Bunny Bakes: Establishing a Social & Earned Media Presence

In November 2023, the team at Denny Civic Solutions was proud to work with Friendship Circle of Pittsburgh to develop a communications strategy and provide earned media and social media support for the launch of Bunny Bakes & Specialty Coffee. This one-of-a-kind coffee shop and bakery is on a mission to build a more inclusive community while providing career skills and employment for youth and adults of all abilities.

Bunny Bakes recognized the need to cultivate robust earned and social media interest around its launch, to amplify awareness of its unique mission, offerings, and fully accessible space. Yet like any good bakery, it was “starting from scratch” – needing to establish an all-new brand identity and social presence in a crowded media landscape.

Denny Civic Solutions designed and managed a targeted earned and social media campaign for Bunny Bakes, which entailed:

• Identifying Bunny Bakes’ key target audiences

• Developing a message platform that captures the unique facets of this story 

• Building a press release, media list, and pitching the story to key reporters and outlets

• Creating a social media calendar around the launch

• Contacting established Pittsburgh food bloggers on social media, encouraging them to check out Bunny Bakes and help amplify its unique mission

• Generating community excitement around the launch

Our results:

• Coverage of the launch by a broad range of media outlets, including feature articles in Next Pittsburgh, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, and Pittsburgh Magazine, as well as video reports from WPXI and WTAE.

• Organic (unpaid) posts from local influencers, generating 4,300 engagements and 130+ comments on social shares across platforms

• An increase of more than 200 new Bunny Bakes Instagram followers in the days after launch, including 300 within the first three weeks.

• Over 1,000 accounts reached in the first month on Instagram alone. 

This project was not only highly rewarding, but also speaks to the importance of integrated communications; that is, that social media and earned media go hand in hand! Building a strong message platform ensured that the Bunny Bakes story was being told consistently across platforms. And by reaching out to local influencers, we not only increased excitement around the bakery, but also significantly amplified the news coverage’s saturation among key audiences – a must-have for any business just getting off the ground.