AO World sells major and small domestic appliances and consumer electronics in the UK and Germany.
Client
AO World
Sectors
Consumer discretionary, Retail
Disciplines
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Consultancy
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Creative direction
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Graphic design
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Printed annual report
Report
AO World’s Annual Report helped to highlight key parts of their story, utilising strong infographics and key messaging to provide clarity over their investment proposition.
Approach
1
The challenge
AO are an online retailer, specialising in small and large domestic appliances and electricals.
The company is a distributor in the retail market and are driven by their ecosystem of capabilities, efforts to invest bravely and the culture to treat every customer as if they are their Gran.
2
Our approach
The goal for the report was to make the business understandable.
This involved taking the annual report and constructing their story, highlighting key areas that would allow for external stakeholders to understand their investment proposition.
The AO story was told in an AO manner, using infographics and bold messaging to allow a stakeholder to understand the business without needing to deep-dive. As a growing company and after many years of building the foundations to move into different market sectors and territories, it was only right that the report developed to match that growth and achievement. This meant, not only did their existing story need to be told, but it was important to show the potential of the company too.
Collaboration took place with multiple internal stakeholders at AO to create and communicate their business model, explaining how the customer is always at the centre of their operations and showcasing the different routes that the business takes to help achieve its mission.
AO’s strategy is communicated through pillars helping to detail the business’ appetite to grow. The strategy is also linked to the strapline on the front cover and begins to link to their marketplace and business achievements to create better connectivity throughout the report.
Finally, and somewhat most importantly, the AO’s story is communicated, bringing details around their culture and how they do what they do. This was done through the opening culture piece and by bringing forward the resources and relationships that allow them to uphold their ecosystem of capabilities. The story also better captures the customer and how they are always at the centre of the business, through pull-out customer quotes, imagery, and key statistics to back this up.
3
Our outcome
As a growing company, it was ever more important to have a coherent, understandable annual report, that includes a clear story, business model and strategy.
AO communicated key elements of the annual report, showcasing their customer-focused story and culture, aligning the report to the business and ultimately, making it understandable for all stakeholders. AO achieved this with the use of infographics, defined sections, signposting, interconnectivity and creativity. Deep divers are still able to access all the information that they may require, but it is very easy for all stakeholders, including those top skimmers, to pick up the AO annual report and now understand their story.
