STORIES ARE IMPORTANT IN ALL COMMUNICATIONS
Sometimes clients say to me, “Stories are fine at some Web sites, but not the one I’m
working on now. I’m designing the Web site for the company’s annual report. Stories
aren’t appropriate there; it’s just financial information.” Not true. There are appropriate
stories you can use any time you are trying to communicate.
Medtronic is a medical technology company. Take a look at their annual report. (The
online version is the same as the print version: http://216.139.227.101/interactive/mdc2010/).
The cover of the report is a high-quality photo of Antoinette Walters, a patient who was
helped by one of Medtronic’s products. Later in the report there is a short story about
Antoinette:
“Antoinette Walters, shown here and on the cover, had such a severe lumbar scoliosis that the pain incapacitated her, and the deformity was progressively getting worse.
Then she underwent spinal fusion surgery using Medtronic spinal products to correct the
alignment. Today, Antoinette’s spine is much straighter, her pain is virtually gone, and she
is several inches taller.”
Antoinette’s is not the only story in the annual report. Sprinkled in with the financial
information are high-quality photos as well as stories about people like Antoinette and
employees who invented various technologies. The stories make the rest of the information in the report more interesting, and also create a link between the financial numbers
and the stated mission of the company