COMPANY'S REPORT READS AS EASY AS 1-2-3.Byline: Karyn Hunt Associated Press Associated Press: see news agency. Associated Press (AP) Cooperative news agency, the oldest and largest in the U.S. and long the largest in the world. See Spot run. See Dick and Jane add up their profits. Yes, from the folks who created an annual report in the style of a super-hero comic comes one written as a children's book. Adaptec Inc., which makes computer equipment and software, designed the report with Dick and Jane simplicity. Only in this case, it's Wally, Molly and their dog, Data, in stick-figure characters, touting touting the making of personal representations by a veterinarian to persons who are not clients in an attempt to solicit their business. the company's products. ``See Wally hard at work,'' the report says. ``He tries to scan big photo files. He tries to move video files to his backup drives. Poor Wally. Wally thinks his new processor makes him work faster.'' Turn the page, and there's Molly. ``See Molly at work,'' it goes on. ``She is doing all the things that Wally is trying to do. Only she does them better. Molly has an Adaptec host adapter Also called a "controller" or "host bus adapter," it is a device that connects one or more peripheral units to a computer. It is typically an expansion card that plugs into the bus. IDE and SCSI are examples of peripheral interfaces that call their controllers host adapters. See host. and SCSI SCSI in full Small Computer System Interface Once common standard for connecting peripheral devices (disks, modems, printers, etc.) to small and medium-sized computers. SCSI has given way to faster standards, such as Firewire and USB. peripherals. See Molly multi task. From her PC to peripherals, and even to her network, she really works fast.'' The usual stiff pictures of company executives are replaced by childlike child·like adj. Like or befitting a child, as in innocence, trustfulness, or candor. childlike Adjective like a child, for example in being innocent or trustful Adj. 1. drawings of the chairman and chief executive that one spokesman called ``a surprising likeness, actually.'' ``It's one of the few annual reports I've read cover to cover,'' spokesman Bruce Frymire said Wednesday. Adaptec's approach answers frequent complaints that the expensive, four-color glossy annual reports most companies send out are tedious at best, incomprehensible at worst. The ``Dick and Jane'' format came from corporate communications Corporate communications is the process of facilitating information and knowledge exchanges with internal and key external groups and individuals that have a direct relationship with an enterprise. manager Cole Danehower and vice president of communications Dee Cravens. They put it together with the help of San Francisco San Francisco (săn frănsĭs`kō), city (1990 pop. 723,959), coextensive with San Francisco co., W Calif., on the tip of a peninsula between the Pacific Ocean and San Francisco Bay, which are connected by the strait known as the Golden design firm Cahan & Associates. The hard-cover edition - 65,000 copies were printed - is titled ``ABC ABC in full American Broadcasting Co. Major U.S. television network. It began when the expanding national radio network NBC split into the separate Red and Blue networks in 1928. & D - All About Being Connected To Data.'' The inside cover has the familiar child's notation: ``This Book Belongs To (Print Name) . . .'' then goes on to say, ``This is a book about a company called Adaptec: Adaptec makes products that move information faster, so people can work, build, and create more productively.'' The last few pages are the usual dry figures and tables: $700 million in annual revenues, 2,500 employees worldwide, and the like. Response from analysts, employees, press and stockholders has been good, Frymire said. One person asked for 100 copies for his sales staff. ``It's a unique approach. I'll give them credit for that,'' said analyst Jean Orr of A.G. Edwards in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of . Fiscal year 1995's report featured comic book-like super-heroes called Adaptra and Bottleneck Buster who solved complex computer problems. That, too, got good reviews. So with two successes, what do the company's marketing experts have in mind for next year? A trashy romance? A hard-boiled detective thriller? Or perhaps a volume of poetry? ``I'm glad to say the group already has ideas for next year,'' Frymire said. But in typical corporate style, he added, ``I'm not going to discuss them at this time.'' CAPTION(S): Photo Photo: Adaptec Inc.'s year-end overview is written as a chi ldren's book. Associated Press |
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