heywood innovation blog

The medium and the message

admin — Tue, 15 May 2012 06:41:58 +0000

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.

The evolution of the annual report

admin — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 06:30:25 +0000

Where are you on the journey?

Get it right on the inside first

Tony Heywood — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 00:21:06 +0000

If your employees are not living the organisation’s brand values internally then it’s going to be next to impossible to build the brand externally.

It’s surprising how much money and effort organisations put into building and promoting external brands when things just aren’t right on the inside. When culture is fragmented across different areas of the business. When employees just don’t have a clear view of the road ahead or who’s driving the organisation. When employee disengagement starts to spread because the organisation forgot how to challenge or reward them. When recruitment campaigns fail to get a result. When sales volumes start to dip because enthusiasm and belief for the organisation’s products and services just aren’t there any more. When change moves employees out of their traditional comfort zones and brings on stress and discomfort. When efforts to communicate with employees fall on deaf ears.

Organisations are switched on these days to identifying the warning signs but tend to experience significant difficulty when it comes to finding solutions.

Most branding consultants are inexperienced when it comes to thinking strategically and creatively to identify employee-related issues and finding ways to prescribe solutions – ones which, in many cases, significantly affect the future wellbeing of the organisation. Consulting firms tend to focus on business processes and the bottom line. Employer branding consultants like Heywood Innovation however, focus on employee-related issues and opportunities and how the organisation is perceived as a competent and attractive employer from both the inside and the outside.

Which one did you go for?

The world is moving online

Tony Heywood — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 00:03:10 +0000

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.

Move your printed communications online

Tony Heywood — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 00:00:48 +0000

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.

Gold mining in motion

admin — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 06:07:05 +0000

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.

Multi-platform corporate reporting solutions for your shareholders

admin — Tue, 05 Apr 2011 01:46:16 +0000

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

Wherefore art thou print?

Tony Heywood — Mon, 24 Jan 2011 03:03:44 +0000

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.

Celebrating Australian pioneering spirit

Tony Heywood — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 05:03:44 +0000

MORNING STAR GOLD
Morning Star Gold is presently breathing new life into the Morning Star Mine in the remote alpine region of north-east Victoria – once Australia’s premier gold mine. The local township of Woods Point sprang up when gold was discovered by Irishman Willliam Gooley in 1861 while prospecting near the Goulburn River. This prompted a wild rush for gold and by the mid 1860s around 50 large mines were in operation. To celebrate MSG’s commitment to the local Woods Point community and these pioneering miners, we have created the inaugural William Gooley Memorial Award for Community Service. This award, sponsored by Morning Star Gold, will be presented to a standout contributor to the local community in early 2011. Our involvement included concept, copy writing and design of logos, award and poster.

Pumping up the story to shareholders

Tony Heywood — Thu, 04 Nov 2010 04:30:09 +0000

PAN PACIFIC PETROLEUM

Pan Pacific Petroleum is an ASX-listed oil company operating in New Zealand and Western Australia. This is the fourth printed annual report and third html ‘microsite’ annual report we have designed and produced for PPP. The online version features a ‘landing page’ style for the home page facilitating several points of entry to the report, enabling readers to access faster than with traditional single navigation access.
FULL REPORT