Public Safety Vignettes Make IR Numbers Come Alive
When the investment community received BI Incorporated's [BI] annual report, the cover provided a compelling reason to turn the page - a powerful snapshot of a man in handcuffs. The caption read "On the morning of June 30, 1997, James Willis, husband, father, and convicted felon, wasn't at all worried about balance sheets or end-of-the year results."
This 1997 report goes beyond the traditional investor approach of quoting numbers on company performance and projections. Instead, the report provides dramatic human-interest vignettes detailing the ways the organization is carving out an expanded leadership position in the corrections industry.
Last year, the Boulder, Co.-based company combined, for the first time, the expertise of its investor relations and marketing communications departments to develop the annual report. This resulted in a more image-focused - rather than product-focused - investor tool, says Anita Pedersen, BI's corporate communications manager. Using narrative "real-life" stories of several people whose lives were made easier and safer through BI services, investors were educated on the changing role of the corrections industry and its profit potential.
BI, best known for its electronic monitoring devices, recently launched business units to provide Community Correctional Services (CCS) to probation departments and Corrections Information Systems (CIS) that automate inmate records for corrections facilities. The investment community was not aware of BI's expansion and needed to understand why these moves made long-term business sense since they were not yet profitable.
Electronic monitoring services, BI's biggest profit-maker, accounted for 70 percent of its 1997 revenues of $48.4 million, while the CCS and CIS units generated a net loss per share of.5 percent and 45.5 percent, respectively.
Dramatic Departure
BI, which tripled its employee-size to 875 in 1997, needed a consistent message and image to reach investors, employees and other external audiences.
"If IR and marcom didn't pair up, [BI] would look like two different companies which would have confused investors," says Pedersen of BI's electronic monitoring division and the combined CCS and CIS division. Chief financial officer Jackie Chamberlin was convinced the annual report needed a marketing overhaul as long as the investor information remained intact; he deferred to Pedersen's expertise.
To develop its corporate brand image, Pedersen sought the agency expertise of GD&A Public Relations in Denver, which serves clients in the manufacturing, high-tech and security industries. The agency was brought on board last fall with a budget of $25,000, which included planning and printing costs.
From the outset, the agency recommended a sharp departure from the company's traditional approach to annual reports. "[BI] had a great story to tell about how it affects public safety and reduces [offender] recidivism," says Julie Wienen, GD&A's director of client services.
The key tactics used to accomplish the annual report's narrative tone involved:
- Using "community short story" vignettes to show how electronic monitoring is a safe and cost-saving alternative to prison sentencing for a family member, judge and congressman.
- Including powerful statistics on U.S. crime, including "Crime cost each U.S. citizen $425 in 1995." and "One criminal offense happens every two seconds."
- Providing explanations of the profit potential of BI's new business units using statistics on repeat adult offenders and case studies of how cash-strapped community-based corrections systems are benefiting from CCS and CIS.
Profitable Results
The revamped annual report generated rave reviews from BI's core investor audience of institutional investors and fund managers who indicated they weren't aware how integrated BI was, according to Pedersen and Chamberlin. The report contributed to a doubling of the stock price six months after it was circulated. Because of the human-interest angle, the report also helped employees gain a greater understanding of the company's role in the corrections industry as well as the media.
This year, BI retained the narrative style of the report but updated it to include more success stories and statistics on U.S. crime, says Wienen. In Q4 (April - June), BI's CCS unit broke even and became profitable in Q1 of 1999, which began in July, according to Chamberlin. (BI Incorporated, 303/218-1000; GD&A, 303/623-1190, ext. 230)
Breathing Life Into Performance/Projections
To keep investors reading, annual reports have to do more than present financial performance and projections. They have to become more of an extension of the company's brand awareness initiatives, according to Boulder, Co.-based BI Incorporated, which recently received "Gold Pick" distinction from the Colorado Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. The annual report's winning strategies included:
- Integrating the IR and marcom functions and having a willingness to take creative risks.
- Using a narrative style of human-interest vignettes to explain the company's expanding role in the corrections industry while keeping the financial information intact.
- Introducing to investors the company's new tagline, "How Justice Is Served," to describe BI's new products and services.
GD&A Public Relations
Founded: 1975
Headquarters: Denver
# of Employees: 14
Revenues: Not disclosed
Clients: Biotrol, Secutron, Career Magazine