Investor Relations Web Site Done Right
August 31, 2008
It is often easier to explain by showing examples of what not to do. However, that doesn’t mean there aren’t companies out there doing Investor Relations web sites right.
One such company is Nestle. What makes Nestle’s IR page interesting is that, although a well known household name in America, it is in reality very much an international company. In fact, to invest in Nestle without the machinations of investing on a foreign stock market, an US investor would have to buy shares via ADR. Of course, Nestle isn’t the only international company out there, but as the world’s biggest food company, you can imagine that the interest from around the world is high.
Nestle’s headquarters is in Switzerland. American investors aren’t the only ones who would be interested, so the IR page will have to not only provide good information, but do it in multiple languages.
No big deal?
Yahoo Finance - Nestle
Well, just getting the accent mark right trips up our friends at Yahoo Finance. Although, to be fair, I don’t know how to do it on my article either. 
When Investor Relations Pages Go Good
Let’s check our first criterion for a good IR web site, a good link on the front page of a company’s “main” website. At www.nestle.com we see a link right in the main menu to Investor Relations.
Nestle.com Main Page
On the Nestle IR site, under reports you can get annual reports back to 1998 in English, French, and German. If you prefer the financial statements you can get full year financials back to 1998 and half year reports back to 2002. You can also get company press releases, audio recordings or transcripts of conference calls and roadshows.
One of the really great things about the Nestle IR site is that they have taken full advantage of the way the Internet and websites work. One hot topic, according to the email that Corporate-Eye gets, is getting corporate governance and management information to investors. Technically, the Corporate Governance section of Nestle’s website is under the “All About Nestle” part of the site, but knowing that such information is very likely to be of interest to investors as well, Nestle places a menu item to the information under Investor Relations as well. The information is not duplicated, rather investors are subtly shifted to a new spot in the navigation menu while the information loads in the main reading area as if the user were just continuing to read in the IR section.
Nestle.com Investor Relations Page
The web site also allows investors to sign up to receive emails alerts. Such emails can be configured to be received in English, French or German. These alerts can be customized such that an investor receives only the information he or she is interested in. For those who prefer an RSS feed, that option is available too (and marks, as far as I can tell, the only place where English is the only option).
While there are individual product websites for various products and countries, including the US specific site nestleusa.com, all of them point back to this one investor relations page so that an investor can rest assured that if they are using this one section of the nestle.com web site, that they are getting all the investor targeted information made available by the company. It appears that even the home country nestle.ch investor page points back to the nestle.com IR page, although I might be missing something since I’m yet another American who only speaks English. I’m not sure if one of those menu items means “Investments” in…um…wait, Wikipedia — Switzerland — language — German, French, Italian, Romansh…I’m going to go with German. Yes, German, final answer. I’m not sure if any of those links means “Investments” in German.
What it all comes down to is that the Nestle IR web site has A LOT of information for an investor looking for data. It’s safe to assume that investors will always want more, but if every company’s IR web site had this much data, presented this cleanly, the world of investor relations web sites would be off to a great start.
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Using Social Networking to Make a Positive Media Relations Impact
August 29, 2008
Social networking is a form of marketing that is used by large and small companies, individuals and businesses and is often highly profitable, depending on what circles it’s in. Although you will hear many companies and bloggers tout the varied benefits of social networking, there are heavey responsibilities that come with social networking. Blogger accountability and company responsibility are only a couple of factors that contribute to the image that the blog has on media relations and networks. Online accountability, customer interaction and marketing follow-up are other factors that help determine what resonate with bloggers and what audiences want to read on the blog.
A few weeks back, the case of a Twitter account that was masked or hijacked caused quite a stir in the media and had folks talking about corporate responsibility and negative impact. It involved the case of the Exxon Mobile company and a blogger who had assumed an identity as one of their corporate bloggers. There were some things that were shared on Twitter that were misleading and damaging, but also reflected negatively on the ability of Exxon to manage their systems. They (Exxon) were held responsible for the actions of this blogger as people wondered just how this blogger was able to get away with as much as she did in a limited amount of time.
Corporate blogs are written and maintained generally by corporate employees. Organizations choose individuals who have strong writing skills and a personality that connects with the audience, giving them the ability to transfer their message adeptly to the blog readers. Because corporate bloggers have these special skills, they also know the importance and power of developing a solid social networking circle in the best interest of traffic to their blogs. They know those who frequent the blog, those who are controversial, those who are their peers and those who are their enemies. Therefore, it would stand to reason that if a corporate blogger has a relationship with its readers, there are likely to be less instances where the blogger or the company aren’t aware of what’s going on with their blogs. So, how in the world can an Exxon blogger hijacker take over a Twitter blog without people really knowing what’s going on?
In order to minimize situations like what happened to Exxon, have your corporate blog identity rooted in exceptional communication and customer service. As for the blogger that maintains the blog, make sure that they establish themselves as an anchor for the company, spouts the company’s message loudly and that his or her voice in inexplicably tied to the mission and objective of your corporation. Also, ensure that the blogger knows the message well and aligns with it. Too often, blogger blog simply to blog. Ensure that your corporate blogger has passion, continuity, believability and connection. Your message is too valuable to get lost in transmission.
What has your corporation done to ensure the integrity of your blog? What are some things you can do as a blogger to avoid the Exxon situation from happening to you?
WBCSD Measuring Impact Methodology — A Brief Overview
August 29, 2008
In order for a form of measurement to be truly accurate it has to be implemented by a group, not a set of individuals. For instance, it’s much easier for a group of five people to measure a thousand paces (the old mile) than five people counting a thousand paces individually.
This is why the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), in conjunction with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), has recently launched the Measuring Impact Methodology (MIM).
The flaw it seeks to address is one of the oldest in the book: how can different companies produce comparable figures open to close analysis if they all use different methodologies to do the measuring.
The area the framework aims to bring this rigour to is their impact among the most nebulous stakeholders: the communities within which they operate.
Stating the Outcome, Not Guessing the Result
Attempts have been made before to introduce mechanisms into business to measure their impact upon the wider community. The most widely known is the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA).
These have been around in one form or another for over 20 years. Their place has always been as part of the project planning process in an attempt to gauge the likely impact a project will have on the wider environment.
WBCSD’s Measuring Impact Methodology is different. It aims to measure the impact a business has had upon the wider community after the event.
In this sense it is a crucial part of the sustainability measurement and compliance jigsaw which is being built up. To date there has been no framework governing how companies do this, leaving the whole area open to interpretation and the spin of greeenwashing.
Now, however, companies have a framework to work within when assessing and reporting the impact they have had upon the wider community.
Although only voluntary, companies who choose to operate outside this framework will always draw the cynical journalist who will look for the additional spina company may be trying to introduce.
The 4×4 Solution
The framework itself is remarkably simple and rests upon four steps which a company should go through:
- Set Boundaries; define the project in terms of the business activities to be considered and the geographic area in which they are occurring
- Measure the Direct and Indirect Impacts; identify those impacts under the company’s direct control and those which are not but which are influenced by the company’s activities
- Assess Contribution To Development; engage with stakeholders in the community in order to gauge how the company is supporting their development priorities
- Prioritise Management Response; plan a response to the impact the company has had, based upon the risks and opportunities identified in previous steps
The framework also defines four classes of business activities which companies should report against:
- Governance and Sustainability; the impact the company’s policies and procedures have on the wider community, including anything specifically targeted at environmental management
- Assets; the impact anything “owned” by the company has, including premises and infrastructure and how products and services are created and delivered
- People; the roles people fulfil within the company, their skills and training
- Financial Flows; the financial impact a company has within it community, typically through procurement and taxation
Nice And Easy Does It
The framework includes a detailed explanation of the various activities a company needs to go through in order to complete each step.
However unlike many others the methodology includes a macro-driven Excel spreadsheet. This gives the methodology two advantages in usability over many others.
Firstly it provides a readymade electronic reporting application so the company doesn’t need to produce its own, spend extra money buying one from a consultancy or print out an onerous amount of paper detailing all the check boxes and comment fields..
Secondly it allows personnel to learn about the framework in a very hands-on manner, reading about the steps and going through them in a hypothetical example at the same time.
Indirect Impacts
Overall this is a very welcome addition to the growing armoury of methodologies being published to help companies understand and improve the sustainability of their business processes.
It also breaks new ground in that it measures the impact of company activities after the event, rather than trying to project them and then measure how a company has performed against that target.
In addition, the inclusion of a multi-functional spreadsheet in the methodology is also welcome and one has to wonder whether other organisations will start to provide similar tools as part of their methodologies.
After all, business lives by the rationale that competition between different organisations in products and services is healthy for society. There’s no reason providers of schemes and standards should be any different!
Brands and Social Media Marketing - Samsung
August 29, 2008
Samsung Electronics America is tapping the social web in its promotions leading up to the Super Bowl on February 1, 2009. The Super Bowl is one of the most watched sporting events in the United States and, it is broadcast globally. Brands pay big bucks (over $2 million is not unusual) for a 30-second advertising spot during the Big Game that is likely to be seen by well over 100 million people around the world. Samsung is counting on it with its new marketing campaign.
Samsung has created an entire campaign around its 30-second ad buy during the 2009 Super Bowl Pregame. The campaign is called “That’s How I See It” and is intended to hype Samsung as the Official HDTV of the NFL - a sponsorship title I’m sure they paid heavily for. Read more
The Bloggers Are Impacting Political Arenas
August 28, 2008
They’re everywhere. Bloggers that is. They’ve been at the U.S. National Democratic Convention all week, and judging by the buzz on political websites and blogs, they’re not going anywhere too soon. This short video excerpts a portion of the bloggers that were on hand at the Democratic National Convention and gives us a glimpse into the reasons why they feel like they’re making a difference by blogging on the political issues this week.
http://link.brightcove.com/services/link/bcpid1578089393/bctid1753232335
As you watch the clip, you will hear the bloggers comment time after time that they don’t want to be “spectators” or just “sit by.” They don’t want to be told what is going on…they want to see for themselves. At a time in United States history where history is being made on an almost celebrity-like level, it’s no wonder why bloggers want to share in all of the fun. But, how will the bloggers blogging affect the political climate on the Internet or even in local communities? Will people pay attention to them long enough to really be able to form an educated opinion about the issues? Will it really matter?
Blogging has been around now for a while, and has been relegated to people who simply want to journal their lives or their personal developments. But in social marketing circles, blogging has taken on a life of its own and now has people of all backgrounds, skill levels, social status, religious slants and political persuasions blogging on the ‘net about whatever strikes their fancy. The only difference being that when certain bloggers blog, people are going to listen, and take note.
This Washington Post article talked about how John Edwards was offended by a couple of bloggers blog entries, but decided to keep them on anyway, despite his reservations. Is it perhaps the powerful bloggers voice that changed his mind? Or maybe the repurcussions that would ensue had he dismissed the blogger’s services? Oh how powerful IS the blogging voice!
When situations like what occured with John Edwards on last year begin to happen frequently in political arenas, people become understandably nervous about what it is that bloggers might in fact put on their blogs. Political climates are especially prey for fodder and “misunderstood” information. Are bloggers loose canons? Can they simply say anything that they want to say?
This week at the U.S. Democratic National Convention, there are numerous bloggers who are blogging about what they see, hear, are gossiped to and what they speculate on. It is safe to assume that a lot of their material won’t be accurate. It is also safe to assume that out of over 100 bloggers that were allowed privilege to get into the convention to sit as blogger-journalists, that each of their blog’s will form varying opinions and unmatching stories. It doesn’t mean that the bloggers are reporting innaccurate information; it just means it’s their opinion.
How then, if the blogger’s opinions are going to be at the helm of their blog posts, can we safely say that the blogs are “good journalism” or even worthy material? Is political blogging, simply by virtue of it being political, any less subject to scrutiny or analyzation? Can political bloggers simply say anything that they want to say? Where do we draw the line? Or, should we?