Results, releases and launch material
Draft results and annual reports, press releases, briefing documents, product images and launch films are prepared in the days before an announcement.
Watermarking for embargoed announcements
Financial results, press releases and launch material are shared with agencies, advisers and journalists before the date on which they may be published. Invisproof issues each recipient an individual copy, so that a copy published or passed on before that date can be identified.
Embargoed material and its recipients
Agencies, advisers and journalists
Before publication the material is held by communications agencies, designers, translators, printers, auditors and advisers, and by journalists briefed under embargo.
A fixed date of publication
The material is confidential until a set hour, and where it concerns a listed company its early disclosure can affect the price of the company's shares.
An individual copy for each recipient
Invisproof issues every agency contact and journalist a copy of their own, in documents and in media alike, and records the issue of each.
The process for an announcement
Watermark
The Document Engine and the Media Engine prepare an individual copy of each release, report, image and film for every recipient on the embargo list.
Distribute
Journalists and agency staff need no account, and open their copies with a passcode or a one-time code sent to their email address.
Identify
If the material appears before the embargo lifts, an investigation compares what was published with the copies issued and identifies the copy it came from.
Kinds of announcement
Results and annual reports pass through auditors, designers, printers and translators before the day of publication.
- Draft results and annual reports
- A copy for each outside firm
- A record of each copy issued
Transactions, appointments and changes of strategy are prepared with advisers before they are disclosed.
- Announcements and briefing papers
- Copies for communications and legal advisers
- Reading in the secure viewer where required
Journalists and partners are briefed on a product before its announcement.
- Press kits, images and films
- An individual copy for each journalist
- No account needed to open a file
Reports are sent to selected readers under embargo before their general release.
- Reports and their summaries
- A copy for each reader on the list
- Material held until the embargo lifts
Controls for embargoed material
Files opened in the browser
A file is opened in the secure viewer in a browser, with nothing to download and nothing to install. The organization decides which files are opened only in this way.
Copies in the original format
Where the organization permits it, a recipient saves a copy in its original format. The copy opens in the usual applications, can be viewed offline and keeps its watermark.
Recipients inside and outside
Members of the organization sign in with their accounts. Recipients outside it need no account, and open a file with a passcode or a one-time code sent to their email address.
Investigation of a found copy
A file found outside its intended audience is submitted for investigation, which compares it with the copies issued and states the probability that it came from a given copy.
- Nothing to download
- Nothing to install
- Decided file by file
- Original format
- Usual applications
- Offline viewing
- Watermark retained
- Sign-in for members
- Passcode
- One-time code by email
- No account for outside recipients
- Any found file submitted
- Compared with the copies issued
- Probability stated
- Decision left to the organization
What a communications team gains
Journalists and agencies can be given complete material in advance of an announcement. Because each copy remains accountable, a briefing need not be reduced to a summary.
When an announcement appears before its time, an investigation of the published material identifies the copy it came from and gives the organization grounds for its response.
A finding concerns one copy. Journalists and agencies who kept the embargo are not treated as though they had broken it.
Questions about embargoed material
Do journalists need to register before reading a release?
No. A recipient outside the organization opens a file with a passcode or with a one-time code sent to their email address. No account is created.
Does the watermark change how a release or an image appears?
No. The watermark is invisible and is not noticeable when reading, viewing or listening. Each copy keeps the format of the original and opens in the usual applications.
Can a release be saved, or only viewed in the browser?
The organization decides, file by file, whether a copy is read only in the secure viewer or may also be saved in its original format. A saved copy keeps its watermark.
What happens when a copy is found before the embargo lifts?
The published or forwarded material is submitted for investigation. The investigation compares it with the copies that were issued and states the probability that it came from a given copy. What follows from a match is for the organization to decide.
Related use cases and solutions
Board and leadership material
Board packs, strategy papers and minutes, issued as an individual copy to each director and officer.
View use case
Pre-release film, music and artwork
Screeners, mixes and stills, issued as an individual copy to each reviewer, partner and distributor before release.
View use case
Financial services
Research, deal documents and investor reports, issued by banks, funds and advisers as an individual copy to each recipient.
View solution
Media and entertainment
Scripts, cuts, masters and artwork, issued by studios, labels and publishers as an individual copy to each recipient.
View solutionRequest access
Invisproof is provided to organizations by approval.