The annual index that became a category standard

The annual index that became a category standard

A logistics-tech firm wanted one campaign that would keep paying off, not a one-night flash. The setup: shipping-delay data sat in their dashboards, fresh every day, going nowhere. The angle was to package it once a year as a 'Supply Chain Stress Index,' a single number reporters could track like an unemployment figure.

Year one was modest. We pitched it as a baseline: 'New index puts US supply-chain stress at 64 out of 100.' Eighteen placements, fourteen links. Useful, not remarkable.

The compounding came later. Year two earned 31 placements because reporters now had a prior number to compare against, and a rising index is a story by itself. By year three, journalists were emailing us asking when the index dropped, and trade outlets cited it without a pitch at all. The cumulative total reached 90-plus referring domains and a permanent spot in two industry glossaries.

A supply-chain editor put it plainly: 'It's the number we check every spring.'

Lesson: A one-time stat is forgotten by Friday. A recurring index becomes infrastructure reporters return to.