Biometrics is an especially hot technology that comes in many forms and with many claims. However, most biometric solutions also come with issues. Some include high false positive rates, others require additional hardware to function. Redrock Biometrics has developed a new biometric approach based on the lines in peoples’ palms.
Redrock Biometrics’ PalmID is the first market-ready and secure palm-based biometric authentication solution. With the ability to work on nearly any device with a standard camera, PalmID is affordable and easy to implement at scale. Once users are enrolled, they are immediately recognized on all other devices using PalmID with a wave of the hand.
Hands Down a Better Approach
The human palm is a large area with skin lines and creases that are unique to each person. When the palm is presented to a camera from a distance of six inches or more, most cameras already installed in devices such as phones, laptops and ATMs can capture the palm skin in great detail. PalmID converts the palm image into a unique signature that is, for all practical purposes, impossible to fake. In just 10-100 milliseconds, it can match the authentication attempt against the enrollment template, using proprietary algorithms extensively tested against tens of thousands of palm images.
PalmID is extremely accurate with false positive and false negative rates far below other biometric technologies. It works cross platform on Android, iOS, Mac, Windows and Linux operating systems. Unlike fingerprint, retinal scan and other technologies, no additional hardware is required, just 640×480 RGB camera resolution, which is available in more than 90% of phones, tablets and laptops. Finally, Redrock offers an easy-to-implement SDK for quick integration.
The use of biometrics for authentication has exciting possibilities in industries ranging from automotive to AR/VR, banking, e-commerce, wearables and more. But, each industry has specific needs and specifications. To date, no single biometrics technology has been able to satisfy these differing needs and expectations. And, consumers have to enroll their finger, iris, face, or palm for every device that uses biometrics for authentication.
Named by Gartner “A Company to Watch”
Website and media kit created in just 3 weeks
Articles covered Redrock’s launch at Money 20/20
Palm ID Technology Was Better Than Its Marketing
Unfortunately, PalmID’s launch announcement wasn’t nearly as effective as the technology. There was no preparatory work to highlight the benefits of PalmID versus competitive technologies, no third-party endorsements, such as an industry analyst quote and little or no follow up with media once the PR firm at the time distributed the press release.
Redrock engaged UPRAISE to reset the marketing program. Our goals for the initial project included:
- Prepare for and announce Redrock’s participation in Wells Fargo’s Innovation Incubator and Startup Accelerator at Money20/20,
- Generate positive third-party commentary that would help differentiate PalmID from competitive technologies,
- Build a new website from scratch in just one month to support other marketing activities,
- Drive traffic to the Redrock booth to experience PalmID demos.
Six of the UPRAISE team got to work! Two of us created the website sitemap, wrote the content and collected images, all of which we fed to our graphic designer. Two others drafted media kit materials, organized and executed media outreach and set up briefings at Money20/20. Media kit materials included a press release, company and product backgrounders, executive bios, a stats page highlighting PalmID superiority to competitive biometric solutions, and a PowerPoint deck Redrock had developed for investors, which we refined for a media and industry analyst audience. Two others collaborated with Wells Fargo to leverage their brand to support Redrock, as well as set up industry analyst briefings under NDA.
Since Redrock’s initial announced had earned essentially no coverage and the company hadn’t announced new customers it had won, our strategy with media and analysts was to announce the “commercial availability” of PalmID.
Each of our teams made rapid progress. A dev website was up in two weeks, giving Redrock’s executive team time to make refinements. The media relations team finalized media kit contents in one week and by week three had organized six pre-briefs under NDA. The Wells Fargo/analyst team secured a Wells Fargo quote for the press release in record time and arranged three industry analyst pre-briefs, one of which resulted in a quote we added to the final press release.
All three UPRAISE teams delivered. We finalized the website three days before Money20/20 started. We distributed the press release the first day of Money20/20 and over the first week, it earned coverage in more than 35 media, including Redrock’s number one target – TechCrunch. In addition to the analyst quote included in the press release, our analyst outreach jump started an ongoing analyst relations program, resulting shortly thereafter with Redrock named a Company to Watch by Gartner.
The most important result was significant booth traffic at Wells Fargo’s Startup Accelerator at Money20/20 and the signing of three new customers within a month of the event.
“We were very pleased with the support UPRAISE provided us. They learned our technology very quickly and turned that knowledge into results . We have continued to work with them since this launch.”
CEO, Redrock Biometrics
