Annual report copywriting case studies
For over 20 years, our writers have been delivering investor communications that go beyond the numbers to tell a compelling story that actively engages stakeholders and wider audiences
Case studies
Gulf International Bank: Beyond the numbers
The challenge: create a report that tells an international story
We’ve worked with GIB for over three years and worked hard to understand their priorities as a business. For the 2024/5 annual report, they asked for a clear focus on international growth.
Response: scratching the surface and diving beneath
We worked closely with the marketing team to establish their objectives and define a clear, compelling narrative that would carry through the report. We then undertook an intense research phase across multiple territories. This was followed by interviews of key personnel. These interviews were designed to go beyond the surface, to gain a deep understanding of the business from the people at the heart of it. We then undertook the writing, again cllaborating closely wiht marketing, for feedback, to swiftly return updated drafts.
Result: a compelling, widely shared report
Despite a diverse group of stakeholders, both marketing and senior leaders were very happy with our writing and the finished report. We are currently (as of April 2026) working on next year’s report.
Access Bank: Challenger to contender
The challenge: Express ambition, build gravitas
As a new bank Access needed an annual report that clearly articulated the growth and ambition of the business.
Response: Interview and research-led content
As always, our senior-level writer spent considerable time understainding the business structure, meeting with marketing to understand their objectives and planning the process. It quickly becaume clear that the business was strongly focused on sustainability in all of its operations, so this became a central part of the brand story. Following interviews with key stakeholders, a compelling narrative was devleoped, that would express the progress the bank had already made, as well as it’s plans for sustainable growth beyond its core business.
Result: a comprehensive, compelling report
The report was finished ahead of time and was welcomed by all senior stakeholders. It became the benchmark for all future reports.
Pollen Street: Driving the brand through content
The challenge: deliver the numbers, tell the story, keep it short
Pollen Street is a purpose-led alternative asset manager. They needed a report that succinctly reported their financials, as well as expressing their succeses, challenges, and the scope of their future plans.
Response: a rigorous process to refine
The senior-level writer led the development process, working in close collaboration with marketing. They then began undertaking interviews, gathering all relevant data to inform the narrative of the report. A key challenge here was the request to deliver a report that was as brief as possible, to avoid swamping readers in unnessary data.
Result:
The report successfully takes a large amount of data and distils it into an easy-to-read format that meets all legal expectations, while giving significant focus to the buiness’s future plans. The report was delivered on time, to budget and was met with approaval from all stakeholders.
Our writers have also written reports for:
- Capital and Investments
- Emirates
- The Coca-Cola Company
- The British Business Bank
- Healthcare UK
- Synchrony
- UN Schools for Africa
- AKOBO Minerals
- WRAP UK
…and many others.
Demand more than experience
When you’re looking for professional annual report writing, you need to look beyond experience.
You must make sure the partner uses a proven methodology that will guarantee a smooth, detail-oriented process. At the same time, you should also get to know the kind of writer you’ll be working with. Beyond their experience, you will want to ensure they’re easy to work with and comfortable dealing with execs at the highest level. This will mean they know the right questions to ask and that their interviews are as effective as possible, so they can translate the insights they gather into compelling copy for your report.
The fact is, for such an important document, you’ve got to find a partner who you know will get it right. At Alex Genn Copywriting, our tried-and-tested process guarantees a report that you can be proud of.
Our process
1. Initial consultation: We start as we mean to go on, in close collaboration with your team. That means an in-depth discussion to understand what you want to achieve with the report. This gets us off on the right foot, quickly building rapport between your people and our writer. Most importantly, it helps your annual review copywriter understand your requirements and objectives in detail.
2. Collecting and understanding data: The writer will then gather all relevant pre-existing information and analyse it to ensure accuracy and relevance. What do we need? Usually, the last annual review, analysts’ overviews, key press releases, the brand’s most recent investor presentation, exec speeches and communications.
3. Interview process: Following this, your copywriter will organise and undertake a series of interviews with the company’s senior executives to gather their views. Our writer will discuss questions with your team before the interview and provide a questionnaire if necessary. This is a crucial foundation for annual review writing.
4. Core message and theme development: In close collaboration with your people, we’ll define and develop the central theme (core message) of the report. We’ll set out, with a short explanation, the key idea the brand would like readers to take away from reading the report. This core message will be used to guide theme development. This will be done in collaboration with the design agency. We’ll work together to create written elements (such as headlines) and visual ideas – with clear rationales – that work with the central theme.
5. Writing and feedback: Once the core message and theme are agreed, we’ll commence the annual review writing. To make sure we’re on track from the start, we’ll deliver sections incrementally, so you can feedback, ensuring your expectations are met. Following your feedback the writer will redraft as necessary.
6. Shareholder letter: For this vital part of the process, we’ll re-interview the Chief Exec, before drafting the letter and addressing any feedback.
7. Delivery: Your annual review copywriter will re-visit the initial data and interviews, sense-checking all of this against the final document. This ensures the final report is polished and professional, and conforms to your corporate tone of voice.
8. Finalisation: Once the annual review has been designed, our eagle-eyed proofreader will perform a deep-dive check, to ensure there are no errors before you publish. Proofreading is a multi-stage process, covering text, numerical data and design elements. This is followed by a second-stage proofing to check for any errors, post-redesign.
By implementing this proven methodology, we guarantee gold-standard annual review writing that fulfils your legal obligations, works hard for your brand and leaves readers with a rich sense of what matters to the business.
Ready to find out more?
We are always happy to chat to discuss your obejctives and requiremtns.
Please note that at certain times of the year we become very busy. This can lead to disappointment, so please arrange your consultation at your earliest convienience.