Case Study: Viasystems
Branding Initiative
Needs
This St. Louis-based global engineering company (http://www.explorestlouis.com)/emerged from Chapter 11 in 2003 and was in need of an identity makeover that would also appeal to Asian customers where Viasystem has a strong presence.
Solution
The identity was refined and applied to stationery, corporate collateral, PowerPoint presentations, (http://www.microsoft.com)/ and its redesigned corporate website. Eisenberg And Associates was careful in the use of colors to ensure that all materials would be well-received both in North America and Asia. We used colors from the Viasystems logo to represent their vertical markets. Their corporate website was creatively designed and developed with a content management system that allows authorized users to make minor copy and graphic changes without knowledge of HTML.
Results
Viasystems emerged from Chapter 11 with a new fresh brand, as a new company. The clean navigation and content management system allowed the company to update and refresh their content quickly and easily. The collateral system was creatively designed and easy to update in-house, saving the company out-of-pocket costs.
Case Study: Verizon
2003 Online Annual Report
Needs
In 2003, Verizon’s http://www.verizon.com/ printed annual report design theme was “delivering the new world of communications.” Verizon’s challenge to Eisenberg And Associates: Deliver an online, interactive and creative annual report that stylistically matches the printed version, but also offers content not available/possible in printed form. With a shareholder base of over 1 million, and as a technology-driven communications company, offering its shareholders http://www.shareholder.com/ online services is critical.
Solution
Eisenberg And Associates http://www.eisenberginc.com/ responded by delivering on the promise of the Verizon theme. E&A redesigned and programmed its printed documents into an enhanced interactive annual report that included an animated site gateway; HTML graphs and charts for the visually impaired; animated Flash graphics to explain complex charts and diagrams; an extensive “Financial Guide” that explained its annual report design terminology and their corporate philosophy; an extensive narrative section offering cross-linked content, supporting electronic information with televised speeches and downloadable documents; and a full online HTML version of their 2003 Proxy Statement. Additional content included a site search, help section, user feedback forms, and multiple downloadable PDFs.
Results
Verizon received favorable feedback on its creative interactive annual report. http://www.amazon.com/2009-Annual-Report-Council-Relations/dp/0876094647 The navigation was user-friendly and there were multiple ways that users could find the information and online annual report that they needed, downloads were available on every page, and there were many animated charts and graphics to provide a rich, interactive experience.
Case Study: TXU Energy
2004 Annual Report
Needs
John Wilder’s arrival as TXU’s CEO has focused the company on the pursuit of achieving industry leadership. TXU http://www.txu.com/ has seized the opportunity to “rebase” the company, which means reorganizing its assets, both human and physical, and how they are managed, to improve the value of the TXU franchise. This year, the company has concentrated on restructuring the organization in order to focus on its core businesses of energy delivery, power production and retail marketing; strengthening the balance sheet and rejuvenating its financial profile; developing a lean, industrial culture and operation; and improving overall performance to ultimately achieve industry leadership.
The key message for TXU’s 2004 Annual Report is “Rebuilding.” TXU has been in a whirlwind of action since February 2004 as it essentially rebuilds itself from the ground up.
Solution
Since TXU is in a rebuilding mode, Eisenberg And Associates took the approach of building something from the ground up and produced an annual report design that looked like a blueprint. For the cover, we scanned real blueprints to use as our background and redrew the TXU logo as a simple line-art logo that came across as starting anew. We knew that Mr. Wilder liked plain and simple creative designs, so we kept the layout clean and fresh, but added chart, graphs and quick reads to add more visual interest.
Results
The annual report has been very well received by TXU’s shareholders. They have received positive comments back from shareholders in regards to TXU cutting costs this year by producing their annual report with less color and black and white photography.
