Viisage

Viisage delivers advanced technology identity solutions for governments, law enforcement agencies and businesses concerned with enhancing security, reducing identity theft, providing access control, and protecting personal privacy. Viisage creates solutions using secure document and face recognition technologies that quickly, reliably, and accurately identify individuals. With over 2,000 installations worldwide, Viisage's identity solutions stand out as a result of the Company's industry-leading technology and unique understanding of customer needs.

The Challenge

In the two years that followed the tragic events of September 11th, the burgeoning biometrics market was thrust into the spotlight as the nation scrambled for more effective solutions to address issues such as border and homeland security. Over time, the still-developing technology enjoyed periods of praise and periods of scrutiny as vendors and public sector agencies worked in real time to find the most effective uses of the various technologies, particularly face recognition.

By 2004, however, the biometrics picture had become clearer and the industry dynamic was ripe to change from one of speculation to one of action. Government agencies were now replete with federal funding and eager to address the issues of identity that so heavily contribute not only to terrorism but also domestic issues such as identity theft and fraud.

Billerica, Mass.-based identity solutions vendor Viisage had long been one of the mainstays in the biometrics market, developing its suite of face recognition tools in the late 1990s and participating in many of the post-9/11 trials that defined the struggles of the biometrics market to find its own identity in the business landscape.

Throughout its history, however, Viisage has been largely defined by its successful secure credentials business, one that provided driver’s licenses and other ID cards for up 19 U.S. states at one time. Though Viisage integrated its face recognition solutions into a handful of those states, the prevailing view of the company was not that of a major biometrics player and certainly not a leader in what promised to be a lucrative federal market.

Thus, the challenge for PAN Communications was to raise Viisage’s profile in the national and Washington, D.C. “Beltway” media and position the company as a player in the federal market without the benefit of a significant federal deployment or a historical presence in the Washington, D.C. market.

The Approach

PAN recognized early that it would have two major tools upon which it could build Viisage’s story: an April announcement that the Department of Defense had selected Viisage for a $10 million contract to support its smart card initiative and a customer case study for the Pinellas County (Fla.) Sheriffs Office (PCSO) that stood as one of the more progressive deployments of biometrics in the country.

PAN made the following decisions when crafting its strategy

• The PR program’s focus would shift almost exclusively to the national media and federal press, eschewing the security and IT trades that had previously been a significant portion of Viisage’s efforts
• PAN would execute an introductory/visibility tour in the early spring prior to the announcement of the federal contract. The tour would be positioned as a follow-up to a pair of acquisitions Viisage had made in early 2004, the latter of which was of a Virginia-based provider of passports to the U.S. Department of State
• The aforementioned PCSO case study would be positioned as a quasi-government customer success story and specifically target The New York Times in the hope that a positive, stand-alone feature could garner national exposure
• Viisage’s acquisitions and contract success would serve as the basis for a momentum campaign to the financial business press

Thus, the campaign would have three “beachheads” – Washington, D.C., New York and Boston, where Viisage still had to cater to its local audience, particularly given the defense industry presence in Massachusetts. The key would be PAN’s ability to position the federal news alongside the Pinellas success story and give the impression to the media that they spoke to the same underlying theme of success in the public sector.

The Results

PAN executed the pre-announcement visibility tour, conducting briefings with Viisage CEO Bernard Bailey and a host of national media outlets including the Washington Post, New York Times, USA Today and others. Meanwhile, PAN worked closely with the Times and Boston Globe on separate pieces involving the PCSO success story.

Following were the highlights of the success during the campaign:

• Widespread coverage of the federal contract win, highlighted by a stand-alone piece in The Washington Post
• Stand-alone features in The Boston Globe and The New York Times, the latter of which was picked up by news outlets around the country (i.e. Arizona Republic, CNET, ContraCosta Times)
• In late-April, Viisage’s stock price hit a 52-week high of $14.30
• Regular wire coverage (Reuters, Dow Jones, CBS Marketwatch) of contract wins and company moves where previously earnings was the only time the company would be noticed
• Major pickup in the financial business press, highlighted by an online profile by Forbes Magazine
• An appearance by CEO Bailey on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” program to discuss the state and prospects of the biometrics market

Viisage’s place in the federal market was also secure, as the company received numerous acceptances to speak at industry events and ultimately would conduct a media luncheon that brought together key members of the media with representatives of Congress, the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators and the Department of Defense.