of Defense sUAS program. What it did not have was a single relationship with an American defense editor.
That is a specific problem, and volume does not solve it. Defense trade press is a closed room. Breaking Defense, Janes, Defense News, and National Defense are read by the exact program managers, contracting officers, and integrators who decide whether a foreign startup gets a second look, and they are not reachable through a wire service.
An Israeli company announcing an American defense contract from Tel Aviv reads as a foreign press release. The same news, briefed to the right reporter with the right context, reads as a program story.
Three moves
The Solution
There was a known date on the calendar: a U.S. government counter-drone demonstration at Yuma Proving Ground, with XTEND one of three vendors invited. Everything in the first ten weeks was built backward from it.
A 53-contact defense and unmanned-systems media list was built by hand, named editors at thirteen publications plus Department of Defense and service public affairs. Not a rented list. A room we could walk into.
Then the language. A messaging matrix, three product white papers rewritten for an American reader, and a working vocabulary that held up under questioning. Translating an Israeli engineering story into U.S. defense-acquisition language is most of the work and none of the credit.
Then the executive. Written talking points and background for every interview and every meeting, including the two-page briefing document XTEND's VP of business development carried into his meeting with a U.S. Senator at the demonstration itself.
The playbook
01
Build the room
Named editors and service public affairs, built from scratch rather than rented.
02
Fix the language
A messaging matrix and three white papers rewritten for a U.S. defense reader.
03
Put the executive in the room
Talking points for every interview, and a briefing document for a U.S. Senator.
The Results
4.2M
Tracked impressions across the campaign, counted per placement, not estimated in bulk.
27
Earned placements, from two press releases and one demonstration.
24
Defense and security outlets, including the U.S. Army's own newsroom.
$0
Paid or sponsored media. No advertorial, nothing bought.
Proof
Yuma Proving Ground
Eight weeks of coverage from five days of flying.
The Pentagon ran its first counter-small-UAS technology demonstration. Three industry teams were evaluated: Boeing-owned Aurora Flight Sciences, Elta North America, and XTEND. XTEND's SKYLORD GRIFFON recorded the highest interception rate of the three systems tested.
That is a good week. Turning it into eight weeks of trade coverage is a different exercise. Maize briefed the Army Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office communications team on site and placed XTEND's spokesperson into the Army's own reporting, then brokered and staffed four executive interviews in the following week.
The system
Where it landed
Earned editorial, written by each publication's own staff from a Maize briefing. No sponsored posts, no advertorial, nothing bought.
Pentagon completes its first counter drone technology demonstration — with XTEND quoted
Army.milU.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground hosts groundbreaking counter-small UAS demonstration
Defense NewsThree industry teams demonstrate capability to destroy small drones at Yuma
Defense NewsPentagon orders small Israeli drones for indoor special operations
Breaking DefenseNext DoD Counter-Drone Demo May Expand Kill Options
JanesXtend nears deliveries of Skylord Xtender sUAS under Pentagon contract
Subscriber onlyIn their own words
“After three days using this system everyone is mission capable.”
Ido Bar-On · VP Business Development & Sales, XTEND
Quoted in the U.S. Army's own reporting. Maize briefed the article and placed the quote.
Next
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Real contracts and real technology do not reach the trade press on their own. Twenty minutes on what is already announceable in your business.