The world is moving online and so are investors.
You’ve decided to transition your communications online and wind down the old print versions.
Online annual reports, sustainability reports, websites, e-newsletters and much more.
Makes sense.
There may even be some cost efficiencies!
You meet with your design agency who hand over their fees estimate.
You hit the roof and disbelief sets in.
Sound familiar?
Enter Heywood Innovation.
One of the most experienced online communications teams.
High value and industry leading results.
Archive for the 'online comms' Category
Ten reasons why you should be moving your printed communications online.
1 Print can be expensive – mailing certainly is.
2 Online can be a more compelling experience – video, animation etc.
3 Tablets and smartphones are outselling PCs this year – notice the trend.
4 People want their communications right here, right now – not next week.
5 Stick with print and they may perceive you as a stick-in-the-mud company.
6 Your print design team will try and hold you back – their jobs are at stake.
7 Your competitors are probably already moving there – with your customers.
8 There are cost efficiencies we can identify for you – smaller budgets, bigger results.
9 You’ll get to know who is reading your communications – and what they’re reading.
10 Online communications can be produced quickly – a lot faster than printed ones.
MORNING STAR GOLD
In collaboration with Steve Levett, a well respected Australian video director, we conceived and planned a corporate video for Australian mining company Morning Star Gold. The video tells the story of the re-birth of the Morning Star mine, once Australia’s premier gold mine located in the alpine region of NE Victoria. In 1861 gold was first discovered near where Woods Point is now located, which sparked another gold rush hot on the heels of the earlier one in the Bendigo-Ballarat area of Victoria. The video traces the history of the mine and celebrates the efforts of the present owner Morning Star Gold which is producing gold from the mine for the first time since 1962. The production included on ground and below ground video shoots and an aerial sequence.
There’s much debate in investor relations circles these days surrounding the topic of annual reports and the relevant benefits of print and online. Printed reports can certainly have a reassuring tactile quality and it’s true that their imminent demise has been exaggerated.
The debate however has moved on. There is a consensus that online is rapidly becoming the prevailing delivery platform for a number of compelling reasons:
> it is commercially attractive from a distribution perspective (no more printing, envelopes, mailing house costs, postage);
> it is appealing from an environmental viewpoint (no need to deplete the forests);
> online is a more engaging format that can provide an enhanced experience for shareholders, whether it’s using video, interactive elements or providing information in useful formats such as Excel and XBRL.
These formats provide a depth of information that can easily be imported into analytical tools so that a company’s yearly results and performance can be meticulously measured against the same company’s previous years’ performance as well as against competitor companies.
But that’s just the beginning of the argument in support of online. The next part of the story centres around which online format is important to shareholders. As we become more nomadic in our everyday lives and the boundary between work and life fades, there is a rapid shift away from desktop towards adoption of mobile technology – netbooks, tablets and smartphones. This is confirmed by predictions that the combined sales of tablets and smartphones in 2011 will exceed those of PCs. We believe that these devices will play an increasingly important role in providing the next big communications platform for online annual reports.
Heywood Innovation was the first company in Australia to embrace online annual reporting over ten years ago, and our focus on the UK and Australian markets is now encompassing the design and delivery of online reports for portable devices, including iPad, iPhone, Android tablets and smartphones, in addition to the more conventional online formats.
We invite you to view some of our latest projects at www.heywood.com.au
If you had any doubts about the accelerating shift from print to online consumption of information, above are a few snippets of information in support of the argument. The team here at Heywood Innovation have had a determined focus on the new opportunities that have opened up in the online space, particularly in the investor communications area, ever since we pioneered the introduction of online annual reporting here in Australia in 2001. It seems the days of the traditional PC are numbered, a casualty of the associated technology shift to a more convenient mobile model. The future is tablet shaped and sized. We look forward to constantly degreasing our finger tips and de-streaking (new tablet terminology) our tablet screens.
Looks like the iPad from Apple may become one of the biggest ‘must haves’ after the iPhone and the iPod. It seems destined to change the time honoured practice of ‘snuggling up in bed with a good book’. Competitor products are going to have a hard job to beat the sexy, smooth functionality and brand allegiance people have for Apple products. Librarians are starting to look a little nervous. The whole concept of libraries is now up for grabs. Will they be replaced by iPad recharging stations? A new generation may go though life not knowing what a bookshelf is. Ufologists will discover ancient texts with odd looking creatures holding tablets that look surprisingly like iPads. Book printers are livid. Small quantity digital printing has eaten away at their profits, and now iPad is destined to take away a big chunk. Captains of the newspaper industry are clamouring to establish subscriptions in the online space. Newsprint is diminishing. Trees are breathing a sigh of relief. Those digital ‘print-a-book-while-u-wait’ kiosks are starting to look a bit silly.
But just how many books can be made available for an iPad? Book publishers will be feverishly adapting all their best sellers for consumption by iPad, fearing competitors may gain a lead. “Our online library’s bigger than yours!” One wonders exactly how the porn industry might make a dollar from all this. People are already unsure quite where the iPod/laptop/netbook/notebook/iPhone ends and the iPad starts. And it doesn’t stand up vertically so you can’t view the screen ‘the old way’ unless you buy one of the optional extra stands. This means you have to put it down flat on a table or cradle it in the crook of your arm. Hey that’s different. Particularly when you try and type on the ‘virtual keyboard’. But Apple has that covered also. There’s an optional plug-in keyboard. I expect very soon there will 2,967 variations on a protective sleeve, custom colour accessories and a deluge of custom apps.
There are a few other considerations. Where will it live? At home or the office? Is it a work tool or a lifestyle accessory? Will it live next to our PC/laptop or be consigned to the bedroom? What happens when Dad spills his breakfast cereal on it? Will your kids find it a suitable diversion to quell their ‘long car journey’ syndrome? Optometrists will be rubbing their hands with glee as the strain of reading hundreds of pages of fine electronic type slowly but steadily dims our vision. What will book mark makers do? What will newsagents do? Millions of ‘paper boys’ around the world will be deprived of pocket money, no longer able to roam the streets in the rain dispensing their newspapers for a pittance.
One prediction, prompted by some thoughts from a designer colleague, is that there will be a new realisation (finally) that the design and presentation of publications – books, magazines and newspapers – needs to be rethought to optimise the online reading experience and release it from the shackles of the printing process. The experience of reading from the printed page is far different from the potential of viewing and reading from a well designed interactive electronic page.
In five years time will early model iPads replace books as doorstops?
Of course there will be many witticisms bandied around….
“He tried every trick in the e-book”
“The judge threw the e-book at him”
“Did Steve Jobs take a gamble with the iPad or is he just an online e-book maker”
(cringe)
The pioneering work of the past ten years transforming complex documents like listed company annual reports into ‘mini-websites’, occupies the winner’s podium when it comes to making complex text, photos, graphs and charts come to life on a PC screen. Will the iPad influence more shareholders to make the shift to online report reading? I think it may just influence a few. Thank you Steve.
Will our centuries old reliance on printed paper books, preceded by the first baked clay tablets used in 3500BC Mesopotamia, result in uninspiring dull white screens with endless lines of black type? I don’t think so. There are too many designers around to let that happen. Does that make them iDesigners or eDesigners?
Tony Heywood is a Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia, founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney Australia with affiliates in Melbourne, Gold Coast, London, Singapore and Mumbai.
View some of Heywood’s work on www.heywood.com.au
Here are a few choice statements that have motivated the team here recently and which seem very pertinent to the challenges and opportunities we perceive for 2010…
“The man who starts out going nowhere generally gets there”.
Dale Carnegie
“If we are to achieve results never before accomplished, we must expect to employ methods never before attempted”.
F Bacon
“Wherever you see a successful business, someone has made a courageous decision”.
Peter Drucker
“Management is doing things right. Leadership is doing the right thing”.
Peter Drucker
“It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change”.
Charles Darwin
“Imagination rules the world”.
Napoleon Bonaparte
“He who is not courageous to take risks in life will achieve nothing in life”.
Muhammad Ali
“If things seem under control, you are just not going fast enough”.
Mario Andretti
Tony Heywood is an international branding consultant and founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney Australia with affiliates in Melbourne, Gold Coast, London, Singapore and Mumbai.
View some of Heywood’s work on www.heywood.com.au
I know we’ve had (note past tense) a recession, but now it’s all looking good (at least for the next two weeks according to various journos in that esteemed business newspaper the Financial Review) and we can start planning a bright new future.
The trees in Australia didn’t get too much of a reprieve this year, despite my efforts, as there still seems to be an abundance of paper-based June year end annual reports about to be printed in the next couple of months. The printers around town however will still cry poor. Quantities are down and the digital printers are massing at the gate. The writing is on the wall for ink on paper.
Onward and upward with online and HTML. So where does your company stand in the online reporting stakes? What investment has it made in its most expensive and important investor communication of the year? Yes I know there are many excuses that are trotted out in response to this question – We’re not ready for it yet. We’re too small. We got hit badly by the recession. We don’t have the time. Our shareholder base is too old to appreciate this type of thing. Our IT guy looked into it and said it wasn’t worth his time getting involved. It’s too expensive. An insufficient number of our shareholders have access to broadband. Our company secretary’s brother owns a printing company. You know what I mean.
It’s no understatement to say that the majority of companies are approaching it in a gradual way. Read that as slow. The easy way out for companies courtesy of an ‘interactive PDF/html’ version has slowed progress and diverted companies from seeking best practice. In fact there is a strong argument that an ‘interactive PDF/html’ version may be counter productive as it does not provide a great experience for the investor, who may just be tempted to revert to the printed version. Also, I haven’t met up with too many companies who seem overly bothered about whether their competitors are doing something better than they are. Oh well.
The reported take up of online reporting by shareholders, whether in London or Sydney, is reported to be 80 percent. It is a concern however to read an article by Clare Harrison in IR Magazine where she states that only around 5 percent are ‘happy to receive the annual report electronically’! I suppose it depends on how you interpret ‘happy’. But why only 5 percent? Does it really take this long to wean shareholders away from print and have them embrace the benefits of accessing reporting information online? I can only think that so many have been afflicted by the limited experience of PDF and ‘interactive PDF/html’ reports touted by many suppliers around the globe.
How long will it take for best practice html ‘mini website’ reports to gain majority approval? Any bets?
What will it take to achieve this? How long will it take for printed annual reports to be reduced to black & white text-only documents for compliance and registration purposes? I got my hands on the 2008 Apple annual report (Form 10-K) recently – all 102 pages of it – all black & white, text only, on rather thin bond paper with a couple of big staples through it. The way of the future?
The html report, just like a website, offers considerable scope for almost unlimited functionality and the ability to customise to specific requirements – graph building tools, charting, print baskets, videos, podcasts – all of which enhance the user experience and leave the expensive days of print far behind.
I raised the new opportunities afforded by XBRL more than a year ago to many companies in Sydney. I have also included details on our website and in blogs, but to date have not received a single enquiry. The benefits are reportedly substantial, where specific items of data are ‘tagged’ for recognition, thereby enabling investors, analysts, accountants, auditors etc to find, compare and analyse data faster and more efficiently. By rights it should enable essential people like accountants to do their jobs faster, thereby saving clients money – but where have we heard that before?
At the end of the day money rules. If only someone could produce an html online report for the price of those nasty ‘interactive PDF/html’ versions. If you’re in London check out report-axs.co.uk and speak with Paul Sillers. In Sydney check out report-axs.com and speak with me. If you’re unfortunate enough not to live in these two highly desirable locations speak to me anyway as we don’t even need a face-to-face meeting to get results you may have only dreamed of. Until now.
Tony Heywood is a Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia, founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney Australia and joint founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore.
View some of Heywood’s work on www.heywood.com.au
The global market turmoil, which is hanging around like a bad smell, is making investors more risk averse and more cautious. They are demanding more information and insight to a company’s 2008-09 performance, its potential to ride out the downturn and its ability to accelerate when the green light once again illuminates our darkness, the race resumes and the world becomes a better place.
We are experiencing extremes. Some companies are investing fewer dollars in communications and as a consequence are coming off the radar and finding themselves back at the starting gates. Some companies however, are taking advantage of this and ramping up their presence to investors and gaining new exposure.
Recent AIRA survey figures reveal that 49% of companies are maintaining the same IR budget for 2009, 37% are reducing and 15% are increasing. My money’s on the 15%.
Companies generally identify a need to try harder this year to capture the attention of a disengaged investment community that has either switched off in disgust or needs some severe prodding. Just like starting the engine of a ’63 EH model Holden with a suspect battery.
Companies need more face-to-face meetings with investors and analysts. Pile them on and deliver them in a more convincing manner. They need to be more future focused. Explain what’s going to happen in your neck of the woods when the markets start to climb. Are you going to be up there with the new achievers or left behind with a flat battery and a puncture? What plans are you putting in place to prepare for the upturn? They want to know.
Online is increasingly the place to access company information as opposed to the printed report – 80-90% of shareholders now say so – the days of screwed up annual reports folded and wedged in mail boxes or waiting at your local post office are rapidly disapppearing, to the great relief of many of Australia Post’s finest.
Video is still the new kid on the block and seemingly resisting exploitation and exposure. A great pity as it is more important than ever to now deliver a convincing glimpse of the company leaders and the manner in which they are responding to changing markets. Photos of the Chairman and CEO in their best suits with frozen smiles captured in print no longer tell a suitably convincing story of who they are, their body language and how convincing they are when they speak.
Didn’t the message get through to you IR professionals? Do you have your eyes closed and your hands over your ears? No? Then tell me why more than 50% of listed companies persist with publishing their report online in PDF format? Don’t start me on this one. Nor do I want to discuss interactive PDFs. On the third day God made interactive PDFs and the world ground to a halt. Adopt HTML and go to heaven. End of story.
This year only a modest number of companies are considering HTML. Seemingly only the brave. The pioneers. Those destined for success with happy shareholders. Get the message? Good.
Explain this to me. Why is it that so few companies have a direct link from the home page on their website to the shareholder centre or the annual report? Images of three seated monkeys come flooding back.
IR professionals need to realise that there is a profound shift from reporting to online dialogue with investors using feedback forms and/or Web 2 technologies. The smell of printing ink is being replaced with digital technologies to enhance user experience courtesy of HTML online annual reports having audio, video, animation, interactive charting and print baskets.
The ‘first generation’ HTML online reports that appeared in 2001-2002 did not make much of a lasting impact here in Australia. Check our turnover for those years – thank you AMP, Cashcard, Commonwealth Bank, OPSM and Perpetual. It has taken six years and a change in reporting Legislation to finally get HTML annual reports back on the radar.
The popularity of the ‘shareholder review’ is increasing and demonstrating that it is more relevant and palatable to the majority of investors than the traditional annual report. Sadly, a bit like most Australian investors, it seems to be putting on more weight as each year passes.
Companies are looking seriously at a ‘reporting suite’ comprising low spec (b&w) printed annual reports, a glossy shareholder review and an online HTML presentation of both. This comprises a landing page with the ability to navigate to each document – see http://info.westpac.com.au/annualreport2008/ which we produced this year.
There is a perception from company secretaries that producing a shareholder review adds more work and requires ‘marketing’ skills that they don’t possess which compels them to persist with the traditional annual report format. Where is the marketing team when you want them?
Printed annual reports are expensive for the low quantity produced (10-20% of what it used to be pre-Legislation change) meaning that more and more printers are stepping in with digital printing presses geared to low quantity production.
Analysts and investors alike recognise that they must look beyond the poor performance figures to the more important information that reveals the future potential of the company. Will they find yours quickly and conveniently and be suitably impressed by it?
If you have any doubts call me. Australia Eastern Standard Time 61 2 8256 3999. And don’t ask me about PDFs.
Tony Heywood is a Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia, founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney Australia and joint founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore.
View some of Heywood’s work on www.heywood.com.au
Manufacturing 26 sheets of A4-size paper emits the same amount of greenhouse gas as driving a car one kilometre.
Source: Clean Up Australia
One tree is used to produce 100 copies of an average (83 page) annual report.
Source: Chartered Secretaries Australia
More water is consumed to produce one tonne of paper than any other commodity.
One litre of water is used to produce seven sheets of A4-size paper.
It takes 13.5 Gj of energy to produce one tonne of paper – this is equivalent to using 552 litres of heavy crude oil.
Tony Heywood is a Fellow of the Design Institute of Australia, founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney Australia and joint founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore.
View some of Heywood’s work on www.heywood.com.au