Meet Dave
Dave Reddy
Practice Lead, Media + Influence
Based in Silicon Valley, Dave Reddy is responsible for setting an earned media strategy for Big Valley Marketing clients as well as designing a broader influencer relations strategy. He also co-leads story mining and media coaching programs for the firm. While Dave advises virtually every one of the firm’s clients or internal Media + Influence teams on story strategy, his most memorable campaigns including launching PsiQuantum from stealth in July 2021 (exclusive in The Wall Street Journal, in addition to more than 20 articles in other media), placing the CEOs of Medable and Signifyd on Fortt Knox/CNBC, and landing multiple feature stories about Vlocity (now part of Salesforce) in Business Insider, among other outlets. He also launched NUVIA – now part of Qualcomm – out of stealth in November 2020 with, among other media placements, an exclusive in Reuters. Previously, Dave was with Weber Shandwick in San Francisco, where he served as head of the agency’s West Coast media relations team, a specialty group focused on media strategy and media relations for tech, biotech, healthcare, consumer, and corporate clients. He also headed up the agency’s technology media relations team. Former clients include Honeywell, IBM, Microsoft, and Qualcomm. For Qualcomm, he helped lead an initiative in 2015 that helped the San Diego company leapfrog Intel as the true leader in 5G, resulting in high-value media placements. Dave is a former reporter with the Washington Post and the San Jose Mercury News. Today he relies on his journalism background to give clients an intimate understanding of how media works. As a media coach, Dave has counseled and trained hundreds of spokespeople to successfully deal with press and analysts. Dave holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in journalism, cum laude, from American University. He lives in a very chaotic home in Foster City, Calif., with his wife and three children.
What do you do?
I head up the firm’s Media & Influencer Practice. It’s an intrepid crew that spends its days working on timely and relevant story lines with our clients and then sharing those stories with media, social influencers, analysts, and conference runners, among others. (And, yes, I personally talk with influencers all day, too.) We’ve driven more than our fair share of clips, social interactions, analyst reports, speaking slots, and so on for our clients. And the key is driving stories that matter both to the media and the client – quality, not quantity. It’s a privilege to work with this team and our clients.
Why Big Valley Marketing?
I’d spent the first three decades of my communications career working for big companies, both as a reporter and a media relations expert. I loved it. But it was time, come 2019, for me to try a start-up – and reunite with Tim and other past agency friends. I’m thrilled I made the jump. When Tim and I first worked together, we developed a Media and Influencer approach that focused on developing relationships with the Top 200 or so media and influencers in B2B – rather than the typical approach of “spray and pray”. At Big Valley, we’ve rebuilt and perfected that approach for the current media and influencer landscape. It makes for better, smarter communications and results. And, perhaps ironically, it takes less time.
What’s one thing fun or surprising/unexpected about you?
I was once car-jacked in Washington along with two clients. Nobody got hurt – although it was scary. And once we calmed down, my clients and I laughed for about 10 minutes. It’s easily the greatest example of how far I’ll go to service my clients. God help me if I ever top it.
