How the ‘Holy Grail’ of Vehicle Electrification Was Brought to the Global Spotlight
Agency: Mellakka Helsinki
Client: Donut Lab
BACKGROUND
Mellakka Helsinki has been Donut Lab's global communications and PR partner since the beginning, when the company was launched in 2024. Mellakka has built a comprehensive international PR strategy for Donut Lab to gain global visibility through systematic media communications. Mellakka is utilizing Donut Lab’s excellent innovation potential and communicates about it as widely and effectively as possible. The communication timeline has been strategically built into several different phases.
First, we announced the founding and vision of Donut Lab at Nordic’s biggest start-up event Slush 2024 in Helsinki, which helped highlight the company’s disruptive potential and competitive advantages. This also laid the groundwork for future news, and the next critical step was the launch of a tangible product innovation, the world’s most efficient electric motor family, at CES 2025 in Las Vegas.
PR BREAKTHROUGH AT CES 2026
Solid-state technology has been predicted as the next major leap in electric mobility, yet no big industry players have succeeded in bringing it into true mass production.
But now the Finnish-born technology company Donut Lab has achieved something truly exceptional. They solved the challenge the global vehicle industry has debated for over a decade and that major manufacturers have been striving to accomplish for years.
At CES 2026 in Las Vegas, Donut Lab launched the Donut Battery, the world’s first all-solid-state battery that is immediately ready for use in mass-produced vehicles. Compared to traditional lithium-ion batteries, solid-state batteries are significantly safer, more environmentally friendly and remarkably better when it comes to performance.
Donut Lab held the breakthrough: not a prototype, not a promise, but a production-ready solution. The challenge was to convince the world that the impossible had become reality. As part of the launch, the first concrete proof was unveiled: Verge Motorcycles will be the first manufacturer to utilize Donut Battery in their electric motorcycle with the first customer deliveries scheduled for Q1.
OBJECTIVES
The goal was to establish Donut Lab as a globally recognized pioneer in battery technology, break the industry’s deep-rooted skepticism around the feasibility of solid-state batteries, and position the Donut Battery as the world’s first solid-state battery already in mass production.
The campaign aimed to capture the attention of international OEMs and vehicle manufacturers, generate new business opportunities for Donut Lab, and achieve extensive earned media and social visibility, without any paid advertising.
STRATEGY
The announcement was strategically timed to coincide with CES Unveiled, the press day of the world’s largest consumer electronics event, when technology journalists closely monitor industry-defining launches.
The communication was built around one indisputable proof point: the technology is already in production and used in real vehicles. From the outset, the launch was designed as a global PR-driven effort, reinforced by concrete partner examples and the technology’s exceptional performance. Everything was executed organically, with zero paid media.
CREATIVE IDEA
From a creative perspective, we made a deliberate strategic choice to let the exceptional technology itself be the creative lead, rather than building a traditional advertising concept around it. For a breakthrough of this magnitude, credibility and domain expertise are paramount, especially in the B2B business, where trust is built through earned, independent visibility rather than advertising.
The launch was designed as a cross-border, multi-channel PR activation. It included extensive media outreach in Donut Lab’s key markets, strong news-driven press releases, Donut Lab’s own social media communications, a launch video published on YouTube, and the active presence of the core team at CES.
EXECUTION
The launch was executed as a global PR initiative during CES 2026. In addition to highlighting the battery’s top-tier performance, communications focused on what made the product truly unprecedented: Donut Lab’s solid-state battery is already in production and powering mass-produced vehicles.
The message was simultaneously distributed across media, Donut Lab’s owned channels, and partner ecosystems, which also served as tangible proof points of the technology’s real-world viability. A sharp communication focus, multi-channel execution, and an unparalleled product with concrete use cases combined to create a credible and compelling narrative – resulting in massive global organic visibility.
Results
The results from the first two weeks of the launch (January 4–19, 2026) exceeded all expectations.
Google:
195,000 clicks (+122× vs. normal), 1.37M impressions (+148× vs. normal)
Website:
356,000 unique visitors (3× more than the entire previous year combined)
YouTube:
634,000 views on the launch video, 75,800 hours of watch time, +20,000 new subscribers, and a record number of third-party videos exceeding 1 million views
LinkedIn:
+10 000 new followers
Leads:
~2 800 new leads
Media:
2 991 media clippings, with a global potential reach of 2.4 billion
Budget:
Monthly PR retainer: 5 500 €
Advertising spend: 0 €
Donut Lab didn’t just launch a new battery – it moved the entire industry’s future into the present.
The work exceeded all measurable objectives, delivering tangible and lasting impact on audience behavior and stakeholder relationships, driven by sharp strategic insight, creative courage and executional excellence – achieved entirely through owned and earned media, with zero ad spend.
( Sources: Cision, Google, Pipedrive, Donut Lab )
