The Annual Report needs to engage with various stakeholder groups that use it as their primary source of information regarding Heineken’s business activities. Employees, private and institutional investors, alongside other interested parties, should be able to clearly understand how Heineken manages its 200 international, premium, regional, local and specialty beers and ciders and its geographical reach; while being one of the world’s leading brewers in terms of sales volume and profitability in 2009.

After our research and consultancy stages created a clear content structure for the report – based on peer group analysis and audience interviews – we developed a media neutral design approach which worked successfully throughout the Annual Report across all media signposting and highlighting a number of key messages. The Quick Read feature enabled a 2 minute interactive journey through key areas of the report, supported by simple and intuitive ways to access further detailed content, whether facts about the company and their markets, a quick review of the year’s highlights or more detailed narrative and financials.

The agreed visual style has been adopted across other internal and external corporate communication projects at Heineken allowing the organisation to stand out from its peers in the beverages industry. The internet version has allowed Heineken to reduce the number of printed reports it produces which has also resulted in an increase in the overall readership of the report via the web. External awards have included: Platinum: Consumables/Food/Beverages/Tabacco in the LACP Awards 2010; GOLD: written text, GOLD: Chairman's Letter and SILVER: Interactive Annual Report in the 2010 ARC Awards Competition.