The jury is in. An annual report provides a perfect cornerstone for CPR’s marketing initiative.

Challenge

The International Institute for Conflict Prevention & Resolution (CPR), a not-for-profit “think tank” that promotes excellence and innovation in commercial dispute prevention and resolution, needed to increase its visibility and name recognition in the field.  An Annual Report provided a great opportunity to tell the organization’s story, promote its programs, services and accomplishments and reinforce its core value proposition. In previous years, the organization had produced little more than a bulleted summary of activities in a Word document format.  After years of in-house, desktop publishing, CPR was now looking to elevate and professionalize the design and overall look of the Report.

My Approach/Role
As Vice President and Director of Marketing for CPR, I identified an opportunity for the Annual Report to serve several much-needed communications functions, including corporate identity, marketing, public relations, and membership acquisition and retention.  It was important to effectively quantify and communicate CPR’s value to current members and to the business world. To that end, I had to create a document that shifts from merely a record of past performance to a document of mission and vision.  In light of CPR’s new marketing focus and the increased need to promote the organization to its discerning members and non-members, I retained an external design firm to craft a dynamic marketing communications tool that will stand out among its peers.  Given CPR’s limited budget, I personally conceived and authored the Report, crafting individual vision statements and thematic summaries of CPR’s activities, accomplishments and service lines. I also secured all member testimonials, drafted captions and provided art direction for the delivery of the Report within budget and with a tight deadline.  

Solution
The goal of the Annual Report was to demonstrate CPR’s achievements, to recognize important accomplishments and humanize our value proposition with personal profiles of our members.  Through a brainstorming process, my creative partner and I were able to distill an overall theme for the publication. For more than 30 years, CPR helped legal counsel connect thought leadership to practical application, making ADR integral to how business is done. “Bridging the Gap” emerged as an ideal message to communicate CPR’s role in the field of ADR.  This overall theme, coupled with descriptions of CPR’s most notable service offerings, clearly demonstrated how the organization achieved its mission.  

It was quickly determined that the best story tellers were CPR’s own members. Thus, personal testimonials were solicited from leading academics, top attorneys from international law firms, and corporate counsel from the most successful companies in the world. These testimonials provided additional credibility for CPR in a field where competition and comparison are paramount.  To set the tone, an artist was retained to create a series of custom illustrations that became the vision for CPR’s “look” moving forward.  A structure was then established – merging content and dramatic artwork with testimonials and a photographic scrapbook of activities.

Outcome
For a not-for-profit, conveying value for membership dollars is paramount. The final product captured the essence of CPR by effectively communicating its mission and accomplishments in a professional and compelling manner. As budgets were tightened and funds restricted, CPR’s Annual Report became the primary marketing tool for the organization, utilized by all departments for myriad uses.  It has received numerous accolades from CPR’s elite membership and its ADR colleagues, as well as from individuals unfamiliar with CPR.  Ultimately, it has helped to set the tone for future collateral.  In order to make the Report appear less like a flat PDF and more like an online magazine, I had the Report digitally-animated.  The online version of the 2009/2010 Annual Report can be seen here.

Design Partner: CS Designworks