Our reporting has dramatically moved forward this year, with a comprehensive execution of mixed media communications. We worked very closely with Jones and Palmer at the early stages of the project to comprehensively review the messages to meet stakeholder needs. As always, I have been impressed with the value for money and service that Jones and Palmer consistently provide.
Halfords Group plc is a leading UK retailer of automotive and leisure products. They operate in three product and service areas, namely car maintenance, car enhancement and active leisure. The car maintenance group includes products such as car bulbs, wiper blades and oil, with car enhancement focusing on a range of items from car cleaning products to technology such as car audio and Sat Nav. Leisure focuses significantly on two core groups of cycling and travel solutions. The service offer which includes wefit, webuild, werepair and weservice adds value to both the company and the consumer. Towards the end of the financial year Halfords acquired Nationwide Autocentres which added 224 car service centres enhancing the service offer.
The last financial year has been an exciting period of growth for Halfords. As a complex retailing business Halfords were looking to create a communications message to simply explain how they generate value through their various channels both in-store and online. It was important to ensure that the investor community clearly understood the Halfords proposition.
To inform our recommendations we attended Halfords' results presentations and were able to analyse key concerns and questions raised. Further interviews and key messaging sessions took place with the executive directors and the senior managers. This helped us to work with Halfords in revising the communications structure and media selection whilst maintaining brand guidelines and values.
The mixed media approach we put forward integrated an investor video, printed annual report and online annual report, which illustrated key information in a variety of formats, increasing both ease of access and usability. Extra functionality was also added including the introduction of an electronic bar code at the beginning of each report section that could be scanned with a mobile phone enabling a direct link to that section on the online report.
The video provides investors with a non-audited visual insight to the Halfords value offer, briefly illustrating how each business area operates thus giving you an investment overview in just over three minutes. This complements the audited information provided by the website and printed document.