Starkey

Since 1967, Starkey Hearing Technologies has led hearing science across 100+ countries, blending clinical expertise with innovation-led design.

In 2024, Starkey introduced GENESIS AI, an edge-AI powered hearing solution delivering real-time adaptation, personalised sound, and integrated wellness — reflecting the brand’s vision of intelligent, human-centric hearing care.

Launch of GENESIS AI in India - PR and Launch

Challenge 1 :

Despite being a global leader in hearing science, Starkey faced a two-fold challenge in India.

First — the PR & Awareness Challenge.
Hearing loss in India remains surrounded by denial and stigma. Conversations are avoided, diagnosis is delayed, and advanced hearing technology is poorly understood. The category lacked credible, consistent storytelling that could normalise hearing care and prepare audiences to even consider modern solutions.

Second — the Product & Market Acceptance Challenge.
While Starkey brought world-class innovation with GENESIS AI, the Indian market was not yet ready to receive it. Hearing aids were still perceived as last-resort medical devices, not as proactive wellness or lifestyle solutions. As a result, even a globally advanced AI-powered product struggled for consideration — not due to lack of capability, but lack of readiness.

The core problem was clear:
Before GENESIS AI could be positioned, the category itself had to be repositioned.

Mission:

To make India ready for GENESIS AI by first changing how the country understands, talks about, and accepts hearing loss.

Strategy:

PR Strategy: Shifting the Conversation from Product to Purpose

Category-First Thinking
Prius Healthcare’s approach was clear — GENESIS AI could not be launched as a product until hearing loss was understood as a human issue.

Central Narrative Creation
We created a strong central narrative, “Listen To Life Again,” positioning hearing aids not as symbols of disability, but as tools to reclaim moments, relationships, and dignity.

Repositioning Starkey as a Wellness Pioneer
Starkey was positioned as a hearing wellness pioneer, not a device brand. Through expert opinion pieces, doctor-led education, and panel discussions, hearing health was reframed as an essential part of modern wellbeing.

National & Regional Media Strategy
PR was executed across national and regional media. English publications built leadership credibility, while Hindi and regional outlets ensured neighbourhood-level awareness among users and caregivers.

Medical Ecosystem Engagement
Parallel engagement with ENT specialists, audiologists, and institutional stakeholders strengthened medical trust, referrals, and long-term credibility.

GENESIS AI Launch Strategy: Perception, Leadership & Trust at Scale

To bridge advanced AI innovation with mass understanding, Prius designed a PR-led, multi-layered launch architecture, elevating GENESIS AI from a medical device to a symbol of empowered living.

High-Impact Media Launch & Narrative Control
Prius executed a flagship launch event in Delhi, attended by over 50 senior journalists and editors. Premium coverage was secured across Category A publications, with narratives carefully balancing science, innovation, and social impact.

Global Leadership Thought Leadership (India-First Moment)
The launch marked the first-ever India visit of Starkey’s Global CEO. Prius leveraged this milestone through keynote interactions and curated media narratives, positioning Starkey’s global vision, purpose-led innovation, and long-term commitment to India at the centre of the launch.

Clinician & Expert Stakeholder Engagement
Prius curated high-authority expert panels featuring Starkey’s global R&D leadership and leading Indian medical specialists. These platforms acted as credibility multipliers, educating clinicians while reinforcing GENESIS AI’s clinical relevance and AI edge.

Audience Engagement Through Human Impact Stories
Rather than focusing on product features, the launch highlighted real-life outcomes — restored confidence, connection, and independence — ensuring GENESIS AI was emotionally relatable, trusted, and well understood.

Impact:

The flagship launch event witnessed a strong on-ground audience of 400+ stakeholders, including clinicians, industry leaders, partners, and media representatives.
50+ senior journalists and editors attended the event on-ground, ensuring high-intent media engagement and real-time amplification.
Over the quarter, Prius Healthcare secured 150+ media coverages across national, regional, and digital platforms, delivering sustained visibility beyond the launch moment.
The Global MD/CEO of Starkey was positioned through 8–10 exclusive interviews with leading mainline and new-age publications, strengthening leadership visibility and global relevance in the Indian market.
60% of total coverage appeared in Category A publications, reinforcing Starkey’s leadership and credibility within the healthcare and technology ecosystem.
65% of media presence was driven through digital-first platforms, enabling global reach, discoverability, and long-tail visibility for the GENESIS AI narrative.

HNI Event Attendees

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Digital PR Participation

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Media Output

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Cat-A Presence

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Live Exclusive Interviews

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Starkey Hearing Technologies | Digital

Mission:

To architect a high-impact digital ecosystem for Starkey that blends cultural relevance, engagement-led storytelling, and business-driven growth.

Challenge 2 :

Digital Strategy & Brand Architecture
Despite Starkey’s strong global equity, its Indian digital ecosystem reflected limited strategic cohesion. Content lacked depth, interactivity, and contextual relevance required to articulate a complex healthcare proposition. The absence of a unified digital brand architecture restricted consistency, recall, and long-term narrative building.

Social Media Equity & Audience Expansion
Social platforms showed subdued engagement velocity and constrained audience acquisition. Without platform-optimised storytelling and sustained narrative investment, social media struggled to drive brand salience, community participation, and meaningful audience growth.

Growth Marketing & Revenue Effectiveness
While performance marketing investments were active, conversion efficiency and lead quality remained suboptimal, impacting revenue realisation. The challenge lay in aligning performance execution with education-led intent building — ensuring acquisition efforts delivered commercially viable, high-intent prospects aligned with Starkey’s premium positioning.

Strategy:

Prius Healthcare approached Starkey’s digital mandate with a clear understanding of the Indian digital landscape — high population density, rapid content consumption, and algorithm-led discovery. The focus was not volume, but relevance at scale.

Storytelling & Ideation-First Approach
Before execution, Prius conducted structured storytelling and brainstorming sessions to identify interactive content ideas that could simplify hearing wellness and spark curiosity. Narratives were built around cultural familiarity and everyday relevance to maximise acceptance and participation.

Algorithm-Led Content for Virality & High Engagement
Content was designed to maximise virality and engagement — focusing on formats and storytelling triggers that drive likes, reactions, shares, and comments. By aligning content with platform algorithms and audience behaviour, Starkey achieved stronger engagement velocity and wider organic amplification.

Creative-Led Campaigns & Branding Framework
Prius executed campaigns focused on creativity and engagement, designed to strengthen brand recall and audience connection. These initiatives were supported by a standardised creative and branding framework, ensuring visual consistency, narrative clarity, and alignment with Starkey’s global vision across all platforms.

Business-Led Campaigns & Performance Marketing
From a business perspective, Prius executed performance-driven campaigns to support discovery, consideration, and qualified demand. These campaigns were optimised to balance reach with intent, ensuring stronger lead relevance and alignment with Starkey’s commercial and revenue objectives.

Production, Vendor Collaboration & Launch Enablement
Prius managed end-to-end production while coordinating closely with creative, media, and technology vendors. This ensured execution speed, quality control, and brand consistency across all digital touchpoints, especially during key launch moments.

Impact:

Sustained Organic Visibility at Scale
Built a high-performance organic content engine delivering 252+ original content assets, creating consistent, compounding brand visibility across platforms.
Average organic reach exceeded 20,000+ per post, achieved entirely without paid amplification—signalling strong content relevance and audience resonance.

Audience Growth Driven by Trust, Not Tactics
Delivered 31,500+ new organic followers across platforms through platform-native storytelling and disciplined narrative execution.
Growth was distributed and balanced across Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter (X), and YouTube—ensuring a credible, multi-platform brand presence rather than isolated channel spikes.

Large-Scale Organic Reach
Generated 900,000+ cumulative organic reach across primary platforms, reinforcing sustained discoverability and long-term brand recall instead of short-lived visibility bursts.

Exponential Organic Acceleration
Achieved exceptional organic growth surges driven purely by content momentum:

4,500% organic growth on Facebook
4,900% organic growth on Instagram
6,800% organic growth on Twitter (X)

These inflection points were not campaign-led, but the result of compounding narratives, improved content architecture, and stronger platform alignment.

High-Intent Engagement Signals
Beyond reach and followers, the brand witnessed a sharp rise in active consideration behaviours: