The Best Online Annual Reports of 2018

Digital annual reports are a great way to present your annual report in a compelling and interesting way, engage your audience, and make the boring part of the regulatory guarantee an incredible part of the story.

Every year we write reviews of the best annual reports online (for your information, we specialize in developing digital annual reports). This year we would like to highlight five annual reports that we think really stand out.

Novozymes

Novozymes is an agricultural research company that aims to use enzymes and microbes to improve agriculture for farmers, consumers and the planet. Their annual report is, in many ways, a test of simplicity. Many of the reports we are discussing are significant investments in terms of time and energy and we can quickly liquidate them by saying "Ok, yes, this is Google".

Novozymes shows that the beautiful graphics and movement of the parachute continue to tell the story of numbers. We also appreciated their easy navigation and how easy it is to get more information.

Roche

Roche's annual report is simply visually stunning.

The first video of all the reports we looked at was Roche, a pharmaceutical and health diagnostics company based in Switzerland.

Each section has an amazing video joined thematically by a simple overlay. The result is a relationship where you know you're moving on to the next chapter, but you also know you're in the same book. It's a delicate balance, especially with multimedia content like videos, and Roche handles it perfectly.

Their subdivisions, which you can dive into in more detail, continue to have excellent interactivity. The only criticism is that the navigation is linked to the main site, which makes it difficult to report and find specifically what you are looking for. Overall, a very good use of a complex car.

3. Girls who code

Not surprisingly, the non-profit organization Girls Who Code, which aims to involve more women in programming, has released an extraordinary digital annual report. I really like it here, but we wanted to evoke some key features.

First, it is branded. It looks like the girls are planning, but if you look at past annual reports, they all look the same, updated to reflect the era they originated in. Just like other organizations have evaluated their knowledge centers or customer portals, they have codified it in their annual reports.

And this is a brilliant shot. Not only does this mean there is a unity that many other relationships lack - a unity that will create value for the brand / investor over time - but there is also a sense of continuity and consideration. This isn't just a beautiful show - it's not looking for a reason.

Using gifs and interactive media in the form of a game, almost "this is another point"

• Interactive graphics
• Nice data visualization
• Easy to navigate
• Smart typography

Overall, the girls who wrote the code did a great job with their annual online reports.

4. WNET

Most annual reports are based on the same elements: introduction, letter from the CEO, information on products / departments / initiatives, statistics and financial data.

WNET, a non-profit organization that operates several PBS stations, takes a different approach. Instead of showing what they did, they just showed the creature itself.

Their "review year" is a fusion of the different types of media and content they have produced throughout the year, highlighting big wins and creating an experience that is more of a "WNET piece" than an "annual report". The result is a digital experience you can't wait to explore and where you can spend hours in rabbit holes.

5. Vodafone

Vodafone was a year away from our main annual reports last year, but they're back in 2019 with vengeance. For a complete and comprehensive brand experience, Vodafone is hard to look beyond.

With easy tracking, smooth transitions, and photos that accurately reflect their look and feel elsewhere, Vodafone has used what businesses are about to forget. Yes, you can use your annual report to differentiate yourself from your main brand, but keeping it consistent is very helpful.

Final thoughts

Organizations should see the annual report not as an administrative task, but as a wonderful opportunity to tell your brand story, using all the tools needed to tell it. For some it is a simple PDF. But for the most part there is enormous potential