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“I keep going over a sentence. I nag it, gnaw it, pat and flatter it.”
- Janet Flanner |
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Custom Pub Firm Appelberg Creates Marketing Fingerprint for High-Tech Firm |
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| Winter 2000 |
Abstract: Though Precise Biometrics is a company whose main service is based on a technology that dates back to when an Italian professor noted ridges, spirals and loops in fingerprints in the 1600s, its brand is much more new millennium. Today, biometrics is the core of in-vogue fingerprint identification (think of access to the gym or logging on to your computer) and smart-card security, but this kind of backbone technology doesn't always generate the buzz less cerebral stuff does - or reach the public as easily. In this case, custom publishing has been the single discipline debunking that trend and making high-tech companies like Precise Biometrics household names, and their Web sites checkpoints for industry specifics.
For Precise Biometrics, tomorrow looks very, very good. Its recent listing on the Swedish Stock Exchange's O-list, a formidable fall presence at the Comdex show in LA., and the Pentagon's decision to use Precise's technology to increase security for mobile computers are all signs that the company is on the fast track.
But in days of virtual city scopes of 24-hour news, push information channels and aggressive growth (and failure) in the tech sector, it now makes much more sense to go to the world, instead of waiting for the world to come to you.
Lund, Sweden-based Precise Biometrics has turned to custom publishing as a turnkey solution for its marketing and communication needs as the company sought to go public and position itself as a global leader in this nook.
In order to remain on the cutting edge, it opted for a solution that combines print and the Internet, an increasingly popular technique for up-and-coming companies.
The Match-Up
For Precise Biometrics, its marketing match was found in an online publication that also has a twin print sister - a bimonthly four-color newsletter with a print run of 10,000, and based on content from its Web version at www.precisebiometrics.com. Both publications are called Match. And both are created by publishing gurus and penned by journalists, not marketing copywriters who are fond of over-commercializing.
One of those is Russ Larsen, who took on the topic of biometrics in a recent article that quickly put into context the technology's consumer impact, beyond the realm of business jargon. Larsen writes: "The day is coming when your identification won't depend so much on your body odor or the shape of your ears. That's the day biometrics takes on a large part in your everyday life, and that day is coming very soon."
Simply put. But not just simple strategizing.
"The Web publication is the driver, but we use print to get people into the Web," says Annika Ahlgren-Claesson of Appelberg.
Ahlgren-Claesson is a business team leader with decade-old Appelberg, the international custom publishing company Precise Biometrics turned to in February to explore its custom publishing options, with the online and print pub both launching in June.
She goes on to explain that among its integrated communication goals was the mission to "not just write about the company, but about what the industry is all about. This kind of technology is like science fiction for everyday people, but we are presenting the right vignettes to make it interesting to our varied audiences."
With a goal of reaching a wide span of groups, from shareholders to the public, the duo is elevating the industry's information base through utilitarian, down-to-earth editorial written by freelancers. One article refers to a store in New York City filled with "biometric wizardry" and another shares forecasts that biometric products will grow from $58.4 million in 1999 to $594 million in 2003.
Both partners, too, are committed to presenting stories, news and case studies that speak to potential clients, global distributors, the media and influencers alike.
An editorial committee and three representatives from Precise Biometrics make sure that the publications stay on course and that fair, accurate and trustworthy content helps move Precise toward its ultimate goal: being the biggest biometrics company in the world.
"In general terms, the target group is so broad and the need for these publications so overwhelming [given today's overload of channels of communication], it is easy for the salespeople or distributors to push that this is only a tool for them. But we know it is important to base this on a journalistic standpoint and that is what we are doing," says Ahlgren-Claesson.
Sidebar: All About Appelberg
Private company founded by: Olle Appelberg, now CEO and director, international sales
Locations: Stockholm (headquarters) and Lund, Sweden; Chicago
Clients include: Alfa Laval, ASG, Ericsson, IBS, Iggesund Paperboard, IKEA, SCA, Skandia, Tetra Pak and Vattenfall
Recent honors include: Voted fourth among Swedish consulting companies in a customer poll by business magazine, Veckans Affärer, in April 2000
Resources: Global network of more than 500 journalists, editors and photographers in more than 50 countries
Employees: 40
Total number of editions: 320, including Web and print products
Total editorial pages: 6,700
Company philosophy: Suggesting to customers to have a reader survey after about a year
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