Born in 1984 in the crucible of MIT’s research labs, Kopin Corp. (Nasdaq: KOPN) is one of the coolest companies you’ve never heard of. Like BASF in the famous ad campaign, Kopin doesn’t get the glory for making mobile consumer electronic products like cell phones, camcorders, digital cameras, games and laptops – it just makes them better.
 
The Taunton, Mass., company’s breakthroughs in nanosemiconductors have produced a host of efficient, compact and powerful high-tech products transforming the way people see, hear and communicate. The Kopin HBT transistor, for example, is the first commercially produced vertical semiconductor. It powers one out of every four wireless phones. Kopin’s CyberDisplay™, the world’s smallest (sub-quarter-inch diagonal), highest-resolution microdisplay, is in 30 percent of the world’s camcorders. The Kopin CyberLite™ is an ultra efficient light-emitting diode (LED) for portable devices. It’s smaller than a grain of sand but yields near-blinding light.
 
When Beaupre & Co. Public Relations Inc. became the company’s new public relations firm in June 2002, Kopin was facing a major PR challenge: although customers loved Kopin for its tireless innovation, the company needed to raise its profile. Since Kopin makes components instead of the end products they go into, Kopin operated as somewhat of a stealth company, letting its technological achievements – rather than a marketing machine – sell its innovative products. Beaupre & Co. was initially charged with two tasks, help launch the new CyberLite product and then tie all of Kopin’s somewhat eclectic products together under one messaging platform.

The ground-breaking CyberLite was a new product for a new market and one of the world’s first commercial applications of nanotechnology. Although the CyberLite was big news in itself – it lowered LED power consumption well below the magic 3-volt threshold – Beaupre & Co. extended the product’s news value by fashioning a host of compelling story angles.
 
First, Beaupre & Co. worked with Kopin to tie the story into an environmental angle: By 2025, solid state lighting could reduce the global amount of electricity used for lighting by 50 percent, according to industry statistics. The cumulative savings potential in the United States over the 2000-2020 timeframe could alleviate the need for 133 new power stations. Next, Beaupre & Co. leveraged the magic of the tiny and bright blue LEDs. Which are “in” and visible just about everywhere, from the dial pad on cell phones to electric razors to interactive toys. Beaupre & Co. marshaled all these influences and ideas to aggressively pitch the CyberLite announcement. Several eye catching photos were created including one showing CyberLite on a dime to dramatize its tiny size and brilliance.
 
The announcement was a tremendous success. The story broke in Forbes.com and also appeared in The Boston Globe, Financial Times, Investor’s Business Daily, New York Times and Wall Street Journal. Beaupre & Co. also secured stories in nanotechnology publications like Small Times and Forbes’ special industry publication, The Nanosemiconductor Report. The firm continued to promote the story for months after the release date, securing appointments with BusinessWeek and the New York Times. “By harnessing nanotechnology,” Forbes said, Kopin is “breaking down the door of the LED industry.”
 
Beaupre & Co. followed up the announcement with more initiatives to raise Kopin’s profile. The firm immediately kicked off a Dynamic Differentiation^SM program to identify the “One Thing” (See recent Beaupre Buzz article http://newsletter.beaupre.com/e_article000071309.cfm) that embodies Kopin’s unique technological identity. Brainstorming with Kopin’s founder and CEO Dr. John C.C. Fan and its management, Beaupre & Co. and Kopin agreed that the company’s One Thing was its unique use of nanotechnology to develop advanced semiconductors like the CyberLite. Kopin became the nanosemiconductor company.
 
Beaupre & Co. continued to translate Kopin’s technological achievements into language a typical editor could understand – in other words, by “dumbing it down.” When Kopin landed a deal with BMW and Schuberth Helmets to provide a CyberDisplay for Formula 1 race car drivers, the public relations opportunity transcended the formidable technology. It was a sexy story about power, speed, competition and risk. The news announcement captured that excitement and incorporated a quote from BMW’s world famous Formula 1 racing driver, saying he can “respond to information presented on the [CyberDisplay] faster than any other instrument in the car” and “race with more confidence and safety.” Beaupre & Co. scored coverage for the announcement in many trade and business publications. 

To continue building brand awareness for Kopin, Beaupre & Co. developed a Speakers Bureau program focusing on high-profile events. By aggressively courting key conference managers, Beaupre & Co. secured Dr. Fan an invitation-only speaking slot at MIT’s prestigious Emerging Technologies Conference. Beaupre & Co. closed the appointment in person when Fan was speaking at another event, giving the conference manager a chance to see the dynamic executive in action. 

“Beaupre & Co. has built important new relationships for Kopin while helping us express our technology advantage using more memorable language. While we’ve always had a great rapport with our customers, who know semiconductor technology inside out, Beaupre has helped us gain traction in the mainstream, which introduces us to new customer and investor segments. This creates credibility for our company,” Fan concluded.