Keynote presentation from the 2012 International ARC Annual Report Awards

1. Annual Report
Trends 2012

2. 5 10K WRAPS
Who says print reports are dead?
10k Wraps are still on the rise, leading the pack with printed reports, and have increased 10% in the last 4 years,
according to the latest NIRI Survey; Traditional ARs and Summary Reports have held steady. The good news is that the
NIRI survey found that 87% of companies surveyed still produce some type of annual report.
ASPEN INSURANCE THE PROGRESSIVE CORPORATION SOUTHERN COMPANY
10K WRAP TRADITIONAL AR SUMMARY REPORT
56% 66% 32% 31% 9% 10%
2006 2010 2006 2010 2006 2010

3. 4 ONLINE REPORTS
HTML VS. PDF?
HTML reports continue to grow with some survey’s reporting 52% of US companies and 42% of European companies
investing in HTML versions.
PDF reports can be a more economical solution, and are still preferred by some investment professionals. They are getting
much more advanced with embedded video, search-ability and links. Unfortunately the information in charts and graphs
will not come up in an internet search.
Many companies are providing both as United Technologies did, created by Ideas on Purpose, which gives the user
options.
UNITED TECHNOLOGIES

4. ‘ONLINE FIRST’ REPORTS
Online first reports are one of the hottest things happening with reports – these are reports that are designed for the online
user first, customized with tools like creating your own financial charts or creating searchable tables, with no print
companion or a at least a very secondary printable report.
Thomas Rosenmayr and his firm Nexxar in Austria are riding this wave specializing in Online First reports and this
Linde report is a great example of one of their Online First reports.
THE LINDE GROUP

5. 3 VIDEO
Video online continues to grow over the last few years as we have seen video reports online posted on YouTube and Vimeo
and html reports with heavy video support for companies such as GE and Caterpillar.
Video is a great way to showcase a CEO’s vision as Booz Allen Hamilton did on their award-winning shareholder
letter and to focus on a companies business sectors, the United Technologies and Southern Company did in their
award-winning reports.
Many report photographers are also learning to shoot video, along with their award-winning photography like
Alan Shoemake and James Schnepf.
GENERAL ELECTRIC BOOZE ALLEN HAMILTON
SOUTHERN COMPANY

6. 2 INTEGRATED REPORTS
Integrated reports are another emerging trend that feature the company as a whole, not only showcasing financial
performance reporting but also featuring CSR performance with GRI reporting.
Denmark’s Novo Nordisk was one of first international companies to do an integrated report in in 2004.
Today South Africa is leading the pack as they have legislature requiring companies to produce an integrated report.
The US is behind due to complications and hurdles with the FSC and IIRC. However, we have had some US companies
leading the way differentiating themselves such as Pfizer and United Technologies.
NOVO NORDISK PFIZER UNITED TECHNOLOGIES

7. 1 APPS for iPAD & MOBILE
With the unprecedented growth and
success of the iPad – 55 million sold in less
than two years this is a huge opportunity.
Plus with the ability to showcase the best of
both online and offline reports, iPads have a
huge potential for annual report application.
Just under 200 AR Apps for global
companies are available on iTunes and
under 25 Android AR Apps are available
today, so this is still in its infancy but has
huge potential.
GE has one of the most engaging iPad
reports with incredibly produced video
and interactive charts versus the majority
of companies only providing PDFs for
tablet usage.
Meanwhile jury is still out with Mobile
Phone Apps. Although both mobile phones
and tablets have Apps the design for each is
very different.
For Mobil Phone Apps, the graphics need
to be bold and simple, with minimal text –
not a very good medium for large annual
reports with lots of text. They are best used
to communicate a bold marketing message
or drive viewers to the online report.
So when it comes to Apps, the iPad seems
to be the big winner for now!

8. Annual Report
Trends 2012