Boosting market awareness of financial technology products into new retail markets
Triton

Goal:
To increase exposure in the financial services market and extend awareness of Triton's financial technology products into non-financial services retail markets.

Approach:
Triton was one of the first manufacturers of cash-dispensing ATMs to envision the potential of deploying ATMs in off-premise locations. Triton's challenge was to convince banks, which had traditionally purchased and installed large, onsite ATMs from NCR and Diebold in their branches, that bank customers would use off-premise ATMs. Most importantly, Triton had to convince these notoriously conservative institutions that placing ATMs off-site would be profitable and improve customer marketing and retention. Another untapped market for off-premise ATMs was retail outlets such as convenience stores, hotel lobbies, and restaurants.

To support Triton's business strategy of capturing the financial services market and then expanding into retail (and to take advantage of Triton's first-mover status before it was too late), Stephenson Group (SG) needed to quickly boost awareness and credibility of the benefits of off-premise ATMs first among banks, and then among retail establishments.

With only two weeks notice, SG launched Triton into the banking arena at the industry's most important trade show: BAI's Retail Delivery. During the show, SG announced Triton's two new products to the press, and secured numerous press meetings with major banking publications. An analyst and press tour two months later continued the relationship-building process. SG then established an ongoing communications program encompassing news releases and bylined articles along with proactive story pitching, speaking engagements, and pursuing editorial calendar opportunities.

Results:
Triton emerged from the pack of "other" ATM manufacturers and is recognized both as the leader in the off-premise market and one of the "Big Three" U.S. ATM manufacturers. Triton was named three years in a row to the Inc. 500 list of fastest growing private companies in the U.S. and was named one of America's top 25 most successful small manufacturers by Industry Week's Growing Companies before being acquired by Dover Industries in early 2000.

Triton is mentioned in nearly all roundup stories on the off-premise ATM industry and comments from Triton's executives are actively solicited by journalists for most stories covering the off-premise market. SG has obtained over 380 placements for Triton, including 147 in banking publications, 114 in retail publications, and 119 in general business and consumer press. Placements include prominent coverage in American Banker, ABA Banking Journal, U.S. Banker, Bank Systems + Technology, ATMmarketplace, Convenience Store News, Hotel and Motel Management, Red Herring, and BusinessWeek.