Three weeks ago I started this off with Part 1. The rationale is taking the excellent Elaine Cohen’s list of Top Ten CSR Reports of 2010 and seeing what these company’s websites look like.
The first five included a few surprises, including probably the most innovative report/website I’ve ever seen (AHA!) and one with no independent website at all (Imphala Clothing). What will the next five bring? [Read more…] about Does an excellent CSR report mean an excellent website? Part 2
There is an old saying that “You never get a second chance to make a first impression”. As if that weren’t a daunting enough thought, the journalist Malcolm Gladwell, in his book Blink: the power of thinking without thinking claims that people make many important decisions within the first two seconds of viewing an object. The implication for investor relations web sites is clear: the first view a reader gets of the investor page is crucial in how they will think about the company as an investment.
First, a word of caution: Investor relations sites operate under the constraint of having to use the overall design criteria for the firm’s entire web site, so visual ‘look and feel’ are not what I’m referring to here. Rather my concern regarding first impressions relates to the completeness, logic and clarity shown on the initial page.
There are many ways to go about this, but one I like is the Investor home page of the Intercontinental Hotel Group.
As seen here, the first page has a menu on the left hand side that not only lists standard items such as share price, news and financial information, but also has sections on IHG in depth, About the hotel industry and Definitions. Parts of the page are also devoted to the firm’s hotel brands, most popular investor information sections and a brief description of the firm’s strategy.
To me, it makes a great first impression; everything is where you can find it, not a lot of hunting is involved and it seems pretty logically laid out. The icing on the cake is that it goes beyond the mere requirements of regulations in discussing the company, its brands and strategy.
My conclusion is that this is a well thought out investor home page, although I will confess that it took me more than two seconds to come to that conclusion (sorry Malcolm Gladwell).
In this series:
Previous post: Acquisitions and Divestments
Next post: Search
When you attend a baseball game in the United States, one of the ritualistic sounds that greets you as you enter the ballpark is something along the lines of: “Scorecards! Get your scorecards here! You can’t tell the players without a scorecard!” When you succumb to the vendor’s pitch and get your scorecard, you find that you can understand and follow the game better. The reason I bring this up is that for some companies, you really do need a scorecard to understand the current composition and operations of the company. This is because the operating units that comprise the business today may not be the same as they were two or three years ago.
I am speaking here of companies that regularly engage in the acquisition and divestiture of businesses. Not all companies fall into this category, as many companies grow primarily through organic growth. However if you have ever tried to understand the income and balance sheets of companies that frequently buy and sell parts of their businesses, you know that it is very helpful to have a cheat sheet detailing what occurred when. Otherwise you can find yourself looking at a year when revenues rose 25%, assets grew by 15% and debt took an exponential jump with no clear explanation at hand. It can be a very frustrating experience. For such companies, a listing by year of the major acquisitions and divestitures engaged in by the company can go a long way towards helping the diligent investor understand the company’s past performance. Such a listing can also offer other insights, as it can show the astute investor where the company is choosing to expand and cut back.
There doesn’t seem to be a standard spot for listing companies bought and sold. ENI, the Italian energy company, places their listing within the strategy section, while Tyco chooses to discuss the topic in its history section. Both approaches are set out below. As long as an intelligent investor can find the information, I think that is all we can reasonably ask for.
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In this series:
Previous post: Video
Next post: First Impressions
Displaying print ads at bus stops isn’t a new form of marketing, but turning those print ads into a complete experience is. Caribou Coffee did exactly that with the help of Colley+McVoy who turned a Minneapolis bus stop into a toasty oven complete with a ceiling mounted heating element. Check out the image below.
The campaign’s objective was to spread the word about Caribou Coffee’s new menu items. By making clever use of the environment to not only raise awareness of new products but also to differentiate them from the competition (by showing an oven heating the menu items rather than a microwave), Colley+McVoy and Caribou Coffee succeeded. Not only that but people who warmed up in that bus shelter while waiting in the cold Minnesota weather surely appreciated the working heating element!
All in all, this ambient advertising effort is an example of clever and meaningful creative and messaging that works. I love finding great ambient media examples that enhance the environment and consumers’ experiences with the ad creative and messaging — and ultimately, with the brand. You can read about a few other ambient media campaigns that I’ve written about here on the Corporate Eye blog by following the links below:
What are your opinions on ambient media? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.
Image: AdRants
Creative Review magazine is asking its readers in over 80 countries to help them put together a list of the greatest logos of all time, which will be provided to a group of designers, experts, and academics who will narrow the list down to the 20 greatest logos ever. Those logos will be revealed in the April 2011 issue of Creative Review. You can add your votes for the best logo ever by leaving a comment on Creative Review or on Brand New.
The quest to identify the best logos of all time launched publicly this week, and already hundreds of people have added comments offering their opinions. Some of the top contenders from the population at large appear to be Nike, Apple, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s FedEx, Playboy and The Rolling Stones.
Of course, identifying the best logo is somewhat subjective, and well-known logos from big brands typically take the top spots in these types of ratings. However, it’s still a fun initiative. I’d love to see the top 20 list broken down into three separate lists though — top 20 logos overall, top 20 big name logos, and top 20 lesser-known logos. I think it’s more fun to find the diamonds in the rough — those logos the wider population might never see and the designs that don’t get the widespread recognition they deserve.
The logos that are getting an early buzz have a couple of elements in common, which I think are marks of the best, iconic logos — those that can stand the test of time. They are simple, and they use limited color palettes — one or two colors and that’s it.
Which logos do you think are the best ever and what do you think are the key elements of iconic logos? Leave a comment and share your thoughts, and don’t forget to add your votes on Creative Review.
Read more about logo design on Corporate Eye:
As you’ve never seen them before…
After last week’s post, in which I pointed to a video from Sainsbury’s containing Dragons and Chief Executives, here’s another angle on images of senior business people.
Stuart Rose was one of the CEOs on the video (did you spot him?), and here he is again, as seen by Bob Wheeler and on display at an exhibition called THIRTY by THIRTY hosted by 85FOUR and The Passage.
For those not familiar with The Passage, it’s a London-based charity supporting homeless people, running a 48-bed hostel and helping over 200 people every day to get the help and advice they need – and 85FOUR are a design and branding agency who have worked pro bono with The Passage for over 13 years.
The exhibition showcases 30 photographers and 30 people who have helped The Passage over the last 30 years. Nice idea… and the subjects of the photos include clients, colleagues and donors (including Sir Stuart Rose, Cherie Blair, Rory Bremner and more).
The exhibition looks interesting, and should work well to promote the charity. Do go: it will be held in the SW1 gallery, Victoria, between January 19 and 29 2011.
But here’s a question. I think that photo of Stuart Rose is great: an alternative view of a senior businessman, while still being a professional, dignified image. Wouldn’t it be refreshing to have such good photos on the corporate website?
All too often, the photos on corporate websites are just very… stiff and corporate, and there is at least one blog devoted to poking fun at these images of management (no, I’m not going to share the link). But check out Bob Wheeler’s site for what could be done; if images like these are being presented as part of the annual report, then they could be used on the corporate website too – in addition to the formal head and shoulders shot to go with the biography, of course.
For a while there was a minor trend offering an alternative ‘casual’ shot as part of the management biography in addition to the formal one, but these are harder to find recently (Microsoft is an example of a company that offers some ‘casual’ photos, though these are often simply taken with open collars). I recognise that there is a need for a formal shot, but it seems a pity to miss the opportunity that the web provides to present some beautiful photography as well. (Structurmarine is worth mentioning again here, because they do such a great job of this, and it is still so rare a sight.)
What do you think?
Interested in corporate imagery? Here are some other articles I’ve enjoyed on this topic:
