In class on Thursday, we learned about composing a shareholder letter. In order to start writing our own mock letter for the Chiquita company, we were asked to take a look of a few real shareholder letters put together by a company of our choice. I chose to take a look at Target and Nordstrom‘s shareholder letters by visiting their Web sites. I chose Target because I have always admired their advertising, and assumed that they would have a good public relations department as well. I chose Nordstrom because I shop there often and also like the image they have maintained through their advertising and public relations.
Upon reading these two shareholder letters, I noticed some interesting and surprising flaws.
Target, whose annual report was well organized, clearly written and visually appealing, contained a shareholder letter that was full of jargon. The opening sentence was so long that I had to go back and read it three times to understand its meaning. It was inconsistent because the majority of the text throughout the rest of the annual report was clear and concise. This surprised me, especially coming from a company that has done so well and has the resources to write an exceptional shareholder letter.
Nordstrom’s annual report looked like a work of art. The graphics were unique, colorful and served as a nice way to break up the text in their annual report. The problem with Nordstrom’s shareholder letter was that it was the exact opposite of the images that went along with it. The letter was way too long, and completely lacked colorful language. It was dull, and very impersonal in tone.
I found it hard to believe that two highly successful, popular companies like Nordstrom and Target would have such large flaws in their annual reports! Luckily, the experience made me more aware of what to avoid when writing a shareholder letter. Let’s hope I can take this experience and use it to my advantage on this next big assignment!
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