Hello. My day job is about helping all sorts of people say what they mean.
I create brand tone of voice and business writing programmes that liberate employees to write well, rather than frighten them about apostrophes. I help directors express ideas without poisoning their audiences with low-hanging fruit. And I write and edit everything from speeches to strategy papers, from books to web content.
I run business and design writing workshops. And 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."
And this from Radley Yeldar's annual report into annual reports, with Land Securities selected as best narrative reporting amongst the FTSE 100 in 2008.
Current clients include... KPMG UK, KPMG International, Land Securities, Ince & Co, Sainsbury's, Schneider Electric, Misys, RIBA, Mouchel and Mears Group.
Close design collaborators include... Moving Brands, SAS Design, Fig Tree, OPX, Salter Baxter, SomeOne and Enterprise IG.
I would also love to work with... brave architects, creative Japanese and Indian companies, mad scientists, inspiring management consultants, innovative local authorities... 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 issues, 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, and once wrote a book about football.
Away from words... I wander around decaying places with a cheap digital camera. 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 copywriter, copywriting, editorial consultant, editing, brand language, brand tone of voice, verbal identity, annual report writer, business writing, design writing, London, technical writer, 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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