Clear, creative thinking is not just a way to stay ahead of the pack; it’s mandatory just to keep up. And the pressure never stops – most IR teams update their web site daily, while others say they think about the next annual report as soon as this year’s gets back from the printers.
But creativity alone isn’t enough. It has to go hand in hand with consistent messaging. Smart companies are finding ways to differentiate themselves while staying faithful to core values and strengths. Despite all the new communications tools available to IROs, the challenge remains the same: how to grab people’s attention and make them read on. Here’s how some leading companies have risen to the occasion.
Taking a fresh look
For pharmaceuticals company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), the decision to take a fresh approach to its corporate literature came after the company undertook a reputation review in 2005. ‘We sensed our stakeholders weren’t fully picking up on how well the company was doing and everything we had to offer,’ explains Elaine Macfarlane, GSK’S vice president of corporate identity and communications.
GSK also wanted to differentiate itself from its competitors. ‘Pretty much every peer company was showing happy faces of patients leading healthy lives in their documents,’ explains Macfarlane.
The company decided on a totally different approach for its annual report, involving a plain front cover and the headline ‘human being’ or ‘being human’ – the design means it can be read either way. The tone used was also more conversational. ‘We wanted to use authentic, patient-centric language,’ Macfarlane says.
‘Our documents have been more about what we want to say and less about what stakeholders might want to hear,’ she adds. ‘Now, as well as thinking about how to communicate the key highlights of the past year, we’re thinking about the sort of information shareholders might find of interest.’ GSK’s web site was also included in the communications overhaul. ‘For the first time, we timed the relaunch of the web site to coincide with publishing the year-end results and annual report,’ says Macfarlane.
Looking ahead, the company plans to enhance the integration of corporate literature and the web site by allowing web visitors to provide feedback about the online annual report. ‘There are very few opportunities for pharmaceutical companies to have a public face, so the annual report and web site are critical communications channels,’ Macfarlane says.
From the inside out
In 1993, Indymac Bank established a set of corporate beliefs and values. For the next twelve years, the company continued to stand by these same principles. Last year, however, the company decided it was time for a change. ‘We felt we’d evolved, so it was time not just to rethink our beliefs but also to state them in new ways,’ explains Grove Nichols, director of corporate communications.
Once the new values had been established, the company created a handbook to relaunch them in an internal branding campaign. It began with a section in the annual report in March 2006, followed by a company-wide internal rollout beginning in June. This involved an e-mail campaign to all employees, letting them know that something was about to happen. Then, on the day of the launch, a copy of the handbook appeared on everyone’s desk, a further e-mail containing video and a message from the CEO was sent, there was a special message on the web site, and eight-foot-tall posters were hung in all the company’s offices around the country.
The Flash e-mails continued once a week for six weeks and the company is now considering creating more videos to broadcast over the intranet. ‘We believe companies perform better when they have strong cultures, and when employees feel their company practices what it preaches,’ Nichols says.
Streamlining communication
‘About four years ago, people in the external marketplace were struggling to find out who we were and what we did,’ says Andrew Bosman, executive director of corporate communications at Navigant Consulting. ‘There was no central branding strategy, and we were an organization going to market under eight to ten different legacy companies. The questions coming from Wall Street were about trying to understand the various legacy companies and not about the strategy and direction of the whole organization.’
In March 2003 Navigant launched a new brand as an integrated, one-firm organization. This comprehensive overhaul involved changing the company logo, rethinking company presentations, moving from photography in documents to colorful illustrations, and revamping the whole web site. ‘Before, our web site contained logos of all the legacy companies, each with its own freestanding site.We fully integrated that into one site,’ says Bosman.
In addition, the company cut down the amount of information it was supplying to the marketplace. ‘Part of the problem was that we were talking too much; we weren’t getting to the point fast enough and weren’t clear about what we were trying to communicate,’ comments Bosman.
Previously, Navigant was producing brochures up to 18 pages long. The longest brochure that exists under the new structure weighs in at six pages. ‘There used to be one brochure that covered pretty much everything.We redeveloped that into a tiered system with materials focusing on different aspects of the company,’ Bosman says.
Interestingly, Navigant rolled out its new brand to Wall Street first. ‘Typically you’re told to develop a strategy, roll it out internally, get everyone on board, then start to roll it out externally,’ explains Bosman. ‘We took a different approach, and started sharing our ideas with Wall Street six months before we officially relaunched.’
When Navigant relaunched its brand on March 28, 2003, its closing stock price was $5.69 and its daily volume was 26,800 shares. One year later the stock price was $18.74, with 270,000 shares trading each day.
‘Wall Street is a very self-correcting place; the more time you spend with it, the more it understands you,’ comments Bosman.
Consistent messaging
For biopharmaceuticals company Cephalon, consistency in telling the company story is key. ‘Our creative approach is aimed less at the wow factor and more at getting our message to stick,’ explains Robert Grupp, vice president of corporate and public affairs. ‘We believe making the annual report narrative ‘glance-able’ and easy to comprehend is more important than delivering a startling creative approach.’
Cephalon is aware, however, that communicating facts alone is not enough in today’s image-savvy environment. ‘Typically in the biotech and pharmaceuticals space, product brands are the engine driving the train, and that remains true. Research shows, however, that investors, physicians and other key opinion leaders also benefit from knowing the culture and attributes of the company behind the science.’
With recent rapid growth and expansion, Cephalon ran the risk of losing or diluting its culture by bringing on board many employees from other organizations. ‘The challenge over the past 36 months has been to define the Cephalon culture and brand. Essentially we held a mirror up to the company to identify what makes it Cephalon.’
The company then articulated those brand attributes in a new visual identity. This involved updating the original company logo and trademark and adding a tagline: ‘Deliver more’. ‘This captures our drive, momentum and forward-thinking strategies,’ adds Grupp. The company posts guidelines for using its branding on the internet.
Attention has now turned to the annual report. ‘This is an expensive and time-consuming annual project for public companies, and I’m not convinced we have it right,’ says Grupp. ‘Our previous annual reports were branded and well designed, but I question the value of the effort. Investors tend to go straight to the 10K and if they spend any time at all in the front of the book, it’s a cursory glance.’
Cephalon is considering an annual report separate to its 10K, containing the chairman’s letter and highlights of the previous year. ‘This document would have a longer shelf life and could be repurposed for myriad other audiences including new and prospective employees,’ explains Grupp.
Creative impact
As the creator of video games for brands such as Spider-Man and Shrek, Activision believes in maximizing the creative power behind these household names. ‘People who may not know the company are compelled to take a second look when there’s something visually enticing involved,’ says Kristen Southey, vice president of investor relations.
One visual tool frequently used by Activision is video, not only to introduce new games but also to profile executives and to present financials and strategy. The annual report is also a key tool: ‘Many companies just put out their SEC filings as a 10K wrap, but we like to use the annual as a marketing tool all year,’ explains Southey.
Activision distributes its annual report to all departments and operations, potential acquisitions, partners and employees, and also uses it as an international investor relations tool. ‘We’re not a large-cap company so we don’t get to travel to meet investors or potential investors internationally. Sending our documents, with our brands displayed on them, gets us in the door.’
When designing the annual report, Activision also makes sure to think out of the box. For the past two years, the company has created a small-format report, and this year it’s landscape rather than portrait format, with a striking red cover.
‘We don’t have big budgets, so we try to be as creative as we can,’ comments Southey. ‘There are so many companies that take the same path, or show the same presentation, year after year.We’ll never do that; we always try to dig deeper and show things differently.’
