Annual Reports - Get Me Rewrite!

An MBI product called Optison, for example, helps cardiologists to read echocardiograms -- ultrasound images of the heart. With standard technologies, an estimated 20% of all "echos" are hard to interpret because of poor image quality. Optison allows for better imaging, helping doctors to make accurate diagnoses and to prescribe appropriate treatments.

To illustrate the value of Optison, the cover of MBI's report presents three blurry pink-and-white photos, all difficult to identify. Inside are more hard-to-identify photos, along with captions that pose questions. One page features four fuzzy photos of the same woman and a caption that reads, "In which photo are the woman's eyes closed?" Next to an unfocused shot of several dozen identical-looking cars is a challenge to "Select the white Ford Taurus." The report includes a postcard that readers can use to respond.

The strategy behind the design: to help people understand the problem that MBI's technology solves -- long before the annual report tries to explain how that technology works. Did the design work? Cahan says that the proof is in the 700-plus response cards that MBI has received, many of which have come from institutional investors and analysts. "We've gotten the attention of some people who are skeptical by nature," he says.

You can reach Bill Cahan by email (bill@cahanassociates.com) or visit Cahan & Associates on the Web (www.cahanassociates.com).