Clipping Fairy Tale
(The CompetitivEdge Story)

Once upon a time, long long ago, there were three Kings of national clipping services. They were King Burrito, King Bacon and King Loosey. They were very very old, very expensive to maintain, and well, rather slow.

The Kings employed many many serfs to read through the Kingdom's hundreds of newspapers and cut out articles. The articles were mailed to Knights, and a fee was charged for each one.

Alas, the Knights were not happy.

"This clip isn't mine" shouted one. "I have four copies of the same thing" yelled another. "You've missed a front page article in the New York Times" moaned a third. "This clipping is three months old" barked a fourth.

And the Knights felt the fee structure oppressive.

"The fees are too high!" 

"The fees keep increasing!!" 

"I can't budget accurately!!!"

And lastly, the clippings were unsightly.

"Woe. My clips curl up and turn yellow."

"My odd-sized clips have me turning in reports that look like a child's art project."

"Methinks I need white-out, and it hasn't been invented yet!"

But the three clipping Kings were unfazed by the outcries.

**************

On a bright and sunny July morning in 1991, a new clipping service was born. It's name was CompetitivEdge. It had one belief: using technology effectively should improve accuracy and timeliness, drive costs down, and result in professional looking clips.

So CompetitivEdge set a goal. It was going to get each of the Knights the clippings they needed, when they needed them, without costing an arm and a javelin.

And so, CompetitivEdge set out on a remarkable journey. It signed contracts with professional online databases of printed publications, allowing it to search electronically and download from hundreds of newspapers, wire services, magazines and trade journals.

In time, these sources grew into many thousands and expanded to include press release services, national broadcast transcriptions, web publications and editions, newsletters, international press and more.

Using skilled researchers, inaccurate "hits", duplications and missed articles disappeared. With most sources available within 0-48 hours, timeliness improved dramatically.

CompetitivEdge based each Knight's fee on historical volume, complexity and frequency of delivery. Knights who couldn't afford a clipping service before could finally participate. Larger Knights saw their costs drop by 25% or more. With no hidden fees or per clip charges, Knights no longer saw their bills fluctuating like a medieval weather report.

They could concentrate on slaying dragons and other things that Knights do best. 

**************

And CompetitivEdge will live happily every after, by keeping its Knights happy forever more.

-The End.

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