How best to keep key stakeholders informed by print or on the web? Increasingly for many companies the answer is both. Although the annual report continues to be central to corporate reporting, it’s no longer the alpha and omega. Web and video innovations also play vital supporting roles.
As you begin working on next year’s annual report you’re facing an enormous challenge, particularly since IR and communications departments want to spend less on – and get more out of – all forms of reporting.
The ideal annual report is distinctive, informative, transparent and reflective of a company’s personality, culture and vision. And these days it straddles both print and the web. Design agencies, financial printers, photo agencies, web site developers and even video technology companies are all poised to team up with you to project your company’s qualities.
The content itself has a primary objective. As Heather Ashworth, director of IR and communications for US chemical maker Octel Corp, explains, ‘It has to give as accurate a picture of the company’s performance as possible.’ For Octel, key considerations driving its annual report are accuracy, honesty and integrity.
The goal is also to get value for money, and the annual report has to resonate beyond shareholders. Patrick Mulva, vice president of IR and secretary at Exxon Mobil Corp, confirms this: ‘The intended audience for our annual report is broader than just shareholders and analysts. We aim to reach employees, customers, current and potential partners, and anyone else interested in learning more about our company’s principles and performance.’
Ashworth says Octel also recognizes its annual report can be used in other contexts: ‘Our employees all receive a copy, and we use it as part of our marketing offering in appropriate circumstances. So while we do not target other stakeholders, we recognize they have an interest in us and try to give them a broad picture in the annual.’
Athough an annual report is meant to be a snapshot in time, it still has to offer a well-rounded view of a company and its competitive place in its industry. ExxonMobil added a corporate citizenship section to its 2002 report. UK media company Emap also strengthened the content in its 2003 report. Sarah Taylor, group communications manager, explains: ‘We wanted it to be much more of a business tool as well as a reporting tool. It wasn’t just about reporting the numbers, it was about explaining who we are as a company and what we do, the markets we are in, the competitors we have, the key drivers of our business. We hadn’t really done that before.’
If a company has relaunched or changed management there may be a new message to communicate. When Associated British Foods brought in a new CEO and CFO five years ago, it changed its whole strategy. Geoff Lancaster, head of external affairs, joined around the same time with a clear remit to use every communications channel to support that strategy. Since then he has been working steadily with a design firm to first lay the foundation – the company’s identity – and then roll out the applications.
Every piece of paper, every web page, says Lancaster, was designed to reinforce the public’s perception of the company: ‘They all work as an integrated whole in terms of projecting ABF as modern and aggressive – all those values that reflect what we are doing in our program of acquisitions, disposals and focusing strategically, but which were not the values the market previously would have seen us having.’
Bring it online
Global publisher Reed Elsevier plans to link the design of both its corporate web site and its annual report. It’s also actively promoting the web: ‘We offer so many online products to our customers that we decided to extend this to our shareholders. So our company secretary included a card in a shareholder mailing last year, asking people if they would like to receive shareholder information electronically. Many people download the annual report from the web site, although the hard copy is still the primary document of reference,’ says Susanna Smart, deputy director of corporate relations.
ABF once had the dubious distinction of being voted one of the worst FTSE 100 web sites, Lancaster recounts. But after a year of working with a design firm and web developer, the company did an about-face and placed among the same survey’s top ten.
With technology always evolving, Lancaster likes his web developer to keep him up-to-date on all the latest developments. For instance, they have lately improved the charting function so investors can better track ABF’s performance. This, Lancaster notes, is a popular feature, and it reduces the number of calls he gets during the tax season; shareholders wondering about the value of their holdings at a certain date can easily get that information online.
Stora Enso views the web site as a tool that complements the printed report, particularly in reaching its largest audience in the US. ‘Basically we do the print version first, then we put all of that content on the web not just as a PDF but as an interactive online annual report,’ explains Ulla Paajanen-Sainio, vice president of IR and financial communications.
Stora Enso’s web site is quite compelling with its ‘Welcome to Brazil’ pop-up that greets you at the home page. Investors can take a virtual tour of Brazil and Stora Enso’s current project, Veracel. They can even listen to Brazilian music as they browse.
Best in show
This drive to offer a unique experience is leading companies to innovate in terms of video and web streaming. Despite web streaming’s limitations, it brings companies as close as possible to their overseas audience without actually being in each other’s presence.
Italian insurer Ras Group started its IR program in April 2000 and soon plunged into webcast analyst meetings. Before, explains Deborah Pellati, IR manager, analysts and investors had to travel to Milan to see the CEO. Since September 2001 Ras has been able to link the two key financial centers of London and Milan via high-quality satellite link-up so people in London can participate in investor meetings and ask questions.
For Pellati the benefits are twofold: she can build relationships with analysts and investors in London, and they get to see the CEO, his expressions and his personality. Pellati admits the technology is still being refined and it is currently only available to certain investors with the right kind of networks at work. Besides, the usual tiny frame of web video is still far from the quality of TV, but Pellati is willing to remain flexible and use the technology even in its infancy.
One webcasting benefit is that it’s dynamic communication in real time, but the downside is indeed the often small and jerky computer image the audience sees. Corporate videos on tape or DVD, on the other hand, don’t communicate in real time but they do add a whole other dimension to a company’s image. They’re being used more and more by creative companies, whether as part of the AGM, the online annual report or in investor packages.
ABF premiers a corporate video at each AGM, focusing on one of its subsidiaries in another region to give shareholders insight into an area they may be unaware of. Emap is also entering video territory and is now in the process of creating a corporate video as a short introduction to the company. ExxonMobil used a video presentation at its 2003 annual meeting and posts or webcasts videos including major management presentations, quarterly earnings and executive speeches. For ExxonMobil’s Mulva, there is no turning back: ‘We continue to seek more online applications of video technology in communicating with key audiences.’
Be it print, web or video, the key goal of these various channels is to communicate with investors. A few leading companies working in tandem with creative service professionals have got their act together. Others are bound to follow and find the ‘art’ in getting smart.
