Posts in category: Insights

What Is It?

Design risk comes in two forms. Anything in a design that can damage your brand image is a risk, this includes things such as using inappropriate language or images, or unjustified claims in advertisements. All of these can result in serious problems and financial loss.

The other category of design risk is that your branding objectives are not achieved by the particular graphic design. For instance, if you are needing 1200 click throughs from an audience but you only get 100 because of the graphic design not being effective enough to attract people.

Solutions

The solution for managing both these categories of risk is the same – review and test. In terms of review, the more eyeballs you can get on the design the better. However, the more independent the reviewer the better, because it is very difficult to pick up problems if you have been involved with the design.

Get Everybody Involved

Also, amongst your review team should be a representative from every main section of your company affected by the design. For instance, if the design concerns the advertisement of a new product launch, then in addition to marketing, there should be a review from product development, distribution and sales as well.

Test, Test and Test

A very effective way of testing is to use a pilot group or focus group of consumers or end users. Some marketers prefer to go live with designs without consumer testing. The rationale being that, ‘the best way to test something is to see how it works in the market.’ Unfortunately, with this approach, the damage is already done before a design can be revised. Far better to get feedback and change things before using a design in the live environment.

Budgeting

It is true that testing takes time and money. On the budgetary side, there are some very low-cost alternatives to the full-fledged focus group. A popular method is to see the reactions to particular designs in appropriate social media groups. The members may not be exactly the people you want input from, but if you select the group carefully, you can often get a very good match.

Another aspect to keep in mind is that your insurers who cover you for certain types of business risk, may look favourably at your proposal if you have solid procedures in place for the management of your design risk.

The bottom line is that although it costs to test, it costs even more to fix a bad design that gets released. For this reason, it is good practice to allow for testing dollars and for testing time in your marketing and design budgets

As a design agency we have some clients who live by the need to review and test and others who are difficult to persuade to manage design risk. Which is the right approach? I can only observe that with the design risk managers, the reviews and tests result in at least 5 or 6 revisions based on consumer feedback; with the changes being made in a relatively calm environment – no panic. Those who don’t review and test still have to make the changes but very often after the damage has been done and usually under a lot of stress and pressure.

Sustainability reporting is not only a legal necessity, but more importantly, it affects your brand and share price. Investors, particularly the younger generations take your sustainability record into account when making investment decisions and if you are not reporting it properly through your sustainability reporting, then you are on the back foot in comparison your competitors who are probably shouting out about their sustainability efforts and initiates. This is not the time to be quiet about the good work you are doing.

Your company’s impact, contribution and how it conducts itself to the preservation and wellbeing of the environment and society (Environmental, Social and Governance) ESG or (Economic, Environmental and Social) EES now plays a key role more than ever before.

The integration of sustainability into a business does have a positive impact on a company, enhancing its operations, finance, investment, innovation and risk management, but as already mentioned it also helps establish and elevate the companies long term brand value and reputation above its competitors in the eyes of potential stakeholders/investors.

As with an Annual Report, Sustainability Reports also need to have a clear, engaging story and message. Covering your approach to sustainability, your strategy, performance, competitiveness, continuity and values. The report needs to be one that is understandable to stakeholders and investors through clear written and visual communications.

There are 3 types of Sustainability Reporting that a company can consider that comes with their own advantages, disadvantages and challenges:

Corporate websites give a company the opportunity to share more than who you are, what you do and how you do things. It is where you can share your story, to give a personality /face to the company and to articulate what makes you great and differentiates you from your competitors.

It is the only platform where you can cater to everyone’s needs and requirements, in an environment where you have 100% control over what you want to say and how you want to say it.

There are 3 elements to an effective corporate website:

The way we develop, view and deliver Annual Reports has evolved from 100% print, to cd’s, pdf’s and flip pages. Some of these changes were driven by stricter regulations and the growing demand by shareholders for more transparency. However, the changes have opened up great new opportunities for Investor Relations professionals to engage with shareholders. The growing global trend of online reporting through microsites is a perfect example and an opportunity for companies of all sizes.

No matter the size of your company the Annual Report is an obligation that cannot be avoided. Unfortunately, many companies, especially SMEs miss the value in producing an Annual Report and merely see it as pure torture that takes up money, resources and time they would rather be allocating elsewhere.

There is no doubting that not everyone will read every single page of your Annual Report, but still it does happen to be the most comprehensive opportunity for a company to communicate on it’s financial performance, activities, corporate social responsibilities and future directions.

One just needs to look at major MNC’s around the world and the investment that is made on Annual Reporting (print and online) and IR websites alone. For smaller companies that do not have the reach of larger companies, the Annual Report becomes even more important in sharing the company’s corporate story, it’s value to shareholders and potential investors.

There is still a serious need for companies to start recognising the importance of Investor Relations and the growing need to invest more resources towards effective and holistic communications, giving investors better and more accessible information to understand your business better. This is where we start to see the digitalisation of Annual Reports meeting and enabling these needs.

Having an Annual Report microsite does not necessarily mean we do away with the traditional print version of the AR or current forms of interactive reporting such as pdfs and flip pages. Instead, if budgets allow they are best used to complement the online report and be a part of your overall communications mix.

There is also the use of social media which speeds-up the distribution of content with a greater reach. This needs to be strategically managed.

What is exciting for all stakeholders involved with microsites – companies, investors, employees and users alike – is the level of flexibility, interaction, engagement, customisation and countless advantages that can be experienced with these microsites. These advantages are simply not possible through a print, PDF or flip page platform.