Island House, Forest Road, Forest, Guernsey GY8 0AB, UK Tel 01481 233080 (+44 1481 233080) nigel@vortexpr.com

www.vortexpr.com

Remove the barriers to revenue…

• Barriers that the salesmen have to break down at every sales opportunity

• Barriers that have to be overcome in other layers of a customer organisation

• Barriers…

= slow progress on sales

= slower time to revenue & profits

So how do we open the barriers??

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Wouldn’t it be wonderful if...

• Customers came knocking on your doors?

• They already understood your technology?

• They understood how your technology compares to what they are using?

• They understand how much better yours is?

• They realised that your solutions helps them make better products?

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…you have invented the cat! And it’s really good.

So you need to tell them...

While everyone else is trying to make a better mousetrap…

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PR is fastest and best way to tell the world

• A good story is viral in today’s connected world – spreading rapidly under own steam

• One story can reach thousands of potential customers around the world at once

• Cost effective way to communicate to the world – advertising would be prohibitive

• PR has much greater impact than advertising (~10x more) – information is coming as editorial from a trusted third party, i.e. a journalist

• Ongoing communication ensures growing awareness • TRUST builds with customers and potential customers

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The Story

• The Key is having a REALLY GOOD STORY that is interesting, relevant and engaging

• For that you need a REALLY GOOD STORY TELLER who knows his audiences and how to develop stories that have maximum effect

“Tell me a fact and I will understand... Tell me a truth and I will believe... Tell me a story and it will live in my heart forever...”

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The barriers are removed so that...

• You are a known and trusted name

• Customers understand the unique technology and its benefits – receptive and keen to engage

• Customers are chasing you to solve their problems and save them money

• Deals close more quickly generating new sales

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Nigel Robson of Vortex PR The Story Teller

• One of the leading technology PR consultants in Europe

• Degree in Physics and Chemistry - really understands technology and technical staff

• 30 years experience in high tech PR for major companies - Philips Semiconductors, Duracell, MIPS, ARC, Peratech, Baolab, Movea, RadioScape and Plessey Semiconductors

• Long term relationships (7 years on average) with clients and gets results

• Proven track record with journalists around the world - trusted source of quality stories

• Very close working relationship with clients to deeply understand client’s goals, strategies and technologies

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PR goals are to establish…

• Strong relationships with relevant media by leveraging Vortex PR’s contacts

• You as a leading international technology company

• World wide awareness of your company as providing the best, high performance inertial sensors

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Examples of key Media

– Electronics • EETimes, EET Europe, Electronic Design, Electronic Design

News, Electronics Weekly, Electronik I Norden, Markt & Techniq, Electronic Products, Elektronik, CIE, EPN, EDN

– Sensors • Sensor Review, Sensors magazine, i-Micronews, MEMS investor

Journal

– Nanotechnology • Small Times, Nanotechnology, AZoNano

– General technology • FT, BBC, Wired and New Scientist

– Analysts • Gartner Dataquest, Semico, & Instat

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PR Objectives

• Build media awareness of your company and benefits of its technology

• Create significant coverage on web and in the relevant media

• Generate steady flow of quality leads – brings in people who are

pre-qualified as being interested in buying = more potential sales

• Create and maintain a positive awareness of your technology by customers – resulting confidence assists Sales to close deals quickly and successfully

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Research phase – Understand your technology, market and selling strategy

– Identify possible awards to enter

– Define key messages and storylines

– Prepare annual PR plan

– Reposition focus of company from automotive to high performance stability control solutions

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2013 activities

• Maintain close contact with Sales and Technical staff to source ideas for releases and articles

• Target of research, write and issue press release every month

• Target of write/edit/place a technical article every quarter

• Target of research and write customer stories every quarter

• On going monitoring of relevant forward feature lists for article opportunities

• Completing entries for relevant awards such as Queen’s Award and Elektra

• Support for trade shows such as Electronica – arranging media interviews, speaking opportunities etc.

• Opinion pieces to position you as a thought leader

• CEO interviews

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CEO promotion

• Electronics industry is a people industry

• Editors value personal relationships with people that they write about

• CEO profiles in the media build a public face for the company – achieved four in one year for MIPS & five for ARC & Plessey

• Leads to opinion pieces in Electronics Weekly

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Measuring Success • Overall coverage of your company monitored via Google

– Key words chosen to identify specific stories

– General check for your company

• Hits to website – starting from zero but Google analytics will show steady growth in visitors as communication builds

• Enquiries for more information via the website can be measured

• Awareness of your company at customer visits can be noted by sales staff

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Client Recommendations “I have had the privilege of working with Nigel at various times since I first met him in 1993 when his consultancy became PR agency of record for Philips

Semiconductors. In my view, Nigel is one of the leading high technology PR consultants in the world today. He has strong abilities in all key areas of business-to-business PR: - A network of editorial and analyst contacts second to none, and he enjoys strong relationships with all of them. They know they can trust Nigel to deliver factual and relevant information that fits with their news and communication strategies. - Strong strategic and tactical planning skills. Nigel has the ability to help plan long-range campaigns and then keep up a consistent drive to shape stories and deliver materials over time. This is a unique skill that I have not seen often. An important element of this is his ability to effectively help management craft a viable long-term story line that both supports and strengthens company positioning. - Great teamwork skills. Nigel is very collegial and giving of his knowledge. Because of this, he works well with all levels of the organization and is a great teacher. - Excellent understanding of technology, technology trends, and market development. Nigel knows how to explain a product or service and position its value within the market landscape -- no one does it better. This is a large part of the reason why editors and analysts trust him. He is very astute at working with engineering and marketing to find the key features and functions and can craft benefit statements that are meaningful for the key audiences.”

Top qualities: Great Results, Expert, High Integrity

Melissa J. Jones. Hired Nigel as a Public Relations in 1993, and hired Nigel more than once

“Nigel is the public relations consultant representing ARC International to the UK and European press. In this role he has performed above our expectation. ARC has received wide editorial coverage thanks to his good work. I recommend him to anyone requiring PR representation.” Jonah McLeod, ARC.

Top qualities: Great Results, Personable, High Integrity

“Nigel is a great professional, and has solid relationships with many editors and influential journalists. He understands his client's business and that of the end customer, and is trusted by all parties to deliver.”

Andy Mortimer, Sales Director, MIPS Technologies

“Nigel is an excellent PR professional, delivering great results in short timescales and limited budgets. He now only understands his own business but that of his clients as well. Highly recommended!”

Top qualities: Great Results, Expert, High Integrity

Andrew Moloney, RadioScape

“Nigel is a consummate professional in everything he does. His ability to quickly grasp both the technical and business aspects of his client's business is amazing. Nigel is a superb networker across many continents and continues to drive success in everything he does.” Kim Rose, Sales Director, Links Business Solutions

“The editorial coverage that Vortex has obtained has been excellent and really raised our profile around the world. The front cover stories were tremendously valuable in generating a high level of quality leads from the major players in each of our markets.”

John Summers, CEO RF Engines

“We were already using a UK Public Relations firm who claimed expertise in the high tech sector. After their 'start-up' budget was exhausted, all they had produced was a press kit. I met up with Vortex PR through Tally Systems, who we were working with. Tally asked me if I could help them at a Press meeting that Vortex had arranged. I had a first hand opportunity to watch Nigel Robson in action and immediately understood how little our own PR agency were actually doing for us. In fact, we were simply paying a monthly retainer for nothing. After Vortex PR came on board, our Press exposure went screaming up. Nigel immediately arranged product reviews with several IT journals, as well as free CDROM coverage on all leading UK PC publications.”

Tim Hayes, President, IT-Map International

Examples of Activities

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Peratech

• Engaged to publicise company and its QTC technology as very low visibility

• Helped Peratech win several awards including Queen’s Award

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Worked example - Peratech credit card switch

• Start up with solution to a problem that people did not even know they had

• Demos with editors in London to show dangers of skimming and effectiveness of Peratech solution

• Extensive coverage in New Scientist, EETimes, and electronic and credit card trade press

• Resulted in 100+ enquiries from around the world

• 20 solid leads for this solution – could be worth several million dollars

• Plus enquiries from companies seeking solutions for their own particular problems

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Worked example - Peratech 3D touch screen sensor

Again entering completely new market

1) Phone interviews with key news magazines already resulted in quality coverage in EETimes, Electronics Weekly (top story of the day in newsletter), The Inquirer, Technology Review & New Electronics

2) Web coverage exceeded 700 within 24 hours with sites such as NanoTechnology Now, Reuters, Hoovers, Yahoo & Wireless Developer Network that are rippling through the web building awareness. 4000 hits at 48 hour mark

3) Blogs buzzing with the story from the wire and commenting on editorial stories on leading sites

4) To be followed by monthlies such as EDN, Elektronik i Norden and EDN as their production cycles work the story through the system

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Examples of coverage for Peratech 3D sensor

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Past year coverage for Peratech

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Plessey Semiconductors rebirth

• Engaged to help relaunch the company

• Helped Plessey win several awards (IET & finalist in Elektra Awards 2012)

• Focus on two new technologies

– EPIC sensor & MAGIC HB LED

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Past year of coverage for Plessey

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ESCATEC • Leading contract manufacturing and Design Services

company in Switzerland but very low profile

• Engaged to build global awareness through releases on new equipment, customer stories and articles

• Wrote and presented video on company by Mentor Graphics. Link here.

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Past year of coverage for ESCATEC

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RFEL

• Client for over 10 years

• Helped company win several Elektra Awards and Queen’s Award twice

• Established the company as leading global expert in DSP solutions on FPGA

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Past year of coverage for RFEL

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Heliatek • Brought in to build global awareness as only known in

native Germany

• Obtained extensive coverage for its award winning Organic Photovoltaic technology

• Finalist in Elektra Awards 2012

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Past year of coverage for Heliatek

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Worked example of MIPS smartcard launch

• Completely new area for the company

• Campaign – Briefings with electronics media

– Briefings with smart card media at leading trade fair for smart cards

– 2 minute segment on CNBC demoing and explaining smartcard technology – repeated several times across Europe

– CEO interview on Bloomberg and CNN

– Double page spread in Shares magazine

• Results – Extensive global coverage

– Quality enquiries

– $10M in license deals with 4 major companies

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Engaged to reposition ARC • ARC’s reputation & share price was at all time low • Media audit showed press had lost interest in the company • No clear image for the company – Rival Tensilica had stolen the configurable cores

company identity. • Campaign

– New CEO on press tour round Europe – Refocused the company messaging onto

configurable cores – Regular engagement with media and analysts

with new cores and licensing wins to re-enforce messaging

• Results – Media audit after one year showed new

positioning was established – 5 front page covers with CEO – Share price went up significantly

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Philips Semiconductors rebirth • Engaged to help relaunch the company • 100+ journalists from around the world to Eindhoven for

two days of briefings using material generated by Vortex • Book loads of cuttings and Philips Semiconductors re-

established as a leading innovator • Re-structured the communications operation from a

datasheet driven press release system to strategic communications

• Researched stories that addressed all levels in the customer companies from engineers to CEOs with coverage across the trade press, front cover stories and even the Wall Street Journal

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RadioScape • Complete change of direction for

the company into DAB • Launched the new identity • Established RadioScape as a

leading authority on DAB • Demoed every step of the advancement of DAB to

leading editors • Articles in Financial Times, New Scientist and EETimes

plus trade media for electronics, FMCG, and radio • CEO said “We have never spent a penny on advertising.

We are known thought the world though PR and our salesmen welcomed.”

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Client base

Current clients

RFEL (client since May 2001)

Peratech (client since early 2008)

Baolab (client since 2010)

ESCATEC (client since 2011)

Plessey Semiconductors (client since 2011)

Yole (project work since 2012)

Computing

Canon ATO (nine months)

DEC (project work over 2 years)

Inmac (12 years)

IT Map (2 years)

Letraset Graphic Design Software (2 years)

Penman Products (3 years)

PEP PC (1 year)

Protek (9 years)

Tally Systems (3½ years)

Varsys (3 years)

WorkStation Source (3 years)

Networking

DAVID Systems (2 years)

LANart (3 years)

ML Electro-Optics (3 years)

Nestar (5 years)

Xionics (2 years)

Zenith computers (project work)

New business is usually from recommendation or contacts moving to new companies.

Electronics

ARC International (5 years)

BrightCom Technologies (2 years)

California Graphics (1 year)

Duracell Batteries (7 years)

Encrypta Electronic Seals (20 years)

GEC Plessey Semiconductors (5 years)

HP Labs (project work in 2001)

ITW Switches (2 years)

Loughborough Sound Images (2 years)

MIPS technologies (6 years)

Mitron Europe (2 years)

Palmchip (1 year)

Philips Semiconductors (7 years)

RadioScape (4 years)

Trident MicroSystems (2 years)

Varta Batteries (project work)

Microtune (4 years)

Heliatek (1 year)

Movea (2 years)

Business to Business and financial

Beeson Gregory Private Equity (project work in 2001)

Riskart (2 years)

ItsWine.com (1 year)

The Shortlist (1 year)

Miscellaneous

Du Pont Biotechnology Division (6 years)

Oxonica – nanotechnology (3 years)