An advisory practice for CMOs and CEOs

One story. Told well.

For B2B technology leaders whose story isn't yet landing the way it should. I bring the pieces together — narrative, executive voice, presence, and reputation — into one coherent brand that leaders can stand behind and the market can hear.

NARRATIVE VOICE PRESENCE REPUTATION one story TOLD WELL
Sound familiar

Four moments we hear from leadership teams.

Each one usually turns out to be a story problem — one piece of the press out of alignment. That's the work.

01

"Our story used to land. It doesn't the way we feel it needs to."

02

"Our unique value isn't cutting through."

03

"We're at a transformation moment — and the story needs to shift with it."

04

"Something happened, and we need to protect the story."

The Framework

The Full Press.

Modern communications is integrated by necessity. It's not one shop, one channel, or one message pushed out at scale — it's assembled: a narrative that says who you are, the voice that carries it into the market, presence with the audiences that matter, and the reputation work that holds it all together. When those four align, the story lands. When they don't, no amount of activity fixes it.

NARRATIVEwhat you stand for VOICEhow leaders show up PRESENCEaudiences that matter REPUTATIONwhat holds it together one storyTOLD WELL
01  ·  The spine

Narrative

What the company stands for. What makes it unique. The one story — aligned so every leader and every team speaks from the same place.

02  ·  The signal

Voice

How the company shows up in the market — CEO, executive team, spokespeople, thought leaders. The unique value that cuts through the noise, carried by the right people in the right moments.

03  ·  The audience

Presence

The audiences that matter, and how the story lands with each. A 360° wheel of who needs to hear this — different by client, different by moment — with the right channels for every one of them.

04  ·  The equity

Reputation

What holds it all together over time. Brand equity, employee alignment, crisis readiness, and the quiet work of protecting what you've built.

What carries forward

Reach

The right audiences.

Relevance

The right message.

Resonance

Enough to make it stick.

Framework: Reach/Relevance/Resonance, per Brian Solis, Altimeter Group (2012). Applied here to modern communications.
Ways to work together

Name the shape. Then we scope the work.

Four engagement modes. Each starts with a 30-minute conversation to decide whether Abandoned Press is the right fit — and if it is, what shape the work should take.

Every engagement is scoped before the work begins.
The Name

Why "Abandoned Press."

The name started with my father, Bob Nugent, the artist.

He taught printmaking for decades — at the College of the Siskiyous, and later Sonoma State University. Colleges didn't have professional printers on staff, so his students became the printmakers. He hired them by the hour to work the press.

What did they print? Their own work — their own point of view. Sometimes just theirs; often layered with others', building on each other's pieces. They took something to start with and refined it — combining, editing, developing — until it said what they wanted it to say. What they were really doing was shaping a piece of work until it could resonate with the audience they were trying to reach.

Every year, the best of them graduated, left for grad school, and abandoned him and the press. So he'd hire the next round. And they'd abandon him too. Eventually he just named the press after the joke.

Turns out that's exactly what modern communications is.

Media isn't one-way anymore. One shop, one channel, one message pushed out at scale — that model got abandoned when the audience stopped listening to it. What replaced it is what Bob was doing in his print studio: layered work, brought together by the right people, refined until it reaches the audiences that matter with something that resonates enough to stick.

His press got abandoned. Mine runs with abandon. I bring the pieces together — narrative, voice, presence, reputation — and make the story whole enough to reach, be relevant, and resonate.

Erin McCabe
About

Twenty-five years. One throughline.

I've spent more than two decades leading communications for B2B technology companies — at Fortune 500 scale and startup speed, in the seat and beside it. The work runs across corporate narrative and positioning, executive communications, integrated marketing, media and analyst relations, events, and crisis and reputation.

The throughline across every one of those roles: bringing the pieces together into one coherent story that leaders can stand behind — and that reaches the market with enough force to stick.

Now I do that work as Abandoned Press.

#5 → #3
Repositioned a category incumbent from #5 to #3 in market ranking
197%
ARR growth powered by an integrated CEO thought leadership program
45%
Year-over-year lift in executive media placements at Fortune 500 scale
300+ / 30 days
Qualified leads at launch from stealth — plus 20+ investors and 250+ resellers
$5B+
Guided global brand and comms through publicly-traded M&A at multi-billion-dollar scale
80%+
Growth in corporate social presence across a two-year integrated program
Companies I've led communications for
OpenText·Commvault·NetApp·HP·Nile Secure·Dell·LogicMonitor·Automation Anywhere·BMC Software·DataStax·Informatica·Nuance·Sierra Wireless
Executive Board, PRSA Silicon Valley  ·  Nominated Member, Arthur W. Page Society  ·  B.S. Applied Arts & Sciences (Graphic Design), San Diego State University
In their words

What clients and colleagues say.

"
Erin charts paths through complexity that others can't even see.
Christiaan BrownCommunications, Marketing & Reputation LeaderCollaborator during Erin's tenure as SVP, Corporate Communications at OpenText
"
She delivers truly integrated communications strategies, bringing together marketing, analyst relations, internal and external communications, and social to drive real results.
Maribeth DarlingCorporate & Financial Communications LeaderColleague at Hotwire Communications, leading global enterprise tech clients together
"
She has the uncanny ability to see when and how communications can fix, advise, counsel, lead — preserve reputation, advance agendas, change brands, and influence careers.
Bill WohlTrusted Communications & Brand Leader (fmr. CCO, HP · Commvault · United Rentals)Advisor and long-time collaborator since 2011
Selected Work

What the work looks like.

Launch · Cybersecurity

Nile Secure — from stealth to category presence

Led launch communications for Nile's exit from stealth mode. Coordinated corporate narrative, analyst introductions, tier-one media outreach, and investor storytelling into a single 30-day launch arc.

300+ leads · 20+ investors · 250+ reseller partners
Repositioning · Data Management

Commvault — from incumbent to market force

Repositioned Commvault from #5 to #3 in the data management category over two years — corporate narrative, analyst repositioning, and executive thought leadership working as one integrated program.

#5 → #3 category ranking · 2 years
Scale · Enterprise AI

OpenText — repositioning at scale

Repositioned OpenText as a global leader in AI-powered secure information management. Owned corporate narrative, executive comms, and integrated brand strategy across a workforce that doubled from 12K to 24K.

45% YoY lift in executive media placements
Additional case studies available on request.
Start with a conversation

What isn't landing?

Tell me what's happening and what feels stuck. First conversation, we'll clarify the situation and figure out whether Abandoned Press is the right fit.