Fairfield County Business Report; Corporate Video

In. The corporate video explosion. Coming up next on the Fairfield County Business Report it. I'm Lynn plaster this week on the Fairfield County Business Report the growing corporate use of video as a communications tool. We'll be discussing that with three expert guests after the week's business highlights. Champion International is one step closer to merging with St. Regis corporation. Stanford based champion has arranged to borrow over a billion dollars from a group of

banks. The company estimates it will need about 1.1 billion dollars to gain control of St. Regis. The first two firms the two firms agreed to merge last Tuesday after newspaper entrepreneur Rupert Murdoch made an unsuccessful bid to take over St. Regis this deal marks the second time British financier served James Goldsmith has entered the Stanford business scene. The first you may remember revolved around Goldsmiths effort to buy a continental group. The U.S. Supreme Court will get to try the New England experiment. The high court will be deciding whether Connecticut's regional interstate bank mergers are constitutional. A second U.S. Court of Appeals in New York decided Wednesday that the mergers were indeed OK. The ruling would allow a merger between north east bank and the Bank of New York if it remains unchallenged. The quest for Abaco continues Leucadia National Corp. has hired Drexel Burnham Lambert to help it raise funds to purchase Greenwich based corporation. Last Friday after his board of directors rejected Leucadia his proposal to buy Abaco stock for nine hundred thirty four million dollars Leucadia National is a financial

holding company with assets of five hundred fifty million dollars as of the end of last year one hundred eighty three net revenues were two point eight billion dollars with net earnings of almost one hundred three million consumer loan and mortgage interest rates inched higher in Connecticut during May in June that according to state banking commissioner Brian Wells rates on fixed rate mortgages are now about 1.4 percentage points higher than a year ago. And Omaha based telecommunications firm is bringing 100 new jobs to Fairfield interline communications services advises businesses on purchasing telephone systems and designs installs and maintains the systems. The company was formed almost a year ago and has opened 30 regional offices around the country. In recent weeks. Stuff or chemicals is reporting an improved financial picture for the third fiscal quarter ended June 30. The Westport company said sales were almost three hundred eighty one million. That's compared with 291 million the same quarter last year. Net earnings 32 cents per share last year 27. Stock in the United

Illuminating Company has been trading around its all time low last Friday you-I stock dropped to $9 62 cents as recently as the fourth quarter of last year. I was trading at $28 and 50 cents. A company spokesman told the Fairfield County Business Report that United illuminating hopes a 16 million dollar rate hike will help alleviate some of the problem. The New Haven based utility wants half of the proposed increase to be granted on an emergency basis. A ruling could come next week. Greenwich residents may soon be paying the same for water as their neighbors in the Connecticut American Water Company is proposing to raise rates by 17 percent. The increase would be in two stages one hike in October the second in January. Hearings are continuing at state department of public utility control offices in New Britain. Three years ago a group of business women formed the entrepreneurial woman's network in Westport. A few months ago the movement expanded to the Stanford Greenwich area. And this week that group held its largest meeting to date. It was a luncheon and some 50 women gathered to hear business

consultant Barbara provide tips on how to succeed and what to do if you fail the business women she was talking to. Range from retailers and manufacturers to lawyers and accountants. Diane Martin who was a co-founder members get from joining together to find out what each other's businesses experience and do business and really get together it's hard to find out where women that have their own businesses are. On the move this week Warnaco has named Larry Pfleger as president and chief operating officer. He had been senior vice president and chief financial officer over at G.E. Lawrence a boss is the new vice chairman replacing John F. Burlingame who will retire Jan. 1. Farmer has been named vice president market development at American Kan in Greenwich. Congratulations to all. We'll be

back after a look at how some area stocks perform this week. On this week's business calendar the Connecticut small business center is sponsoring a seminar called How

to use effective marketing and advertising to reach customers. That's on August 15th from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. at the library in Bridgeport. The cost for the seminar is $7. As we move into what is being called the Information Society that shift calls for changes in the way we operate our businesses communication has become the key. And more and more companies are relying on new and interesting ways to communicate information to their employees and to the outside world. One major communications company found itself faced with a business problem. Let's look at it a multimillion dollar joint venture has been bought out by your venture. We've got a long lease on a lot of money and manpower invested. That's the situation Group W satellite communications found itself in last year. This is the satellite news channel all the time when satellite news channel folded last October W was left with high rent

a long lease and a state of the art facility in a prime location. But nothing to do with it. It called for some creative thinking. If you don't have to cross the country to find them you no longer need to brave the wilds of the traffic getting into New York City for the best and studio for your post-production services. The largest studio built in the world. Constructed by and W satellite a complete telecommunications center built to serve the world. Ready to serve you. In producing more videos and he looked around and said We're here in Fairfield county adjacent to Westchester County which is I think the fourth largest retail site housing corporate

offices major corporations. We're also aware that there was a video explosion going on in corporations using it for training new product introductions communications to employees and stockholders. And we said there's a fit there somewhere. Let's see what we can do. And we've named it the corporate video center. We think the best asset we've got going for us is what it looks like. And that includes large and small studios. Impressive post-production facilities satellite delivery in short a one stop shop. We would think that we can take from a corporation or from anyone for them that was a concept an idea for a video. And if you have nothing more than an idea we can write and produce and direct it. We can also even distribute the tapes if you plan on going to where we can make copies of the tapes. One of the benefits that you're selling here the Corporate Media Center is the fact that Group W has its own satellites. What does that do for a client.

Well what it does is for an open door that if you want to take advantage of that you can. What could a company expect. Well we would uplink from here are a better approach. We were producing from here or any location that they would want but if it came from here what we would do is use to take the video product and send it up to a transponder on a specific satellite and it would drop down in as many cities as you would like it to. Harlan Rosenzweig says Group W is hoping to bring in two million dollars a year from the venture he thinks the Group W and Westinghouse corporate images will help attract clients. But after that the work will have to sell itself. The people who are aware of what video can mean. Or the people most likely to be impressed with a facility like this. The convincing of corporations that video communications are an advanced state of communications knowing that communications are becoming more and more the Bible for successful operational work. Right. It's really an easy job. The convincing will be

towards the implementation the fulfilling of the need that will determine how successful you might be able get a lot of people to try you once. But to be successful they've got to be satisfied. The one time they tried or they won't do that. With us to discuss the corporate video boom are Robert Elmore director of visual communications at GTI in Stanford. Chris Campbell president of praxis media an independent production company and Edward Morgan manager of corporate communications at General Electric credit Corp.. Thank you all for joining us. First thing I think I would like to ask we can start with you Ed Why are corporations using more video. It's the medium of the hour. Our employees are watching television and we. Have to be in the electronic media. We can't afford simply to be in print anymore. GROSS You're you're on the providing end when you see is the reason. Well I think there's a multitude of reasons one is that the distribution is there from a sophistication standpoint when used properly it is the most effective

medium and the reach of an executive to the labor force is enormously enhanced and enormously magnified through the lens of a television camera. Will we fight to be a very highly effective way to communicate. Post both the communications effective and cost effective and basically that is we're here to support the business effort. We find it to be a very good support to that end. Why is it worth it to G d to have built its own in-house facility. I think in a word Lynn the answer would be volume. We have a very high volume of in-house work. Therefore we can afford to to carry the overheads of established in-house facility. What kind of direct returns do you see from the use of corporate media. Well we see we see a marketing return of over half of our work is in marketing. About 30 percent is in training and approximately 25 percent or 20 percent is in other aspects

of our operation. Ready for messages things such a thing such as that. You don't have your own facility at GCC but you use outside outside production facilities. What are the factors that lead your company to using video. Well obviously when our volume is a lot less than due to the ease but there are so many resources here in Fairfield County and becoming more all the time that we can really pick and choose among specialized services for specialized programs. It's very important for us I think to be able to pick and choose what kind of program we want to produce among the producers out in the area. OK now speaking of the kinds of print programs that we produce we have some clips from each of these gentlemen here I'd like to start with Bob Elmore who is has provided us with a tape of a sample tape of what TV produces. Let's take a look at that. We hear that word wherever we go as I'm flying to Stanford tomorrow

to reply to a stamp or a work from Stamford. Bridge. Is it the building is it management is it living or is it a rural setting. Well the answer is a little of each and such you're being asked to consider picking Stanford up part of your life an advancement in your career an opportunity to be part of the companys leadership. We want you to know what Stanford are you and your family. The future belongs to those who respond to today's questions. With the answers that you want tomorrow. We are dedicated to addressing the crucial needs facing each of us today with an eye on the benefits we will bring to many in the. Online company safety space age

communications and much more. What was that used for. Well the first one with the Stanford story was used to show employees who were considering taking a job in Stanford just what Stanford was all about. There's many many stories going around about this area whether whether it is or isn't a great place to be weak. We think it's a great place to be and we try to encourage people who are thinking of moving in the area by showing them a real picture of what Stanford life is like. The second was a was a capabilities program it was talking about the we went on to talk about the overall capabilities of g t and of course use hard to get the essence of a program in 30 seconds but. But that's that's the best I can show you now. It's a good example. Now Chris Kandel praxis media you are in the business of providing video production services to companies right out of tape too and perhaps you could write and explain a little bit about what I wrote was called as it is a custom house.

This is a series of programs clips. This first one here is for Turner electric as an introduction for the horizon is brilliant at Epcot and their main audience was employees. This was a six day bus. Tour to Scripture that this is a rare situation. This is still this is still up that. Is what we have to. Fix. OK this next is a corporate culture about values done for the Bell system where the rungs of the Bell System that harkens back to traditional ways of doing things. You have to write.

One just for the U.S.. And for the sake of those he'll be teaching someday. To take pride in his work. Can. This person for the remainder of this third clip a documentary about the world's first optical fiber laser undersea systems and as opposed to six days took over a year to produce obviously a location in the Atlantic Ocean system along with the simplex company that made this deepwater sea trial and unprecedented success. The facilities for development manufacturing and deployment of the SL undersea like wave system are all in place. The experience of the Bell system stands ready to produce off highly reliable transatlantic lightweight cable systems. Another giant step forward in international communication.

And finally have a training piece to motivate people to use a computer system. We all write new manuals more manuals. Yes. That's obviously a little reverse psychology on the last thing. Who says you can't have fun at work. But those clips

range from external audiences to training. Many of the same areas that Bob mentioned. What do you find as the main type of production that a company will come to you and ask for. There really is no mean type or very eclectic group as a custom house. Basically we follow through rules we do what we say we're going to do we come in on budget we call people back as fast as we can and it seems to be a formula for success but our clientele is basically in two areas. Major organizations that don't have their own in-house capacity and organizations that do have in-house capacity very sophisticated in some cases that is just simply exceeded by their workload. Ed Morgan at credit you don't have in-house facilities but you've brought along something that that you've done too could you tell us what it is that we've brought on two pieces of land first one here is an attempt to extend three. Motivation and messages of a large management moving out to

the entire field to ourselves a point that work. I read some important aspects of our focus. That were becoming market driven more and more responsive to the needs of our pets. Teamwork is more and more the key to realizing the success. Of a market driven strategy. It was a great it sounds like it was. What kind of an audience was this chanting. This is our seventy eight point player network that we have across the country. About 7000 employees would view this through a network of bi cycle tapes which go out and regular half inch format like you have at home. Each of our 78 offices that we've designated would have a player and consume it within five days after we make it. Is cost effective.

But he's right what we feel is very cost effective in fact if we we feel that the competitive pressures in the marketplace today he is is driving us towards video because because of the cost advantages does it. Well I think one of the ways you have to evaluate that is the enormous cost of bringing people together. If you want to send 50 people or 5000 a sales force or marketing force a planning group to a central location the city of Chicago for instance you're not talking about in addition to the investment of labor the time enormous travel expenses enormous accommodation expenses. So when you talk about cost effectiveness aside from the fact that you get the message in one. Continuous professional delivery and everybody gets that in that way. You cut out all those extraneous expenses so you know that if you're spending fifty thousand or hundred thousand dollars for a program may sound like a lot but when you put it next to those kinds of benefits it really isn't all.

I think you do have to be careful Len that you use material that is not just telling somebody something. We found that it has to go beyond telling to the motivation or an intuitive or something that's carried in the visual that couldn't be done in print or a letter. You know there's some misuse of the video in the corporate field I think. OK. Do you find that visual communication and video as part of that replaces the traditional written means of communication or is it an adjunct what you find. Well it's more than an adjunct certainly it's a whole way of communicating. But many things that print still does better in our opinion. You know one of the ways I think that answer the question is to look at the way that you live your everyday life. You look at the 6 o'clock news you read your weekly magazines you read your daily newspapers each of those has a specific function and a specific role in corporate communications you have all those various me each of them do certain things very well and they don't do other things

very well. But as the information age is upon us you have to use all the media you have to the best benefit of your individual messages. And so I think the answer to your question is really how do you live. If you if you don't watch television and you don't read newspapers probably corporate television is going to work for you. But if you do and you are an average person that it will be very effective if it's packaged properly and the clips that were shown by my colleagues I think demonstrate that their quality is there the production standards are there and it's every bit as sophisticated as broadcast quote unquote television. Something that's really in the vanguard now and is very new is the idea of teleconferences. I know Ed you've just you've just done one. Yes just two weeks ago we did a seven city teleconference. And it was 2000 people across the country seven different cities coming right from Stanford. I think we see coming up right here. From Stanford in seven other cities across the country.

Credit Corp presents for me. Man has been telling. A lot of Bob Watson Northern Territory Manager of the retail or financing department and chairman of the northeast regional marketing Council. I'll be honest ever hoster uplink 84 gcc's first satellite management delegate difference bringing together like your own. OK that sounds like teleconferences really seemed to be a look at the future. Why to ask all of you just to give a little bit of prognosis what the future holds in terms of corporate video Bob Elmore GTA. Well it holds a lot lot more of the traditional type of programming we're doing you know as I say marketing support training and in employee communications. But in addition it holds we see it holding great promise for teleconferencing. We're using

teleconferencing internally know the type of teleconference that we're that we're showing. We just showed was was a type of city to city teleconference and we see ourselves doing an awful lot of that. Sounds like we've got 15 seconds Chris and it's got terrific prognosis. As long as it continues to function and contribute to the business. OK Morgan we're going to continue to invest in it. OK. Sounds good. Sounds like it's really up and coming. Also sounds as though many new and exciting developments are in the picture and I hope we get to talk about this again soon. They could be a lot more to talk about within a few months or a couple of years. But it is time for us to end right now I'm sorry to say thank you to our guests Bob Elmore of GTD Chris Campbell. Thank praxis media and Ed Morgan of G.E. credit the public relations another communications tool having its renaissance in Fairfield County. We'll be talking about that next week. We hope you can join us. I'm live Laster I.

This has been a public affairs presentation of WDW gentle forty nine. Days and being affable not getting mortgage rates is that you're the one who's dealing with a rate that's really affected the did go up a little bit in the beginning of this year and it's being leveled

off a little bit. Yes it's about rage coming down like way to colleague Michael Sam you know I was going out to the world shortly an awful awful lot of money and use up that money very much for private enterprise to go out and break. It's about you know we're talking about money. I ought to cut you off. I appreciate all of you gentlemen being with me tonight. First I'd like to thank my first guest Peter Healy vice president general sales manager for William Pitt does a canal by the commissioner of housing for the state of Connecticut and Cy arrogated the president of the Home Builders Association for Fairfield County. I'm Pat Gaffney thank you very much for joining us tonight on this edition of Fairfield County Business Report. It. This has been a public affairs presentation of the w e w channel 40

nothing. The. Utility didn't enlist your god like it was that

bad. But it's Union boys and see the mess nobody is proposing. Yes we've gotten it yet but I don't see it. So I mean I said if you go to the US and don't say so. I don't know what I'm going on but. I'm going to lose. A little bit. Who programmed $75 pledge for the T-shirt $50 pledge for

the doctor who picture disc album. We have these special gifts for you because we really care and appreciate what you're doing for us and for any of the special premiums if you will in addition get the doctor who bumper sticker. And of course your program guide for the wonderful programs on TV every month you will see this guy sent to your home that lists the complete programming not only the Doctor Who but all of the other excellent programs that we bring to you and your families every day. And now let's go back to Pat. You Doctor Who fans are terrific I can tell you this is just terrific when the phones ring like this boy it lets us know that you're out there and that means so very much to us during festival 80 for an hour every single night and three hours next Saturday. That's because you asked for it and that's what we're here to do is bring you the best kind of programming we know how to bring you. That's the whole reason that Connecticut public television the public in Connecticut public

television is so very important because you make it happen. Don't forget one third of our budget comes from you and you're the one who makes it all happen with that pledge of support. Do 5 5 1 1 1 1 is the number to remember. Call us collect if you like at 0 2 0 3 2 5 5 1 1 1 1. Now we go back to Doctor Who on channel 40 not in Fairfield County. Oh. I. The Doctor. Told me to just come inside. I did today and I was mistaken. Oh the doctor OK. This is home. You know this is one place I did my best to live.

I wish to call this is really. Good. What is your problem. I guess I'm never home. You must know me. I don't know. Right.