HAUPPAUGE, NY--(Marketwired - Sep 15, 2014) - Curran and Connors, Inc., an Integrated Brand Management and Communications Design Firm, is pleased to name Junior Achievement of New York ("JANY") the winner of their First Annual Report Design Contest. The purpose of the competition was to acknowledge and reward those institutions that stood above the rest as early adopters of 21st-century annual report design. Each entry was evaluated across a range of criteria that demonstrated the expanded use of the annual report beyond compliance to more enlightened applications.
There were a number of great submissions, and they all deserve recognition for the hard work shown in their annual reports. However, there was one company that stood above the rest, adopting the principles of 21st-century reporting in the most informative and aesthetically exciting way. Here, integration was key, as judges looked for elements that demonstrated the use of the annual report beyond compliance to more expanded applications. Marketing, social media content, sustainability reporting, sales promotion, internal communications and professional recruiting were some of the criteria used to judge submissions. With respect to these categories and more, JANY surpassed all other submissions with their 2013 annual report.
Curran & Connors' COO Noah Butensky said, "Junior Achievement of New York took home first place for exceeding all requirements recommended to win the contest." He stated, "Their use of exemplary branding, marketing and informational ideas wove in and out of their annual report, showing that they fully understand the idea of integrated brand management. This kind of innovation was key here, and JANY hit the nail on the head with their responsive site."
Junior Achievement of New York's annual report successfully integrated design, marketing and 21st-century ideas, like responsive Web development, in order to propel their business forward through the annual report medium. With easy navigation from the sidebar, JANY's annual report combined an integrated platform with a wonderful use of video and infographics. Integrated ideas were also seen throughout the annual report as financial information and graphics were interlaced with information on sustainability, community ethics and the company's mission objectives and goals. The president's video on the home page of the report was seen as a superb marketing differentiator in the effort to pick a frontrunner.
Paul Bruce, digital marketing manager at Issuer Direct and a judge of the contest, described what he was looking for in the winner, saying, "The 21st-century idea of Web design integration was of top priority when deciding the winner, and JANY passed with flying colors. Great layout, a fully integrated site and an overall interesting use of storytelling. That's the kind of integration we wanted to see, and that's what we got from JANY above everything else."
The full judging panel also included Stewart Rassier, a leading sustainability reporting expert at AccountAbility, former NIRI president Louis M. Thompson, Jr., Addo Communications CEO Andrew Greenebaum and Curran & Connors COO Noah Butensky.
Curran & Connors is an Integrated Brand Management & Communications Design Firm -- where creativity and strategy meet. Our unified approach to corporate communications, branding and interactive across multiple platforms provides our clients with a single source of strategic creative solutions throughout their entire organization. With our nearly fifty years of expertise in producing the highest-stakes communications materials, Integrated Brand Management allows our clients to achieve powerful results with a lower cost and higher return on investment.
For more information, please contact: Noah Butensky Chief Operating Officer Curran & Connors, Inc. nbutensky@curran-connors.com Phone: 631-435-0400
