Communicators, the Club We Are COM encourages you to to disregard preconceived ideas about the integrated report. No, the integrated report is not invariably a tedious document. No, the integrated report is not just a financial press release. No, the integrated report is not reserved for a small handful of internal staff…
The integrated report according to the RATP Group
Raphaelle Marcadal,
Communications Department – Corporate Communications & Brand RATP Group
The RATP Group's communications team
Raphaëlle Marcadal: First and foremost, I think it's necessary to introduce the RATP group, which is much more than just the famous Paris metro. 🙂 We are the world's 3rd largest urban transport operator, a player in cities with numerous brands and specialized subsidiaries: real estate, energy, logistics, mobility, maintenance… And we also have a Foundation.
The RATP Group's Communications, Engagement and Brand Department reports to the Group's holding company management and is divided into 6 divisions: a press office, a Hub unit in charge of publications for theintranet and Social accounta strategic planning unit, an event expertise center; a unit internal communication and transformation, and finally, the corporate communications and group brand unit, to which I am attached. We also have communications managers in the subsidiaries and business units.
As the person in charge of brand contentI am also in charge of our activity report, which we call RADD for Activity and Sustainable Development ReportWe consider this as an object of program communication.
The RATP Group's Activity and Sustainable Development Report
Our RADD is essentially just the little sister of our more general RA, the Annual Report. Both documents depend on the same source. graphical charter to guarantee the same level of accessibility and understanding for everyone around the world.
This somewhat unique report, the RADD, was born from our desire to highlight the extra-financial value of the Group.
Since 2022, I have been in charge of managing this educational communication document, which accompanies the Group's strategic priorities throughout the year. Indeed, the RADD's purpose is to convey the overall vision of our strategy in a concise manner. Nobody wants to wade through a 200-page report anymore!
Our sustainable development activity report is editorializedto increase its impact. The main themes of the content are aligned with the company's major strategic directions.from which we extract what we like to call "the essential core." This preparatory work ensures visibility and readability for this document, which aims to be the voice of our General Management.
Our report takes the form of a highly visual, 40-page manual. Some of the graphic content is even repurposed into short videos, snippets for social media. Finally, the RADD is a communication tool both internal and external, which addresses two key challenges: the Group's influence and attractiveness.
The RATP Group's content strategy
Our content is highly editorialized. The design of this report requires a long process of reflection and coordination, especially during a change in governance, such as the one we experienced this year with the arrival of Jean Castex.
It all starts with listening: you have to immerse yourself in the strategic world., from the speech and words of the President and CEO. In a second step, we consult certain members of the executive committee, to finally select collectively the key moments that we wish to share in the document. There is absolutely no need to try to produce an exhaustive document, but sometimes it is more complicated to have to choose and take responsibility for those choices! Our key word is simplicity.
The integrated report according to Orange
Diana Charbonnier-Byong,
Head of Shareholder Publishing and Engagement at Orange Project manager for Orange's Integrated Annual Report (IAR)
The COM Individual Shareholder Relations team of the Orange group
Diana Charbonnier Biyong: Let me begin by giving a presentation of the Orange group with some figures from the integrated annual report. That's also what this report is for: to provide ready-to-use elements!
Orange is one of the main telecommunications operators worldwide with a presence in 26 countries – in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. The Group is also one of the world leaders in telecommunications services for businesses multinationals. This year, Orange presented its strategic plan “Lead the Future”, built on a new business model and guided by responsibility and efficiency.
To return to our topic, the integrated annual report, at Orange its production is managed by the Individual Shareholder Relations Department. This department reports to the Group Communications Department, which is organized around two main divisions: the retail shareholder division – responsible for our integrated annual report – and the employee savings and retirement division.
Published annually for the Orange Shareholders' General Meeting, RAI has become an unmissable event.
The Orange Group Integrated Annual Report (IAR)
With the publication of its 8th Annual Report, Orange's Annual Report is firmly established. Very early on, in 2015, this direction was adopted, supported by three sponsors of the Group's Executive Committee. merge the annual and CSR reports Orange, in order to showcase its sustainable performance. We like to think that Orange was a pioneer in this approach: The Group's non-financial performance has been integrated into the annual report on financial performance.
We intend for this report to serve as a tool for understanding the Group's presentation of the company project. the meaning of its actions guided by its purposeand its Lead the Future strategic plan. The challenge is to demonstrate how Orange creates sustainable value for the benefit of all its stakeholders. This will be achieved by combining visibility and education in a concise summary. We also want this report to be the backbone of the company's discourse. RAI, with its editorial content, is aimed at a wide audience. audience – from an expert audience to the general public, from internal to external collaborators, in France and internationally. It must distinguish itself from all the mandatory technical reports often reserved for a knowledgeable audience.
Through a process of continuous improvement and innovation, Orange's RAI is renewed year after year.both in substance and in form, to always strive towards greater clarity, readability and accessibility for all our audiences.
We focus on the quality of the content – ensuring it is impactful – and also on the style – less descriptive, more impactful. We strive to achieve a synthesis exercise Therefore, to limit the number of pages, we must make choices based on trends and new developments, particularly regarding CSR. A certain degree of perspective and neutrality are necessary in making these choices, and more broadly, in drafting the report.
Exactly, How can we contain or even reduce this number of pages? By focusing primarily on content that provides meaning, evidence of our positive impact business approach, key figures and indicators for monitoring the achievement of our objectives that underpin this approach.
Driven by a desire for innovation and alignment with Orange's social responsibility, We are framing this report within a logic of eco-design and inclusion both for print format and digital.
The Orange group's content strategy
Un Strategic Committee composed of the Directors of Group Strategy, Investor Relations, Shareholder Relations, CSR and the editorial agency endorses in advance the major messages and issues to be conveyed by the RAI.
Then a Steering committee, bringing together around the Shareholder Relations Department and the editorial agency, the Group CSR, Strategy, Investor Relations, Legal, Corporate, Risk, and Brand Departments, validates the RAI editorial line, its structure and the content relating to integrated reporting.
In parallel, we are "tackling" the collection of material to support the writing of content by the agency. We are addressing around one hundred direct collaborators, countries and divisions of the Group with a contributor guide to be completed. Our contributors are also consulted throughout the writing process to validate their respective content. This process is key to ensuring the report's reliability.
Once published, our challenge is to publicize it and broaden the RAI's reach both internally and externally. Every year, I recognize that beyond shareholders at the Annual General Meeting, the RAI is eagerly awaited by employees, both to gain a better understanding of their Group and because it provides real support for their work. A veritable goldmine of information, the RAI is designed to be useful, used and reused. It's a key piece of Orange communication material and also a beautiful item to give as a gift.
The integrated report according to the French Red Cross
Laurent Amiand,
Director of Communications and Public Affairs at French Red Cross
The French Red Cross communications team
Laurent Amiand: First of all, you should know that the French Red Cross is more than 700 specialized establishments, a research foundation, a social enterprise… It's a vast association group, still too often overlooked as a whole by the public. It also includes training institutes, occupied by thousands of students. Did you know, for example, that the Red Cross trains 14% of nurses in France?
Today it's 70.000 volunteers who interact daily with 17.000 employees of the association, always with the same purpose: humanitarian aid. Therefore, the Communications team's responsibilities are significant, as we must raise awareness and promote our many professions and areas of activity. This team comprises 6 members, each responsible for one of the following 6 departments:
- Internal communication, editorial communication and content production
- Public affairs
- Coordination of public policies for professions
- External communication and press relations
- Regional coordination
- Marketing and Communications of the Red Cross Competence
The activity report of the French Red Cross
Four years ago, I joined the communications team at the French Red Cross. At the time, We were looking for an effective way to communicate about our business and gain legitimacy. Our goal was to make communication a true strategic partner in the development of our large association.
That's when we produced our first activity report. Even though we have to rely on a lot of specific and standardized financial data, I would say that we still enjoy a great deal of freedom in our decision-making.
To embark on the adventure of the integrated report, we first had to get our governance and all the stakeholders of the association on board. It is by outlining a long-term strategy, by laying down milestones one by one, that we have succeeded in imposing our vision of this object, which is the integrated report, on everyone.
The content strategy of the French Red Cross
To design an integrated report that will be read, you need to be able to impose an editorial line and position yourself as the guarantor of good wording. Be careful, because if you don't set limits, everyone will tell their life story in thousands of lines. We are not here to collect press releases: We are truly dedicated to visibility and impact.
Moreover, our validation processes themselves are relatively streamlined. We prefer to minimize intermediaries as much as possible in order to best meet our four objectives:
- Clarifying our missions
- Speaking with one voice
- To become more modern
- Increase our influence
The work on the editorial slant is essential: structure, choice of contentaccessibility, purification, etc. We opted for a "very magazine-like" format, both in form and content.
Once finalized, our activity report is sent to all our stakeholders. Its purpose is to make our actions clear to everyone and to meet everyone's needs. Donors will have greater visibility into our activities, employees will find the strategic direction reflected in the narrative, regular freelance contributors will find inspiration, and so on. We are the voice of strategy and direction internally.
The activity report requires significant in-depth work. It takes time to develop it. The reflection is ongoing, throughout the year: identifying significant actions and ensuring consistency between different discourses. I would say that at the French Red Cross, it was only after 3 years that we were able to reach a kind of maturity in the design of this reference tool for institutional communication.
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