LATEST PROJECTS:
Writing and editing 'Living identity', a paper on brands and branding from Moving Brands, together with the new About/Offer sections of movingbrands.com.
Writing and editing the Land Securities Annual Report 2009, print and online.
Writing and editing the BP Annual Review 2008.
Communications advice for a small mental health charity dedicated to understanding and treating personality disorders.
Consultancy on corporate responsibility communications for a FTSE 100 company, including advice on messages, tone of voice, editorial ideas and video content.
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Hello. My day job is about helping all sorts of people say what they mean.
I help business people to express ideas without poisoning their audiences with low-hanging fruit. I write, edit and advise on everything from speeches to strategy papers, corporate reports, online content and short company films. And I create brand tone of voice and business writing programmes that liberate directors and employees to write well, rather than frighten them about apostrophes. I also run writing workshops for designers. I take particular delight in trying to transform annual reports from an exercise in compliance to a memorable conversation. Sometimes I succeed.
I've won some awards (see below), but more satisfying was a letter from a shareholder to the Chairman of one of my clients which said: "This is the first time I have read an annual report and understood what it means. As a result I am going to buy more shares in your company."
Cue Hallelujah chorus.
I was also pretty pleased with this, from IR Magazine's 2008 survey of annual reports worldwide:
"The 2008 annual report for a UK real estate investment trust is the favorite of four out of five judges. One even gives it a perfect score, the only 10 in the contest. Most striking is the sober essay from the chairman outlining what the correction in the property market means for the company."
This from Radley Yeldar's annual report into annual reports, with Land Securities selected as best narrative report amongst the FTSE 100 in 2008.
STOP PRESS: The Land Securities Annual Report 2009 has been selected as best property AR in Europe by EPRA/Deloitte, beating 70 others.
Current clients include... BP, Land Securities, Moving Brands, KPMG UK, KPMG International, Misys, Ince & Co, Sainsbury's, Schneider Electric, The Whitechapel Gallery, RIBA, Mouchel and Mears Group.
Close design collaborators include... SAS Design, Fig Tree, OPX, Salter Baxter, SomeOne and Enterprise IG.
I would also love to work with... provocative think tanks, mad scientists, brave architects, inspiring management consultants, innovative local authorities (do they exist?)... and more great designers.
In the past... I was editor of Graphics International magazine, a columnist for Design Week for six years, European Contributing Editor for the American design magazine PRINT, and a contributor to numerous other magazines on design, writing and communication, including Management Today and Blad. I still write an article now and then. I also used to review the newspapers on BBC Radio 4's Broadcasting House show, once wrote a book about football, and recently judged Debating Matters.
Away from words... I wander around with a cheap digital camera and a hungry eye. Take a look here, if you like.
Some recent awards...
Land Securities annual report
IR Magazine award for Best Narrative Reporting, 2008
Communicators in Business Awards, 2008
CorpComms Awards, 2007
Red Dot Awards, 2007
Design Week Awards 2007
Sainsbury's annual review
Communicators in Business Awards, Class winner
Ericsson annual report
D&AD Writing for design
Mears annual report
IR Best Practice Awards
If you only read one annual report this award season I recommend it be Mears. It is short and simple, and you get the point even if you only flick through it.
http://blog.irmanager.org
PS
I suppose, from an SEO point of view, I should mention the words writing, editing, copywriter, copywriting, editorial consultant, editing, brand language, branding, award winning, brand tone of voice, verbal identity, annual report writer, annual report copywriter, annual reports copywriting, annual review copywriter, business review writing, business writing, corporate website content, design writing, London, technical writer, Ericsson, BP, Land Securities, "annual report writer", 26, 26.org.uk, jargon, clarity, "clear writing", elk racing, blah blah, and Tim Rich at least once. But that would be gauche. (If you don't know what SEO stands for just tap it into Google and discover a dark art).
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