Science and Sip · Founder positioning, media relations · February to June 2024
The founder was the brand. The lab was the proof.
Cautney Nelson is a former lab scientist. She founded Science and Sip, the company behind The Drunken Laboratory, a Brooklyn bar where guests put on lab coats and goggles and do experiments over cocktails. It had already been covered as a fun night out. Our brief was to make her the story: a founder leading the immersive entertainment category, not the owner of a novelty bar.
- Client
- Science and Sip, formerly The Drunken Laboratory
- Founder
- Cautney Nelson
- Role
- Founder positioning, media relations
- Period
- February to June 2024
Guests at a Science and Sip lab.
The problem
A novelty bar gets one write-up. A founder gets covered for years.
Lifestyle press had already covered The Drunken Laboratory as a fun Halloween night out. That kind of coverage fills a room for a weekend, and then the outlet moves on to the next novelty bar.
The bigger opportunity was Cautney herself: a scientist turned entrepreneur building a business in immersive entertainment, a category worth billions. Business desks, founder series and summits cover leaders in a category. A novelty bar is a one-off story.
So from the first draft, the work was about positioning her. The bar was the proof of what she’d built.
A novelty gets covered once. A founder can keep getting covered.
The campaign
An industry frame first, then the TV segment.
The engagement started in February to catch Black History Month, and began with an article that put her in the context of a whole industry rather than a single bar.
The industry article
We wrote a feature placing her in a $61.8 billion immersive entertainment industry. It ran in NY Carib News and Caribbean Times in early March.
FOX 5 New York shoot
An on-site shoot at the lab with anchor Christal Young, which our team secured and ran on the day.
Career days
Speaking slots at two New York City schools, putting a scientist who became a founder in front of students.
Authority Magazine
A Female Founders feature, positioning her alongside other women building companies.
New York Locals
A feature in the city newsletter, reaching subscribers directly.
Worth summit
A seat at Worth Magazine’s Groundbreaking Women summit, for introductions to investors and operators.
LinkNYC and the FOX 5 segment
We secured three LinkNYC street kiosks running her ad for the month of June at no cost. The FOX 5 segment aired on June 10 after a reshoot.
Place her in the industry first. It makes every later pitch easier.
The placements
Business framing, then broadcast.
Each row below is backed by a draft, a scheduling email, a booking invite or a live link we sent the client.
| When | Outlet | Placement | Our role |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mar 2024 | NY Carib News | Immersive entertainment industry feature | Written and placed |
| Mar 2024 | Caribbean Times | Same feature | Written and placed |
| Mar 2024 | Authority Magazine | Female Founders | Booked |
| Apr 2024 | New York Locals | Newsletter feature | Placed |
| Jun 2024 | FOX 5 New York | On-site segment with Christal Young | Secured, team on site |
Not counted as press: the Worth summit seat, two school career days, and the June LinkNYC kiosks.
Not claimed
Coverage from before February 2024, including Time Out New York and NBC’s New York Live, and coverage after the engagement ended, including the company’s Houston and Los Angeles openings, belongs to the founder.
The number
7.5 million impressions from one segment.
Broadcast is counted at the station’s market households, the same method used on every Playbook MG case study. None of the print or digital outlets publish an audience figure, so they aren’t counted.
| Placement | Basis | Impressions |
|---|---|---|
| FOX 5 New York | New York market, 7,494,510 TV homes, Nielsen 2024-25 | 7,494,510 |
| Print and digital | NY Carib News, Caribbean Times, Authority Magazine, New York Locals. No stated audience | Not counted |
| LinkNYC kiosks | Three street kiosks for one month. No impression data supplied | Not counted |
| Total | One segment | 7,494,510 |
Earned media value, by format
| Format | Impressions | CPM | EMV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Broadcast television | 7,494,510 | $25 | $187,363 |
| Total | 7,494,510 | $25 | $187,363 |
A market’s household count is the reach the station sells advertising against, not the number of people who watched one segment. We print it so anyone can check the math.
What it cost
The honest part.
- The first shoot was lost
- The FOX 5 footage from March was lost before it aired, so the segment had to be reshot in May. That delayed the biggest placement of the engagement by three months.
- Staff changes slowed the work
- Staff turnover in the spring meant some outreach and event ideas weren’t followed up. The founder ended the engagement at five months, and we offered the next month free. The lesson is to keep the day-to-day team the same for the whole engagement.
- The national tier asked for numbers
- ForbesBLK asked for revenue, investors and profitability before it would take the story. Business press wants verified numbers. Settle on one figure you can defend before you pitch business desks.
Business press wants numbers you can back up.
What transfers
Three rules for any experiential founder.
- Pitch the category, not the venue
- “A $61.8 billion industry” gets a founder into business press. “A fun bar” gets one lifestyle write-up.
- Film where the product is
- An on-site TV segment shows the experience in a way an interview can’t. Put the camera where guests do the thing.
- Keep the team steady
- Founders judge an agency on consistency. A change in the day-to-day team costs more than any single missed pitch.
Experiential brands don’t need another night-out listing. They need a founder the business press wants to interview.
Playbook MG is a boutique public relations and influencer agency in Brooklyn, working with culture-rooted brands and founders across hospitality, experiential, food and beverage, beauty, fashion, music, arts and nonprofits. This engagement ran from February to June 2024.
All case studiesPlaybook MG · Industry City, Brooklyn · Broadcast reach per Nielsen · EMV at the CPM printed above · As of September 2026