Big Business at Businesswire.Com
By Christopher Elliott
Business Wire is a leading source of news on major US corporations, including Fortune 1000 and NASDAQ companies. For over 30 years, the San Francisco firm has disseminated news releases from public-relations and investor-relations professionals to newspapers, magazines, trade publications, and the financial community. But the creative force behind Business Wire's Web site is the last person you'd expect to call the shots for the wire service's interactive efforts. Michael Lissauer, the vice president in charge of the cyberspace division, is a marketer at heart, not a programmer. A year ago, he was a self-described neophyte in matters concerning the Internet. "I didn't know a thing," he admits. But Lissauer proved to be a quick study, defining Business Wire's objectives and implementing them in short order.
With a directive to reach as many people "as is humanly possible," Business Wire launched its site last year. "Combined with our circuits, fax, and email, we felt that the Internet would provide our members unlimited distribution," he says. "Our members are happy with the increased distribution, and the unique products we've created on the Web have enabled us to meet our goals." Although Lissauer avoids technospeak, it's clear that he knows what he's doing. The scripts that he and his design team have implemented are eloquent proof that Business Wire, under his guidance, is among the most sophisticated and useful projects to emerge on the Web in the recent past.
The site is maintained by a design team of six people outside of Business Wire, headed by Peter Karlson of Harrison & Troxell (a consulting company based near Boston), and another half dozen people from Business Wire who contribute to product development and site maintenance.
