About us
Press
Real IR: Multimedia
13/10/2006
Multimedia
The internet is at last fulfilling its potential as a rich audio-visual
communications channel. How can IR teams make the most of it?
By Ben Schiller
OCTOBER 2006 www.realir.net
Since its earliest days, people have spoken of the internet’s multimedia potential. Yet the on-screen reality has often been less than fabulous. Slow download speeds and clunky technology have meant that, while many things were technically possible, the user’s experience was little more than a curiosity. It is only recently, with advances in software and the take-up of broadband, that developers have begun to come good on what the internet has promised for so long.
Likewise, the investor relations sections of corporate web sites have often failed to make the most of the medium. Many have simply been online versions of material created in other forms – press releases, annual reports and so on.
While companies have added interesting features in recent years, including webcasts of investor presentations and executive interviews, IR sites have, like the rest of the internet, tended to be static and uninspiring.
That is beginning to change, though. As the wider internet develops, so IR web sites are adapting, too – incorporating audio, video and animation in interesting and innovative ways. The success of video web sites such as YouTube, which allows anyone to post video clips for worldwide consumption, is bleeding into other corners of the internet, giving confidence to corporate web site developers to experiment with multimedia content.
At the same time, investors and analysts are demanding information and perspectives that go beyond the traditional facts and figures. The need to present more non-financial data – for example, on corporate social responsibility – means that companies have further reasons to seek new ways to present material.
“Increasingly, we see demand from companies, and in turn from investors and analysts, for creating much more than raw financial data,” says Rupert Spiegelberg, a director at IR web design firm Investis. “A lot of this is driven by the big media sites like CNN and the BBC. They are all being driven by video content and it’s having a halo effect. When companies see it demonstrated on media sites they understand its power and they can see it translated into the corporate world.”
Selling the store revamp
Investis has recently completed an online annual report for Italian fashion house Benetton. Once a static, standard affair, the report is now full of audio and video from various employees and executives speaking about different aspects of the company. As well as the obligatory financial information, the report includes video clips about Benetton’s revamp of its Italian store network and footage from some of its recent catwalk shows.
The aim, says Spiegelberg, is to communicate more compellingly what the company is doing: “What you can’t do in books is to bring to life some of the issues they want to communicate. You get a real sense of the shops. It’s not just them saying ‘we’ve refitted our shops’. You can see how they’re refitted.”
Mara Di Giorgio, Benetton’s head of IR, says the report, which went live this summer, has been well received by both the buy-side and sell-side. “They say it is a very good way to understand Benetton. They liked the audio and video more than the Excel files that they can download. They can have a real view inside the group,” she says.
The cost of producing video was not cheap, Di Giorgio admits. On the other hand, it is less expensive than a large advertising campaign, and can be justified as part of a wider marketing effort, she says. “We look at it as not only a financial tool but a marketing tool. It is not only for investors but for others as well – suppliers, for example.
After seeing what is possible, Benetton now plans to re-engineer its entire IR web site with multimedia elements – a process Di Giorgio expects to be finished during the coming 12 months.
Webcasting
Most larger European companies now do some form of webcasting – most frequently of results presentations.
Peter Schindlmeier, corporate web site head at Cadbury Schweppes, which has been webcasting since the late nineties, says it is a good way to introduce managers to investors and analysts.
Katherine Conway, head of IR at Bradford & Bingley, says webcasting allows her firm to reach its large base of retail investors, many of whom have been with the former building society since before demutualisation in 2000. “For disclosure purposes, we are trying to reach as many shareholders as possible. It’s not fair that only some of them get to see the investor presentation,” she says.
Neil Barnett, manager of online communications at Friends Provident, says webcasting is useful in catering for the firm’s US investors, and for providing guidance on regulatory changes affecting its pensions business. Friends Provident also produces “podcasts”, which allow people to listen to presentations on portable media players such as iPods.
Friends Provident was one of the companies singled out in a survey this year by CTN Communications as providing a “division one” webcasting service. Others in this category included Vodafone, Rolls-Royce, Royal & SunAlliance, Tesco and airports operator BAA.
According to the survey, 83 FTSE 100 companies now routinely webcast their full-year results, while 24 webcast their quarterly statements as well. About half offer video as well as audio.
Looking around the web
Rosie Catherwood, a director at video communications firm Cantos, says webcasting is now a basic requirement for larger companies. The main issue is to make sure the technology is easy to use and works reliably. More innovative firms, she says, are going beyond investor presentations to provide interviews and documentary-type pieces. Cantos has recently worked with brewer SAB Miller to produce a film about its operations in Bulgaria, and with Sainsbury’s on a film about its ethical policies.
Di Giorgio says Benetton’s move to remake its annual report was inspired by looking at web sites around world, including those outside the IR realm.
Caroline Surujpaul, head of multimedia at Investis, says some of the best examples of corporate innovation come from areas such as graduate recruitment or corporate social responsibility. She cites Marks & Spencer’s recruitment page, which includes video diaries from employees. “You get a sense of what it feels like to work at the company. It’s a lot more powerful than it would be in text form,” she says.
Surujpaul argues that multimedia allows companies to satisfy investors’ hunger for an expanded perspective on their activities. “When someone is looking at a company, as well as the hard, cold facts, they also want to find out what the company does.”
She adds that multimedia is easier for users to digest than text. “The way people read on the internet is different to how they read a printed page. When people read web sites, they like to read in small chunks. Reading from a monitor requires a lot more effort than from paper.”
Multimedia tool kit
Audio: A fairly standard feature. Podcasts are popular among some investors and analysts who want to listen on the move.
Slide shows: Basic and hardly “multimedia”, but useful. A good way to save web users from having to download large documents (see UK brewer Greene King’s site, www.greeneking.co.uk, for a recent slide presentation of preliminary results).
Video: Provides a wide range of options: investor presentations, interviews with
executives, web site welcome messages and documentaries. The best sites (for example, www.danskebank.dk) now use Flash to integrate video into the web page.
Flash Animation: Highly versatile software. Can be used to bring products and
services to life (for an example, visit Dutch chemicals group Azko Nobel’s home page: www.akzonobel.com).
Cantos
“The main issue is to
make sure technology
is easy to use and
works reliably”
Investis
“What you can’t do in
books is to bring to life
the things they want
to communicate”
Cadbury Schweppes
“Webcasting is a good
way to introduce
managers to investors
and analysts”
Friends Provident
“Webcasting is useful
for catering to US
investors and providing
regulatory guidance”
Bradford & Bingley
“We are trying
to reach as many
shareholders as
possible”
Benetton
“It is not only a
financial tool but a
marketing tool. It’s not
only for investors”
T. +44 (0)20 7038 9023
F. +44 (0)20 7038 9001
E. enquiries@investis.com
Recruitment:
T. +44 (0)20 7038 9000
E. recruitment@investis.com
For all our contact details visit Contact us.
