For Office.com
By Marianne Mancusi

May 1, 2000 -- The sun is not quite up when Hector begins his day at news syndicate Ivanhoe Broadcast News in Orlando, Fla. He drops in on various co-workers and offers his good morning. He has breakfast in the office kitchen and settles in for a full day -- sleeping, purring, repeat.

Hector, a decidedly fat, gray-and-white striped cat, is one of Ivanhoe's longest-standing and most valued employees.

Having an office cat is just the beginning of Ivanhoe's corporate culture. One of the country's leading news syndication services, it also has two dogs, twice-monthly visits from a massage therapist, a personal trainer, a company therapist, free soda in the refrigerator and a suggestion-box program called "I-Power" that pays employees up to $10 for every idea submitted -- even if the idea is not implemented.

This may not be the atmosphere those used to working in a television newsroom might expect. There are no stressed-out screamers, crude cameramen or obnoxious news directors. That was the kind of work environment Ivanhoe's founder and CEO Bette BonFleur was a part of 25 years ago. As a producer at a television station in Orlando, she says she suffered through daily discrimination against women and minorities and wanted out of the business.

"You either stay and play the game, or you go out and create your own game," she says. "So I went out and created my own game."

Her game, which she originally called Ivanhoe Communications, began with two players: BonFleur and fellow television reporter Cynthia Sucher.

At first the two stayed afloat by producing a magazine entitled "Dining Out." Proceeds from the publication allowed them to continue to follow their dream. But then, Sucher backed out. And BonFleur attracted financial backing from Orlando lawyer Marjorie Bekaert Thomas. With $8,000 of her money, BonFleur was determined to make her dream of a company where working would be fun, a reality.

At first, they took on corporate video projects for various local companies -- something BonFleur despised. But at least she was out of the daily newsroom grind. Business, however, didn't boom. Corporate clients didn't understand cost issues involved in making the videos. They were losing money.

"(Neither of us) got paid for a couple years," BonFleur says.

Thomas continued working as a lawyer with no thought at the time to being anything more than a financial partner.

Then, BonFleur's former news director, Bob Jordan, suggested she look into selling news stories to other television stations. He put her in touch with affiliates and Ivanhoe started producing programs.

"When we first started to syndicate material, we were selling series called 'Pet Vet' and 'Antiques Detective' for $10 a segment," Thomas says.

Because there were fewer newscasts than there are today, the need for syndicated products was small. News stations could fill their shows without depending on outside sources. The beginning was rocky.

"If you can only work 30 to 40 hours a week, have to make thousands of dollars to begin with and are not committed totally, you don't have one chance!" BonFleur says.

Thomas believes the turning point was when the company received the prestigious Golden Mic journalism award for a half-hour documentary on teen suicide. Ivanhoe sold copies of the piece to 1,500 high schools.

"That gave us enough money to make the down payment on our own broadcast edit suite that cost $500,000 dollars," Thomas says. "And we were off and running."

Ivanhoe began building its reputation for providing quality news for an affordable price. Soon, it was able to leave its corporate clients and work with news stations exclusively. Thomas quit her law business, realizing that what she had with Ivanhoe was much more rewarding.

"I was intrigued by the ability to reach millions of viewers with our programs instead of just helping one legal client at a time," she says.

Today, Ivanhoe has grown from selling news content to one station in Orlando, to becoming a leading medical news syndicate, with more than 250 clients from all over the country. Stations from large markets such as KABC in Los Angeles and WHDH-TV in Boston, to smaller affiliates like WPTV in West Palm Beach, Fla., or WIXT in Syracuse, N.Y., have signed on.

Ivanhoe offers a variety of syndicated services, including its bread-and-butter "Medical Breakthroughs" -- a franchise comprised of 1 ½-minute segments dealing with cutting edge medical research going on throughout the country. Other subscriptions include a family-medicine franchise called "Prescription Health" and the female-only franchise "Smart Woman."

Each station is charged based on its market size. And that can relieve stations from the serious expense of having their own medical reporters and photographers on staff.

"We estimate we can save a station at least 50 percent of a reporter's salary and 100 percent of the photographer/editor's salary," Thomas says. "Plus, we never get sick or have bad hair days."

Free-lance reporters from around the country produce Ivanhoe's segments. This way, even a small station can have the advantage of an experienced reporter from a network or a major market. Plus, free-lancers help Ivanhoe get exclusive content from around the country and frees the stations from dependence on video news releases paid for by drug companies.

That's one of the reasons Steve Hawkins, news director at WCYB in the Tri-Cities market, serving parts of Virginia and Tennessee, subscribes. "I think that Ivanhoe's reports are very thorough and well-researched," he says. "I have a great deal of faith in the material that Ivanhoe sends our station each month. There are numerous hot buttons out there that we don't have the ability to keep track of. We know that Ivanhoe will provide us with those hot-button reports."

Ivanhoe has grown to include a comprehensive, award-winning medical Web site as well. For an added fee, client stations can include the pre-produced Medical Breakthroughs Internet package on their sites. Ivanhoe has also partnered with several other Web sites, including Doctorsurf.com, a subscription based site for medical and dental professionals. They also boast 20,000 subscribers to their weekly Medical Breakthroughs e-mail newsletter. Ivanhoe executives believe their openness to new media will allow them to continue making profits in the coming years.

"Ivanhoe has been successful through the years because they are good at looking ahead and adapting to change," says executive producer Elizabeth Buchanan. "Being able to forecast trends is difficult, but it makes or breaks a company."

But Ivanhoe remains true to its original mission, to provide a fun workplace in which creativity is encouraged and employees who give their all are rewarded.

"If you're an overachiever by nature, you'll do well at Ivanhoe," says Buchanan, who has gone from being an assistant producer to an executive producer in six years. "But it's not for everyone."

The company expects a lot from its employees. At times, that means long hours and work on weekends. But the rewards, she says, greatly outweigh any sacrifice.

And then there's Hector.

"There's no better way to cheer up your day than with an overweight ball of fur crossing your keyboard," Buchanan says, smiling. "He, like so many other unusual perks, sets Ivanhoe (apart) from other companies."