Featured Annual Reports
Designed by DuFour for ACUITY Insurance
ACUITY Annual Report 2008
The American Advertising Federation (AAF) Fox River has awarded DuFour Advertising, LLC three Gold ADDY®’s for designing the ACUITY 2008 “World Record” Annual Report and the ACUITY 2009 Rock Speaking Tour schedule and Tour collateral.
“We are honored to be given ‘free-reign’ to use our creative juices from ACUITY,” said DuFour President, Tim DuFour, “and at the same time receive this recognition for our work!”
“In the ADDY judging process, ACUITY competes against companies across all industries, not just insurance,” said Wally Waldhart, Acuity Vice President - Sales and Communications. “Earning three Gold ADDY Awards is remarkable not only because it is a new record high for ACUITY, but because it demonstrates how effective our creative approach to corporate communications is.”
The 2008 ACUITY Annual Report is designed to look like a Guinness World Record book. “Designing an annual report that is actually read from cover to cover is not hard to do when the client is ACUITY! They allow us to pull out the stops to come up with ideas that are unique and sometimes off the wall—but they work because everyone reads the book,” says DuFour.
The 2009 ACUITY Speaking Tour schedule and collateral pieces encompass a “Rock Tour” theme. The schedule, features ACUITY President, Ben Salzmann, and tour speakers made up to look like the band KISS. The tongue of the character on the cover (Mr. Salzmann) pulls out to display the dates of the tour. Other pieces used to attract attention and entice insurance agents to attend the speaking tour meetings were: drum sticks, a T-shirt shrink-wrapped into the shape of a guitar, a CD with 8 specially selected rock music songs with titles that reflect some aspect of the insurance business (such as Takin’ Care of Business by BTO), and a baseball cap and pair of sunglasses sporting the Rock Tour logo.
The AAF is a non-profit professional trade association serving Northeast Wisconsin’s advertising and marketing communications community including agencies, advertisers, the media, vendors and students. With over 60,000 entries annually, the ADDY Awards are the nation’s largest and most representative advertising competition honoring creative excellence in all advertising mediums. “Entries are judged based on creativity, originality and creative strategy,” said Sheryl Asman, First Lieutenant Governor of AAF-District 8. The ACUITY 2008 “World Record” Annual Report has also been nominated for Best of Show in the print category in the local competition. Gold ADDY winners automatically advance to the district competition, which consists of winning work from Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota and then advance to the national competition,” Asman said.
DuFour Advertising, LLC provides comprehensive communications services, including marketing and advertising strategy and production, brand building, public relations, media planning and placement, creative concepting, and internet marketing and design. DuFour Advertising serves clients throughout the United States and also operates Du4*WebTech Creative Digital Communications.
ACUITY, headquartered in Sheboygan, Wisconsin, is a property and casualty insurer that operates in nineteen states, writes $750 million in premium through over 900 independent agencies, and manages over $2 billion in assets. The only company in the nation to be named six consecutive years to the Great Place to Work Institute’s top five mid-sized companies, ACUITY employs 850 people.
ACUITY Annual Report 2007
As many people know, ACUITY is willing to get creative with their Annual Reports. 2007 was no different. The cover of the 2007 ACUITY Annual Report boasts,“Our people will not stop, they helped us...Hop On Top.” ACUITY truly appreciates their employees, agents, and other partners. They realize that these are the people that build the foundation for their success and want to give proper credit by highlighting this fact throughout the report. Accompanied by Seuss-like illustrations and rhymes galore, this report is just as fun to read as a children’s book. Quirky characters, colorful illustrations, and clever copywriting are a few of the elements that make this Annual Report stand out from the rest.
Complete with a hard cover and a signature page to make the book officially “yours,” it’s actually hard to tell the difference between the report and fictional children’s book. The only elements that might give it away are the insurance jargon and the bar graphs showcasing the results for the year. The interior pages contain illustrations of ACUITY employees and partners, along with all of the content necessary to convey the important facts and figures. With an Annual Report like this, who wouldn’t want to get into the insurance business.
This is truly an award-winning piece – Silver ADDY® at the local level, Gold ADDY® and Judges Award/Regional level, Gold ADDY® at National level, Platinum International MarCom Award, and a Gold Hermes International Award. It’s not ready yet, but get yourself set. “Something great will be coming for ‘08!”
Silver - Local ADDY (Fox Valley Ad Club), Gold - 8th District ADDY (Wis, Minn, N.D, S.D, Iowa), Gold - National ADDY, Gold - Hermes Creative Awards – International competition, Platinum - MarCom Award – International competition
ACUITY Annual Report 2006
Our client, ACUITY, came to us with great news. They had just completed their best financial year since opening their doors in 1925. This was a cause for celebration, a chance to show the world that ACUITY is constantly growing and finding new, innovative ways to improve their business. What better way to release the news than to record an album...2006, “ACUITY Records A Platinum Year.”This authentic-looking platinum rock album is the perfect solution for introducing ACUITY’s best year in history. Go ahead, admire the cover art made to resemble the “STYX” album art. Slide your fingernail over the shrink-wrapped cover to open the sleeve. Peek inside and pull out the foil-stamped, platinum record, embossed with record grooves. Turn the album over to the “B” side and test your eyes to see if you can discover the hidden message within the stereogram. This is the real deal, complete with engaging trivia, related to song titles that reflect the roles of ACUITY’s principle directors.
The only thing this annual report doesn’t do is play actual music. It was, however, music to ACUITY’s ears that they had an amazing year; and we’re happy to be able to showcase their accomplishments through our creativity.
ACUITY Annual Report 2005
DuFour Advertising recently received national attention by winning a Silver National ADDY Award for the creation of ACUITY’s 2005 Annual Report.Of 60,000 entrants considered for the National ADDY Awards, mainly dominated by larger advertising firms, ACUITY’s report, based on a theme of the New Yorker magazine, was one of only 300 national winners.
ACUITY and DuFour have received ADDYs in the past, but this marks their first national award, thrilling both companies.
The judging began locally, where the 2005 Annual Report received a Gold award among companies in northeast Wisconsin. Once earning a gold at the local level, the report is entered regionally, and finally it is sent to the national competition.
The cover and pages of the report include cartoons that were originally published in The New Yorker, a magazine focusing on the cultural viewpoint of people living in New York City.
Famous for its single-panel cartoons, The New Yorker recently sold every cartoon that ever appeared. Those were the cartoons chosen for the report. Classic and witty, the cartoons helped make the Annual Report much more interesting to read and garnered a national ADDY to boot!