A change of CEO is a significant moment for a company, fuelling much anticipation, speculation and scrutiny from employees, shareholders and business analysts. The task for Leighton Holdings’ new CEO Hamish Tyrwhitt has been a not insubstantial one, faced with several business challenges dating from 2011 to be turned around, the need to rebuild confidence in the company’s future and to prove his worth following the departure of his short tenured predecessor. View the report
Rebuilding confidence
Reassurance in these situations flows from the delivery of effective communications that succeed in rebuilding stakeholder confidence and create a positive perception of investment potential… in the 11th largest global contractor and the world’s largest contract miner. View…
Evolution
Our latest online report for Leighton upgrades previous productions with improved navigation, integrated image galleries, custom fonts, expanding tables, multiple templates and faster access to information. View…
If you are looking to get better results and better value from your annual report, contact Tony Heywood tony@heywood.com.au.
Well, it looks like the media and a few well intentioned politicians are blowing the trumpet of economic recovery. Interest rates are going up soon we’re told, so I suppose it must be true that things are all well again. Companies have just been through the capital raisings stage and are now about to enter into a frenzy of M&A activity, or so we’re told.
Looking back on the last 12 months of financial trouble and strife, it remains a mystery to ordinary folk like me how these things happen. This was recently summed up most wonderfully by one of the Australian Financial Review’s better writers Peter Ruehl.
‘Those of us with minor to moderate intelligence are still trying to figure out how we lost so much money while we were just sitting around having a few beers. Not only will we never get it all back; we’ll have to pay the government for the money it borrowed to cash up the people who lost it for us in the first place…
Then you realise it means using money nobody’s actually earned yet in an attempt to reverse a situation caused by people using money that was also never earned – and didn’t really exist to begin with’.
Magic.
Tony Heywood is a Sydney-based brand guidance counsellor, founder of Heywood Innovation in Australia, United Kingdom and India, and joint founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore.
Reasons why HTML is the obvious choice Best practice starts with an HTML annual report. To all intents and purposes these are commonly referred to as mini-websites. Why is HTML the preferred format for an online annual report? Is it because billions of people view websites every day and don’t complain too much about them? Quite a few of these people are shareholders of Australian companies. Just think, if they’re relatively happy with looking at websites, it probably means they’d be happy looking at your online HTML annual report!
What are the key reasons for websites having become the global favourite means of accessing information online? 1/. It’s fast 2/. It’s easy 3/. You can include audio and video files
The challenges facing PDF reports Basically, there’s nothing better than HTML. It would take a brave man or woman to argue that there is something better. Yet some do. For many years listed companies relied on a quick and easy PDF of their annual report courtesy of Adobe Acrobat to satisfy shareholder needs. Although a wonderful tool to get documents from A to B by email, the shortcomings of viewing PDFs of information heavy annual reports have been well documented:
1/. Slow download 2/. Need to zoom in and out to be able to read text 3/. Need to scroll up and down to read columns of text
It’s a bit like listening to music on an old 8-track player from the ’70s in preference to an iPod. But in PDF’s defence it is an inexpensive way of getting your annual report online and keeping the ASX happy… but only if you care little for your shareholders’ welfare. The basic problem is that most printed annual reports are portrait format while PC screens are landscape format. A bit like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole. Several years ago several bright minded individuals started to think of ways to improve PDF annual reports. So onto the market emerged several stopgap measures. These feature a more elaborate navigation and tend to be marketed as ‘interactive PDFs’, or they are based on HTML images of the printed annual report pages, sometimes with pages that ‘turn over for you’ when prompted. How wonderful is that? The old PDF restrictions however still prevail. Beware also that they can be hosted on the supplier’s server which means that when you decide to move supplier, bang goes your report. In its defence, because the printed pages are ‘captured’, the only additional checking by the client is to ensure that the navigation is linking to the correct pages.
In a side-by-side contest HTML wins every time.
So what stimulated this interest in online reporting? Despite the fact that Heywood Innovation has created HTML reports since 2000 for Top 200 Australian companies, it wasn’t until mid-2007 that The Simpler Regulatory System Bill was finally introduced that stimulated the present interest in online annual reporting. It stipulated that online is the default method for listed companies to provide annual report information to shareholders. Shareholders can however request a hard copy if they so desire.
Although public sector reports still require full printed documents, it is only a matter of time before a mandatory shift to online reporting comes into force.
So what is the level of uptake? The Australian Shareholders Association calculated in mid-2008 that 90% of shareholders have now made the move online.
From our own experiences in 2008, the number of Australian companies producing HTML annual reports will not equal that of the UK, where 46% of listed companies have produced an HTML report since the Companies Act 2006 came into effect in January 2007 and switched the default towards electronic rather than print-based reporting. Yes, they had a headstart on us. It appears that Australian companies are being a little slow on the uptake and are persevering with PDF-based formats. They are reluctant to change from traditional reporting practices. The move to XBRL will be a real test.
In a 2007 ASA survey it was reported that 40% of Australian shareholders didn’t want an annual report in any shape or form.
A big opportunity with HTML is that audio and video files can be incorporated. For the same reasons that people do not watch static images on television, no longer do shareholders have to endure static photographs of the Chairman and CEO complete with frozen smiles.
Building a case for moving to HTML online reporting So you’re ready to make the move to HTML. What do you need to consider and what information do you need in order to present a case for moving beyond PDF? > HTML is the most effective means of displaying annual reporting information online > reports are fast to download and feature easy and intuitive navigation > requires no zooming in and out as text is at a readable size on screen > editorial text can be in bite size chunks thereby eliminating the need to scroll > reports can be obtained which indicate visitor hits on every page – useful for determining what information interests shareholders, and planning future content > all photos and images can have descriptive ‘tags’ applied to them that explain their purpose and content > audio and video files can be incorporated that provide an interactive and engaging experience
Why are 10-20% of Australian shareholders still requesting a hard copy report? Since the 2007 Legislation change, many companies have found it difficult to make the right decision for their online reporting needs because a printed report is still requested by some shareholders. Let’s analyse why the requests keep coming in.
> shareholders are not fully aware of the Legislation change and its implications > they didn’t understand the poorly designed share registry communication with the option to ‘tick the box’ > they don’t trust the company’s intentions > they don’t like the PDF annual reports they’ve seen in the past and probably aren’t aware of user-friendly HTML ones > they don’t have a PC and internet connection > they’re too old for ‘all this internet stuff’ > they love the smell of ink on paper and its tactile qualities > it provides tangible evidence of the investment they’ve made
Most shareholders aren’t happy with viewing large PDF documents on screen such as annual reports. They will be reluctant to move online until they experience a simple and easy to navigate HTML report and realise that the old challenges and frustrations are no longer there, and that it is now as easy as navigating any website.
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.
Sitting here writing this in balmy 30 degree sunshine and blue skies overlooking the most beautiful harbour in the world, I seem momentarily a million miles away from the economic trauma impacting on businesses all around the globe. Connecting to the internet on my laptop, the BBC News website however brings reality into play with graphic depictions of terrorist strikes in Mumbai, Woolworths in the UK looking for a bailout; and GM, Chrysler and Ford in dire straits in the US. We are being assaulted by endless bad news on the business and political scene.
It seems that countless television news articles, media sites and business blogs are only too keen to update us on the bad news. Distinguished captains of industry, business analysts and academics at leading universities are revelling in the opportunity to lecture us on how recessions happen and the financial, psychological, historical, political, scientific and geographical implications, and the impact it is having on the price of petrol we put in our tank… that this is the recession we had to have, driven by greed and flawed governance of global financial systems. Get it right on the inside first before you unleash it on the outside
The reaction from many companies affected by the downturn is to go on the defensive and either batten down the hatches and hide below decks until the storm passes, or slash and burn marketing budgets, delay business building initiatives and identify the poor performers in the workforce who are most expendable.
The last thing you would expect someone to be attempting in these trying conditions is to kick start a new business venture and crank up the brand building process. Yet for the more astute entrepreneurs this is probably the most opportunistic time in the last twenty or more years to be planning and building a new business. Why do I say this?
> You are likely to have fewer competitors now than you would have had this time last year.
> Established competitors need to reposition their brands and educate customers in line with the new market conditions
> Businesses are averse to change – those that can adapt to change are the new leaders of tomorrow
> It is a lot easier to catch the attention of customers in a market experiencing low levels of marketing activity
> History tells us that downturns breed innovation, and innovation breeds success
> The present market conditions are changing consumer loyalties – they are re-considering their choices, opening up the opportunity for new brands to steal market share
> Consumers will become more demanding and want more value and reward from the brands they associate with
> Brands with the strongest proposition will be the new winners
Make sure it is uniquely different from those of your competitors
Yes people are cautious, but the world doesn’t stop even for a recession. After the initial slashing and burning of marketing budgets, companies will begin to realise that to maintain their hard won position in the marketplace, they will have to start marketing with strong conviction.
Entrepreneurs will be naturally cautious to start up a new business, particularly in the first half of 2009. Market analysts are suggesting that consumers deprived of their natural spending habits will start to feel the retail itch and the need to satisfy their cravings for new products and new experiences, spurred on by the potential for some of the biggest January/February sales in history.
So how do you go about establishing a new brand and priming it for success in these trying times? You must focus much more on getting the basics right. After more than 20 years in the branding business, I have come to recognise the essential considerations that ensure a brand gives of its best. Here’s a sobering thought – if you don’t get all of these right, there is every chance you will never gain maximum benefit from your brand, which in this economic climate may just make the difference between success and early failure. Here are several of the more important ones:
Invest in advice from an experienced branding consultant Select an experienced branding consultant Always work with, and gain advice from, people who are specialists in their field. At this critical juncture, don’t rely on ‘gut feel’. Establishing and building an effective brand is critical to your future success. Select carefully, as there are plenty of ‘creatives’ disguised as branding experts who will be only too keen to take your money and design for you a new logo, brochure and some stationery – which won’t get you very far. An experienced branding consultant goes much further by helping you to define your business, differentiate it, market it and prepare you for success. Ensure they are attuned to the changing market conditions.
Part two of this blog post to follow shortly…
Tony Heywood is an international branding consultant and founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney and co-founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore.
Many organisations produce content for their own recruitment ads – some are good at it, but many fail to press the hot buttons. There are golden rules to writing effective copy which many people are blissfully unaware of. One serious problem with inexperienced ‘copy writers’ is that they fail to recognise that some of the copy they write can be offensive and breach anti-discrimination laws.
A survey by Kelly Services provided insight to how serious this can be. When asked to consider a job ad which had a choice of copy content, 105 of the 220 respondents failed to identify material that is considered offensive. 22% of the 105 were human resources professionals. Some of the more obvious terms bound to offend were ‘office junior’, ‘saleswoman’ and ‘six years’ experience’.
Apart from the risk of using inappropriate and offensive language in ads, we are constantly amazed at the dreary and uninspiring copy that features in many recruitment ads. They fail in some very obvious areas:
> not aligned with their target audience > use mundane and uninspired language > don’t compel the reader to respond > hierarchy of information is ill considered > poorly describe the position, its importance and its potential > leave out key details on what is required of the applicant > copy and design don’t complement each other > are inconsistent with the ‘tone of voice’ adopted by the organisation’s brand
How confident are you when faced with the task of writing compelling and inoffensive ad copy? Placing ads is an expensive exercise. If the ad is to attract a key player in your organisation for a salary of say $100,000 or $200,000, you want to make sure that it is going to get a good result that doesn’t attract complaints. Perhaps the copy writing is best left to the professionals?
In the heady days of cheap and plentiful finance and relaxed governance, before the US-driven collapse of financial markets set in, there were a considerable number of companies looking to float, raise capital and merge.
Where did they all go? As you would expect, when reality hit the fan many of these thought twice about such brave moves, and hid their plans in the back of a deep cupboard drawer labelled ‘Field of Dreams (pending)’.
The thought of floating, falling from grace and bearing the collective brunt of the investor agitatus species did not appeal. Remember that this is a species that, once deprived of its staple dividend feed, is characteristically known for its long term memory capacity, piercing stare and sharp tongue.
Failed capital raisings are less of a risk in the long term damage stakes, incurring only temporary embarassment when the money doesn’t appear in the amounts hoped for, but which may extend to demotion or removal from the Board depending on the level of shareholder angst.
Mergers are a little bit different. In the good times, having done the sums and the long hours in the boardroom and on the golf course, merger plans were hatched and the adrenalin flowed at the prospect of growth, enhanced positioning and market domination, where all competitors were freely offered a reversed Churchillian salute.
That was then. A new reality has now set in. So what happened to all those brave merger plans and brave captains of industry? Well, some plans were shelved but plenty remain in a holding pattern waiting for the financial barometer to shift from CHANGE to FAIR before they once again prepare for take off fuelled by renewed vigour, determination and a modicum of greed.
Many targets remain targets. Some are even more of a target now. Unwilling targets may now be less so, as their value plummets. With a lower price tag they may look even more attractive. Bargain basement opportunities may look too risky depending on the industry sector in which they reside.
All good stuff this, but what does it all mean? It means that once the barometer does shift and media barons raise their thumb in symbolic gesture sometime later in 2009, it will be safe to once more venture out into the sunlight beyond the dark shadows cast by the pillars of the Big Four and timely to buy back the Porsche and worship the Big Deal once more.
Branding consultants like myself will, with renewed enthusiasm, rattle cages and preach the gospel on good brand sense and the important contribution it makes to merger success. Will the deal makers listen? This is the question. In 2009 I think they will, because people learn from mistakes don’t they?
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.
I have compiled a short list of commonly used branding terms that we use regularly when interacting with clients.
Brand A brand is a collection of perceptions in the mind of the consumer resulting from their experience of a product, service or company. A brand has functional and emotional elements which create a relationship between customers and the organisation, product or service.
Brand Architecture The method by which an organisation structures and names the brands within its portfolio. There are three main types of brand architecture system: > monolithic – where the corporate name is used on all products and services offered by the company > endorsed – where all sub-brands are linked to the corporate brand by means of either a verbal or visual endorsement > freestanding – where the corporate brand operates merely as a holding company, and each product or service is individually branded for its target market.
Brand Audit A comprehensive examination of all aspects of a brand to assess its health, uncover its sources of equity and suggest ways to improve and leverage that equity.
Brand Attributes The functional and emotional associations which are assigned to a brand by its customers and prospects. Brand attributes can have different degrees of relevance and importance to different customer segments, markets and cultures.
Brand Champion Internal and external advocates of the brand empowered with the task of spreading the brand’s vision and values and promoting its purpose within an organisation.
Brand Commitment The degree to which a customer is committed to a given brand based on the likelihood of them re-purchasing in the future. This indicates the degree to which a brand’s customer franchise is protected from competitors.
Brand Equity The value someone places on an organisation, product or service brand, based on everything that the person thinks, feels and knows about the brand.
Brand Essence The distillation of a brand’s intrinsic characteristics into a succinct core concept.
Brand Experience The means by which a brand is created in the mind of a stakeholder. Experiences can be influenced by personal contact, retail environments, advertising, products, services, websites etc. Some are uncontrolled eg word of mouth. Strong brands arise from consistent experiences which combine to form a clear, differentiated overall brand experience.
Brand Extension Leveraging the values of the brand to take it into new markets or sectors.
Brand Identity The outward expression of the brand, including its name and visual appearance. The brand’s identity is its fundamental means of consumer recognition and differentiation from competitors.
Brand Management This involves ongoing management of the functional and emotional experiences of the brand. These can range from exposure to products, packaging and price – to the customer experience of marketing activities and interaction with people.
Brand Personality Includes all the tangible and intangible traits of a brand, say beliefs, values, prejudices, features, interests, and heritage. A brand personality makes it unique. It describes a brand in terms of human characteristics. It is seen as a valuable factor in increasing brand engagement and brand attachment, in much the same way as people relate and bind to other people.
Brand Platform The Brand Platform consists of the following elements: > Brand Vision – The brand’s guiding insight into its world. > Brand Mission – How the brand will act on its insight. > Brand Values – The code by which the brand lives. The brand values act as a benchmark to measure behaviors and performance. > Brand Personality – The brand’s personality traits (See also definition for Brand Personality). > Brand Tone of Voice – How the brand speaks to its audiences.
Brand Positioning The distinctive position that a brand adopts in its competitive environment to ensure that individuals in its target market can tell the brand apart from others. Positioning involves the careful manipulation of every element of the marketing mix.
Brand Strategy A ‘big picture’ plan for the systematic development of a brand to enable it to meet its agreed objectives. The strategy should be rooted in the brand’s vision and driven by the principles of differentiation and competitive advantage.
Brand Tone of Voice How the brand speaks to its audiences.
Brand Valuation The process of identifying and measuring the economic benefit that derives from brand ownership.
Brand Values The code by which the brand lives. The brand values act as a benchmark to measure behaviours and performance.
Brand Vision A concise statement of what a brand means to its owners and their intent for its future direction.
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.
I often wonder how much notice listed companies take of their shareholders. Apart from the occasional skirmish at the AGM and awkward phone call now and then from those shareholders more advanced in years who ‘just don’t get it’ and have too much time on their hands, do you ever solicit comment from them, or are they a necessary evil to be avoided at every opportunity?
Every time I ask a company the question “Do you know what your shareholders are looking for in an annual report?”, I inevitably receive a shrug of the shoulders in reply, accompanied by a vacant stare. “If we don’t hear from them then everything must be OK”. Come on guys, you can do better than this. Show them a bit of respect and interest. You may just learn something. It may just be valuable. It may just save you money. It may just help save the planet. It may get you more sleep at night.
I know some companies do actually send out the occasional survey and request for feedback, but I suspect they’re very few. And you never get to hear what they did with the results. Strange that.
As a result of the change in reporting Legislation in late 2007 here in Australia, share registries have asked shareholders this year if they are happy to receive their annual report online, or if not, they can request a printed one, mailed at great expense and inconvenience to the company and the planet.
For many companies this change in Legislation was one of the biggest challenges they have ever faced. Do you consider then that it may be beneficial to ask shareholders if they’re happy with the online information delivery? – particularly if you tried to engage them with one of those new fangled HTML mini-website things. You defaulted again to a PDF of the printed report! How could you? Have you no shame? They’re so ’90s.
Beyond the choice of delivery… have you considered the report content and whether it is actually covering ground that shareholders really want you to cover? Why not? Consider this. Have you been blindly following the same old tired format year in and year out? Have you been wasting lots of your time all these years? Do these agonising thoughts keep you awake into the small hours?
You know the writing is on the wall don’t you? You’re going to have to shift to one of those mini-website HTML online reports. Those that are fast to access and easy on the navigation. Those that look pretty schmicko and can even have video of the Chairman and CEO included (providing they get a haircut and a weekend crash course at NIDA). And when you do shift it makes sense you rejig the content into screen size chunks that make for easy reading. I guess you may as well go the whole hog and reconsider the entire report and do it properly! My number in Australia is 02 8256 3999. We’ll start by asking your shareholders what they want and then we’ll create something new, different and devastating – something your shareholders will love you for. They may even want to hug you.
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.
A survey by Weber Shandwick of US employers has revealed some alarming facts about the way employers are responding to the pressures of the economic downturn. The bosses have been found to be somewhat tight lipped about communicating some of the facts to their trusted employees. They have been found wanting when being up front and honest about the likely impact of the global upheaval and US recession on their companies and employees. And this despite the fact that… > 26% of workers expect their company will have to retrench people > 62% believe their company will have trouble meeting goals > 71% say bosses should be communicating more > 54% of workers have not heard from company leaders at all regarding the impact of the crisis .. despite 74% having heard colleagues discussing the issue
Stormy waters have been known to drive captains of industry to batten down the hatches until calm waters return, avoiding confrontation and seeking solace in dark corners. Some storms even cause them to jump ship in true Marie Celeste fashion.
Where is the employer brand champion when you need one?
As the spearhead of a company’s brand, upholder of values and beacon for the company’s vision and direction, the company’s leader must inspire employees to make outstanding efforts when times are good and also be the bearer of bad news when external forces conspire to undo all the good work. That person must be truthful, honest and realistic on how the company and its employees will be affected. The leader must also stir them, inspire them and win their respect. Compelling communication is the order of the day. The company’s potential and resilience must be placed forefront in their minds. They must believe in the future and that their company has the strength and resources to ride the storm and power ahead suitably revitalised once skies clear.
Challenging times have an uncanny knack of exposing company flaws and deficiencies, or revealing truly great companies with unbreakable purpose and direction. Which one is yours?
