Wickes

Best-in-class maiden reporting

Following Wickes’ IPO onto the London Stock Exchange, we worked with the company to create a compelling maiden Annual Report, capturing its purpose: to help the nation feel house proud.

Wickes is a leading home improvement retailer, operating for over 164 years, with a digitally-led, service-enabled approach. With home improvement and DIY experiencing exponential growth during the pandemic, Wickes had a great opportunity to showcase its investment case to shareholders, while creating long-term value for all stakeholders.

For the maiden report, we all agreed that Wickes’ values should be at the heart of its communications strategy. Our communications approach was simple: to help bring to life Wickes’ friendly, welcoming, inclusive and diverse culture while also allowing its business strategy, to outperform in the home improvement marketplace, to shine through. Our goal was for the report to be clear, simple and easy for all Wickes’ stakeholders to engage with, including showcasing how the company’s 8,000 employees help customers feel house proud.

We worked with Wickes to map out a clear structure for the Annual Report, setting out clearly who the company is and what makes it different, and highlighting its financial results alongside its ESG approach and results. For consistent readability, we made sure each section set the context for the next, allowing the corporate story to flow into each strategic chapter.

This approach helped structure the report and clearly communicate Wickes’ investment proposition around its five key investment case areas. We conducted briefing sessions and workshops with report section owners on ESG, business model framework and TCFD to reflect a best-practice approach to content and regulatory requirements.

Next, we brought to life our design concepts, adopting a screen-first approach to enhance stakeholders’ experience online, while creating a print-friendly document.