After a chequered history of rebranding, Hotwire has spent the last three years successfully rebuilding the image and reputation of Thales e-Security in line with the company’s market strength and business objectives. This long-term relationship began with establishing media presence and understanding and has now developed into a new phase where Hotwire is able to reinforce the company’s leadership position through the media. Most recently this was highlighted through winning a technology award from leading publication, The Banker, for Thales’ key Safesign product.

When Hotwire began working for Thales in early 2003, the team faced several immediate challenges. Principle of these was that Thales had rebranded recently and wanted to clarify its position in the market. This meant that even though Thales e-Security, the specific part of Thales for which Hotwire was working, was the global leader in cryptographic solutions for banking transactions and highly secure communications the company had largely slipped off the media radar.

Thales is a major electronics and systems group serving defence, aerospace, security and services markets. Thales e-Security is responsible for the security and authentication of electronic transactions – whenever a retail payment transaction takes place, regardless of channel (e.g. point of sale, Internet, ATM, phone, etc…) it is almost certainly Thales cryptographic equipment that will handle the authentication.

In 2003, Hotwire had two central issues to focus on: the rebranding of the division and a new key product offering, Safesign. Thales e-Security had previously been part of Racal and briefly operated under the name of Zaxus, for which little brand awareness had been achieved. Not long before Hotwire entered the picture the company renamed and wanted to start getting clearer messages out in terms of thought leadership and product positioning. “Thales had become the virtually unkown leader in a field that was being largely ignored by the media,” explains Scott McLean, head of the banking and finance practice. “Not only did we want Thales to be put firmly back on the media radar with a full understanding of the company’s history and capabilities but we also wanted to put transaction authentication and secure communications back up there as an important issue. If we could not achieve this then we would not have been able to effectively communicate the benefits of the revolutionary Safesign middle office authentication platform that Thales was launching at the time.”

Having found award-winning success in late 2002 as the authentication platform that underpins the new BACSTEL-IP payments system, Safesign is an advanced system, thoroughly in tune with the way payment transactions are evolving. Its ability to authenticate any transaction, regardless of channel, coupled with the fact that it is compatible with any PKI – whether commercially available or home-grown – has made it the most flexible and adaptive authentication platform on the market. However, while there is little doubt about its capabilities, Thales e-Security recognised the need for PR to communicate its availability and to challenge the status quo in order to persuade banks of the need to migrate to such a system.

Thales e-Security was aware of the communications challenge the company faced. “The banks were undergoing numerous core changes including the move to Chip and PIN at the same time that we were rebranding and launching Safesign,” said Claire Topping, Senior Marketing Communications Manager at Thales e-Security. “We were under no illusions that achieving mindshare, let alone thought leadership, would be a struggle.”

A key theme from the very outset of the campaign was industry issues. Thales needed to become a thought leader in e-Security issues and the Safesign brand needed to be taken forward. Both tasks would move hand in hand, and the client and key spokespeople were extremely supportive.

For thought leadership issues Hotwire set its Issues Factory in motion. This is an approach the company takes in which it brainstorms issues that are causing the most business pain amongst its customer base. Hotwire has evolved a methodology through which it workshops messages with the client and then extracts every conceivable angle from them; it explores trade issues, consumer issues and issues coming downstream. These are then codified into talking point documents, which then form the basis of a issues outreach. Using this methodology Hotwire was able to ensure that Thales e-Security had the opportunity to become well-briefed and associated with any relevant news items that might come up, as well as developing its own news and comment agenda.

Hotwire swiftly identified a number of important issues to which Thales insights could be attached. Fraud in ‘cardholder not present’ transactions was on the increase, while Chip and PIN was coming in for other transactions. Both offered natural opportunities for Thales to express a view. “We were able to be very effective because Thales was so competent in offering commentators,” says Scott McLean. “While Chip and PIN was in no way a new issue within the media, we were able to discuss new and controversial angles around the migration that created fresh interest in one of the largest technology migrations ever undertaken within the banking industry.” There was coverage in The Banker, Banker Middle East, Banking Technology, Financial Sector Technology, the card press, such as Card Technology Today and European Card Review and other relevant media including the general technology and security press; the notion of Thales as a thought leader was well established.

The result was a very strong launch of Safesign in September 2003. Safesign was a strong product and clear messaging led customers to understand the need for end to end transaction security which would be transparent across different applications, the ease of adding new platforms such as wireless and interactive TV, and the cost benefits of uniting PKI, biometrics and token technologies.

Following the launch, Hotwire continued comprehensive thought leadership through 2004 and 2005. At the same time the first customers were starting to come through, Hotwire followed up with a survey whose results appeared in November 2005 in most of the influential banking and card press. Most recently in 2006, Safesign received yet further recognition through winning a Technology award from The Banker for Thales’ project with Bank ID in Sweden – the award was drafted, submitted and managed by Hotwire.

The launch was a success at least partly because of the work Hotwire had put in to ensure that everyone was aware of Thales’ transaction authentication expertise. The press had started proactively seeking the company out when it came to comment. “We see PR as a vital part of our marketing efforts. Through Hotwire we have been able to gain high quality coverage in a range of core financial technology publications and have significantly enhanced our corporate profile. Hotwire’s approach to thought leadership, the agency’s industry knowledge and the dedication of the team with which we work extremely closely have been key factor’s behind our ongoing successful PR outreach.”