Nycomed: Producing the annual report is a real team effort

Nycomed is one of Denmark's largest pharmaceutical companies, providing hospital products throughout Europe, and general practitioner and over-the-counter medicines in selected markets.

Unlike most major pharmaceutical companies, Nycomed no longer runs primary research activities. Instead, finding and developing new products to market in Europe is the top strategic priority.

New strategy success
The effectiveness of this new business strategy was validated by the company's results for 2004. This success is largely attributable to working in partnership with research companies, healthcare professionals and the communities in which Nycomed is represented. The importance of partnership building to Nycomed's growth strategy is reflected in the material the company uses to communicate with its stakeholders, including the annual report.

In addition to being a summary of business and financial performance, Nycomed's annual report is also an important communications platform, introducing key partners and demonstrating how partnerships work for the business. "Working together" was therefore a central theme in the design and a key underlying message throughout the non-financial text.

Working together - in theory and in practice
"We chose Eye for Image to help us write the annual report for 2004, not only because they have demonstrated the ability to produce well-written text, but also because their work process - with so much focus on teamwork - fits nicely with our own corporate culture," said Christoffer Jensen, VP of Communications at Nycomed.

"It was important not only that they were able to understand our business and interpret the results, but also that they were able to work with our design agency to ensure a smooth and coordinated effort," explained Jensen.

"We are very pleased with the result of this partnership and look forward to working with Eye for Image again on the annual report for 2005," he added.