<b>The campaign that earned more in week three than week one</b>

<b>The campaign that earned more in week three than week one</b>

The launch went fine. Our cost-of-living study for a budgeting app got eight placements on day one. Most agencies would file the report and move on. We treated day one as the setup, not the finish.

Week one's coverage gave us something week one's pitch never had: proof. Now we could go back to the journalists who'd ignored us and say, "This study is already in eight outlets and driving conversation — here's the regional cut for your patch."

Social proof reopened doors that a cold pitch couldn't. We also mined the comments and quote-tweets on the live pieces, found a sub-debate forming about one specific stat, and pitched that argument as a fresh angle to a different set of desks.

The second wave outperformed the first. "I passed on this last week," one editor admitted, "but now there's a conversation worth joining." Reporters fear being early and being late; week three is the comfortable middle.

Result: 8 links in week one, 15 more across weeks two and three — most of the campaign's value arrived after the launch everyone treats as the finale.

<b>Lesson:</b> A campaign's launch is its weakest moment, not its peak. The proof you generate in week one is the leverage that wins week three. Don't file the report — work the echo.