MUNCmedia_Retail_Investor_Targeting

Any Tom, Dick or Larry (and their retail investor followers) can affect your stock - expanding on the IMAX case study

One of the more interesting sessions I attended at this year’s NIRI Annual Conference in Orlando brought to light the impact alternative research can have on a stock. Please read Michael Mayhew of Integrity Research's fine re-cap titled IMAX: A Case Study in Why Alternative Research Matters. There is a second point to this story. IMAX is 66% institutionally held. We can assume the remaining 34%... a mix of insiders and individuals... affected the 20% drop.  Does IMAX have a Retail Investor strategy? Certainly, it was individuals and perhaps even employees who reacted to this piece. The fact that any Tom, Dick or Larry can, on just ONE BLOG, affect a $30 stock is a remarkable case study for both the pervasive reach of public opinion stock research as well as the surface-level immediacy of day-trader retail investors. LINKS I assume it is this article: http://seekingalpha.com/article/273929-imax-has-a-collapse-in-its-future “Larry” http://www.pdlcapital.com/ Disclosure: I like going to IMAX at the Boston Museum of Science to hear Leonard Nimoy say “Who put the bop in the bop shoo bop bop.” Have a great day

 

A wicked pissah great IR Event!

Congratulations to the National Investor Relations Institute for a very successful "Introduction to IR" this week in Boston. This is the 11th time I have attended annual great conference (I'm a slow learner). One point - if conference attendance is an economic barometer, we're on the road to recovery... there were 133 "IR newbies" signed up this year, which is about 40% more than last year. It's a smart event chock full of Best Practices in Investor Relations insights from working practitioners. You may meet a friendly service provider too. Who knows, maybe they'll buy you dinner!     Welcome to Boston     Full house.     MUNCmedia sponsored dinner at Fire & Ice     Brain food     Oooh. Sooooo this is how NIRI's Kraig Conrad gets new members - he hypnotizes them!     BFFs Have a great day.

NIRI's Introduction to Investor Relations (SEPT 12 -15) conference is the best for learning IR fundamentals

Ahh...MUNCmugs. 15oz of joy.

If you are new to IR – or you have a new colleague on your team – this annual conference is “must-see TV.” The September session is always here in Boston which is MUNCmedia marketing’s hometown. There is also a West coast session each January in Santa Monica CA. ( I do NOT get to go to that one dammit!) From my side of the IR fence, I really like this conference as the pace allows me to have quieter, in-depth conversations with people as they dive into the deep-end of IR. What I find most interesting is the huge diversity of professional backgrounds: PR, corp comm, finance, legal... and even (gasp!) marketing. This diversity is exactly why NIRI has been so important to so many in the industry (practitioner and vendor alike) as where else would we learn this stuff?   This is college for IR. Click here to contact Sharon Wall at NIRI for more information. And if the educational benefits aren’t enough for you, MUNCmedia is hosting a casual but cool dinner on Monday night. Have a great day.

MUNCmedia Provides National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) “Small-cap Scholarship” free to NASDAQ, NYSE, TSX and OTC Companies

Firm champions Investor Relations education and professional networking for public companies with small market capitalization NEW YORK – MUNCmedia, #1 in Retail Investor Targeting, today affirmed their ongoing commitment to small and micro-cap companies by sponsoring NIRI's “Small-cap Scholarship” to all public companies that have a market capitalization of $250 million or less.
	The MUNCmedia Small-cap Scholarship to NIRI includes six month access to these select NIRI membership benefits: IR Weekly — e-newsletter IR Update — printed monthly magazine Executive Alerts — timely e-mail bulletins on regulatory and compliance issues IR Advisors — periodic e-mail updates on IR best practices NIRI member benefit webinars CLICK HERE to sign up.
MUNCmedia’s “Small-cap Scholarship” is free to all public companies with a market capitalization of $250 million or less. Companies must be NASDAQ, NYSE, TSX or OTC listed.  “MUNCmedia assists small and micro-cap companies - many of which have no opportunity to work with institutional investors - generate share activity by communicating their Investor Relations messages directly to Retail Investors,” said Bradley H. Smith, Chief Marketing Officer, MUNCmedia. “However, we realized that many of our clients needed complementary guidance surrounding best practices in Investor Relations. Today’s battle-scarred individual investors are no longer the complacent Mom & Pop of just a few years ago,“ continued Smith. “They’re savvy Web 2.0 consumers of stock information. The deep expert network and education resources of NIRI will better equip small and micro-cap companies to speak with these sophisticated shareholders.”   Additionally, should you decide to join NIRI, the MUNCmedia Small-cap Scholarship includes a $150 savings off a full NIRI membership. For further information, please contact Bradley H. Smith, +1 917 680 6011. Follow MUNCmedia on Twitter @BHSMITH and visit our blog. ### About MUNCmedia: Market Update Network Corporation MUNCmedia is the first Information Media Network and world leader in web-based Retail Investor Targeting solutions. We provide online corporate communications, research and media solution to companies worldwide. From targeting press releases one-to-one to individual investors to corporate video PR content, MUNCmedia helps companies deliver targeted and scalable messages to the precise audience in real-time. Hundreds of companies, IR and PR agencies, stock exchanges and integrated newswires rely on MUNCmedia services to deliver news messages to the retail financial community every day with measurable results. MUNCmedia was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in New York, NY with regional offices in Bellevue, WA and Boston. We currently service over 300 direct public company issuers, 40 IR agency partners and have a fully integrated partnership with GlobeNewswire, a NASDAQ OMX Company

So...what DO you give a video webcast on its birthday? (Retail Investors: Understanding, Reaching and Measuring)

It’s been exactly one year since I became seriously deep in the MUNCmire with our full day NASDAQ MarketSite event celebrating the retail investor! This event assembled the best brains in regards to retail investors -conventional and uniconventional thinkers.   Over 500 people signed-up to join the day’s festivities: live seminar with video webcast, market close and FUNCY MUNC PARTY with NYC’s hottest funk band! Awesome day - great content.

Retail Investors: Understanding, Reaching and Measuring (video above) Jeff Morgan, CEO and President, NIRI Matt Bird, CEO, MUNCmedia Friederike Edelmann, Director Investor Relations, SAP Peter Breen, then, Managing Partner, The Vokser Group / Strategist, BetterInvesting (now Managing Director BNY Mellon)   Besides the video above, you can download an MP3 audio file for your iPod and a transcript. I have not watched it myself in a while – so considering my spouse has a Jane Austin movie cued up in DVD player… I will be watching this tonight. Have a great day.

Lights, Camera…PROXY! A 1956 Hollywood movie starring Investor Relations !?

“To work to work to work! Where are the stockholder letters?” (video clip)	My wife and I are big fans of Turner Classic Movies (TCM) and we discovered a movie that showcases all the cliff-hanging danger, human drama and unbridled passion that is Investor Relations!. ( um… no, It was not shot at the NIRI Annual Conference. What happens at NIRI...)    " …the meddlesome Laura attends every board meeting, and when she proposes forming a shareholders' [activist] committee, Blessington [the CEO] decides to short circuit her effort by hiring her to generate "good will" among the small stockholders. As Director of Shareholder Relations, Laura is given her own office… "   Actually, it is a very excellent Oscar-winning comedy starring Judy Holiday: The Solid Gold Cadillac. As far as I have ever seen, it’s the first movie that highlights investor relations and the strength retail investors can deliver.
Mostly, it was fun to watch a movie in the vocabulary of IR. Also, what struck me is the unfortunate timelessness of the story. 54 years later, we’re still reading about the same stories:   1.)   Self serving CEO 2.)   Non-independent board of yes men ( including dolt brother in-law  ) 3.)   Book-cooking CFO who “adjust numbers to hide error of afore mentioned dolt 4.)   Retail Investors ignored by management 5.)   Activist shareholder question leadership decisions 6.)   Hard working, ethical “Shareholder Relations” officer   The story DOES have a seemingly Hollywood ending though…   7.)   Proactive outreach to retail investors 8.)   Retail investors proxy vote ousts the corrupt board   Can Retail Investors make a difference?  In line with the film’s fairytale hopefulness and faith, our case studies and  client base indicate so. Let’s see what Washington passes for the final reform bill too. If nothing else, the story reinforces the absolute importance of building a relationship with shareholders because in this parable - - SPOILER ALERT - - IR and individual investors ride the white horse.   Kiss the girl, drive off into sunset, fade to black.   Have a  great day.

Will IR bring more balance between institutional and individual investors outreach?

Last week’s NIRI Conference in San Diego was excellent for MUNCmedia. It was our Sophomore year at this event ( my personal 11th) – and anecdotally we were successful. We literally demonstrated our Retail Investor Targeting solution a couple hundred times and it was VERY exciting watching the light bulbs go on over attendee’s heads and the collective “ooOOooh…that’s reeeeeally good” acclaim from both the Investor Relations Officers and the industry. No one else does what we do. We reach retail investors in real-time. Did you take a break from the sessions and walk along the water behind the NIRI Conference hotel and see this man in San Diego? Amazing. That said, many of us have a long way to go in actually understanding the retail investor. The perception of the senior citizen who holds 100 shares coming to the Annual Meeting and complaining there are not enough cookies is still pervasive. It’s unfair these days. The balance is slowly shifting. Rule 452 has brought retail investors top-of-mind for several companies.  Rule 452, "Giving Proxies by Member Organizations," has been amended to eliminate broker discretionary voting for the election of directors and brings new emphasis regarding the need to educate investors on the importance of their vote. And what is the best way to learn? Cram before the big test ( the big vote) or continually study (inform) throughout the school (fiscal) year? As I wrote prior, I tend to view retail investors outreach as an ongoing “marketing effort” – not a seasonal effort. Like any online consumer, these investomers are very web savvy – and need consistent brand re-enforcement. The web (and MUNCmedia) does exactly that. There is no list. It is dynamic engaged investors. Will there be 50 – 50 balance between Main and Wall Streets?  No, but it is shifting and for many small cap companies,  balance may NEVER be possible… It’s retail or nothing. Have a great day.

MUNCmedia Introduces Retail Investor Targeting Suite Specifically Designed to Generate Needed Awareness and Activity for Delisted Public Companies

Today's press release is another tangible example of 2010 MUNCmentum.   Main Street resurgence to fill widespread void left by exodus of Wall Street analysts and subsequent loss of sell-side coverage NEW YORK – MUNCmedia, #1 in Retail Investor Targeting, today announced the introduction of a new Retail Investor Targeting solution specifically designed to help delisted companies, as well as those at risk of being delisted, generate interest in their company’s messaging with the express goal of getting the company back onto the appropriate exchange. The new package combines MUNCmedia’s core Retail Investor Targeting with engaging video content and social media networking focused on directly reaching individual investors.
	“Delisting is a hard pill to swallow for a public company and its current investors,” said Bradley H. Smith, Chief Marketing Officer, MUNCmedia, “however, we believe in many, many cases, these corporations are casualties of Wall Street’s ongoing turmoil. Delisting is not an indication of the company’s or its management’s performance… it’s a financial communications problem. A small-cap company message just doesn’t resonate for an institutional investor as their funds are too large to take a position. The percent holdings math doesn’t work out.” As recently reported by Instinet, Wall Street has seen an 84 percent head-count reduction in the sell-side analyst ranks over the last decade. This drop, paired with the collapse of newspaper and media employment, has created a “communication vacuum” for small-cap and OTC corporations. “There’s no one left to socialize the company’s story except the company itself. Our clients are building great products, designing important drugs and delivering meaningful services which are creating profitable corporations,” Smith continued. “Unfortunately, the institutions have stopped listening to their stories. MUNCmedia assures that that message will be heard on Main Street and, more importantly, reaching investors who can buy the stock.”
The new MUNCmedia package includes exclusive MUNCmedia video content, multi-month Retail Investor Targeting and social media campaigns as well as guidance on online shareholder communications. MUNCmedia will be presenting at the National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) Annual Conference, June 6 – 9, in San Diego. For case studies and pricing, please contact Bradley H. Smith, +1 917 680 6011. Follow MUNCmedia on Twitter @BHSMITH and visit our blog. ### About MUNCmedia: Market Update Network Corporation MUNCmedia is the first Information Media Network and world leader in web-based Retail Investor Targeting solutions. We provide online corporate communications, research and media solution to companies worldwide. From targeting press releases one-to-one to individual investors to corporate video PR content, MUNCmedia helps companies deliver targeted and scalable messages to the precise audience in real-time. Hundreds of companies, IR and PR agencies, stock exchanges and integrated newswires rely on MUNCmedia services to deliver news messages to the retail financial community every day with measurable results. MUNCmedia was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in New York, NY with regional offices in Bellevue, WA and Boston. We currently service over 300 direct public company issuers, 40 IR agency partners and have a fully integrated partnership with GlobeNewswire, a NASDAQ OMX Company ---------------------------------------------------------- Have a great day.

Our NIRI Conference “Cheeky Button” campaign is spot on with their recent Retail Investor article.

Very nice article in the May issue of NIRI’s IR Alert entitled “Where Has Retail Gone and Why Should You Care?”  Rule 452 has brought Retail Investors top-of-mind for many public companies that, for their own strategies, did not find Main Street germane. Small cap (and lower) companies appreciate Retail Investors’ ability to “move the needle,” but the mid to the mega-cap tended to focus in the institutional investor. And realistically so… generally speaking, Investor Relations departments are lean machines – subsequently, they are forced to focus. They must. If you view an IRO as a sales person then it’s good business for “sales” to laser in on the prospect that will deliver the best return. That said, diversifying is good, and now more than ever. < < < PSSST... If you are attending the NIRI conference, look for this button in the show tote bag. Wear it on your lanyard and visit us. If your number matches you'll win one of eight iPads.

Quoting the article: “…we can treat Rule 452 as a catalyst for renewing consideration of our retail investor constituent base.” “Many do not appreciate the value of retail. It is the eccentrics that gave retail a bad name.” “We have proven that owners of our stock are our best customers.” As shareholder communications to Retail Investors is very germane to my bread & butter, I was enthused by the article. What encouraged me is that discussions about Retail Investors are occurring again – and in a positive vein. NIRI members skew to the larger companies – thus our MUNCmedia "Cheeky Button” message for the 2010 Annual Conference should engage great dialogue in San Diego. Did I mention we’re having beer tasting in our booth?  That should engage great dialogue too.   Have a great day.

My advice is prevent IROs who are easily frightened from reading the April issue of NIRI IR Update

(Sincere thanks to Melissa Jones, Manager, Marketing Communications and Website)

 
( Have a great day.)

Best Practices in Investor Relations leaders celebrated at NASDAQ MarketSite

Three reasons why Investor Relations is a great industry. 1.) It's very relevant to the economy, 2.) it's an entire business build around honesty, 3.) no matter what your exact role or title is, there is a cohesive ground. We are all professional communicators and relationship builders. Above (although I am missing a few names - sorry) FRONT: John Viglotti: PR Newswire; Kay Breakstone, Breakstone Group; Sharon Rubio, Citrix Systems; Neil Stewart, Cross Border (IR Magazine); Demetrios Skalkotos, NASDAQ OMX; Dennie Kimbrough, Microsoft; Elizabeth DaSilva, BNY Mellon Shareowner Services; Deborah O'Donnell, Wells Fargo Shareowner Services BACK: Bradley (me) Smith, MUNCmedia; Janet Dignan, Cross Border (IR Magazine); Ian Richman, Cross Border (IR Magazine); John Simenuk, International Print Group; Kevin Brennan, BNY Mellon Shareowner Services; Gordon Stevenson, AST; Becky Updegraph, Deutsche Bank. Have a great day.

Investor Relations Celebration of Best in Class Practitioners

Excellent night as always. Professional and playful admiration to IR Magazine for once again celebrating the efforts of clients, prospects and friends in the Investor Relations Industry.   To quote an email I received last week from an IRO – “As usual, I'm overworked and underappreciated.” No need to tell that tale to anyone read this blog. Winners are below. Everyone was very pleased to see my new business card too.  Have a great day.

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The 2010 IR Magazine IR Awards Winners Grand prix for best overall investor relations – small cap: Life Time Fitness Grand prix for best overall investor relations – mid-cap: Covance Grand prix for best overall investor relations – large cap: Express Scripts Grand prix for best overall investor relations – mega-cap: JPMorgan Chase & Co Best investor relations officer – small cap: Ken Cooper – Life Time Fitness Best investor relations officer – mid-cap: Paul Surdez – Covance  Best investor relations officer – large cap: David Myers – Express Scripts   Best investor relations officer – mega-cap: Lee McEntire & Kevin Stitt – Bank of America  Best retail investor communications: GE  Best annual report – small to large cap: Southwest Airlines  Best crisis communications – small to large cap: Life Time Fitness  Best investor relations by a chairman or CEO – small to large cap : Glen Senk – Urban Outfitters  Best corporate governance: JPMorgan Chase & Co  Best M&A investor relations: Merck and Schering-Plough Best IR by a continental European company in the US market: ABB

Best IR by an Asia-Pacific company in the US market: Infosys Technologies  Lifetime achievement in investor relations: Kay Breakstone & Carol Ruth Best investor relations website: Chesapeake Energy  Most progress in investor relations: AmTrust Financial Services  Best use of conferencing: Gen-Probe  Best corporate advertising: Verizon Communications  Sector leaders  Consumer discretionary: Life Time Fitness  Consumer staples: Kellogg Company  Diversified: GE  Energy: Chesapeake Energy  Financials: JPMorgan Chase & Co  Healthcare: Covance  Industrials: FedEx  Materials: Ecolab  Technology: Cisco Telecommunication services: AT&T  Utilities: Northeast Utilities

 

Getting social over Social Media

	Big week in NYC for Investor Relations. Certainly at the center of the activity is IR magazine’s annual IR Awards. But that’s not the only event in the area. Just a Metro-North ride away, four of the industry’s most passionate Social Media evangelists are sitting together for the first time. The NIRI Connecticut / Westchester Chapter gets an A+ for arranging the Four D's. Darrell Heaps, Q4 Web Systems: @darrellheaps Dan Dykens: @meetthestreet Doug Chia, J&J: @dougchia Dennis Walsh, Sharon Merrill Associates: @DWalshIR
Follow these folks in Twitter to keep abreast - in real time - of Social Media's expanding role and successes in IR. (Follow me too @BHSmith. I occasionally have an idea.) There are a lot of us trying to help our clients build relationships with individual investors one-on-one. That's a key aspect of what we do at MUNCmedia... our Retail Investor Targeting is individual investor communications. This was the first time Darrell had a chance to sit together face-to-face and swap Social Media and IR notes. We do meet weekly at Twitter #irchat (check THAT out BTW) and we'll both be mingling at the IR Awards. This will be my 10th IR Awards... and I am proud to say my tuxedo still fits!  Um, well, it fits as long as I don't eat, drink or breath. Have a great day.