A cover is a terrible thing to waste.
Whoever said you can’t judge a book by its cover obviously never looked at an annual report. The cover is the first thing investors see, which gives it tremendous messaging value. Still, many companies underutilize that space.
Take banks, for instance. In 2023, U.S. Banks collectively spent approximately $14.94 billion on advertising.*. A portion of that was used by some banks to tell the marketplace of how safe, friendly, and rewarding they were. Strangely, their message doesn’t always carry over to their annual reports.
*U.S. commercial banks industry ad spend 2023 | Statista
The covers below are stark and impersonal. Not the kind of message I’d want from any bank.
Compare the covers above with those below. Their theme lines are not the most original lines; I’ve seen them on plenty of other annual reports. But at least they say that someone is home. And give you a tiny sense of what the bank is about. Adding an image to the cover enhances the message.
No matter your industry, it costs you the same to print a plain cover as one with a message on it. So why not get your money’s worth?