ICR's Digital Media Group Begins New Season of Video Annual Report Production

Business Wire,  Oct 30, 2007  

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Innovative product enhances public company communication with all stakeholders

WESTPORT, Conn. -- ICR, a leading financial communications consulting firm specializing in strategic investor relations, corporate communications and digital media, announced today that its 2007 Video Annual Report[TM] season is underway. The Video Annual Report, or VAR, is a dynamic and leverage-able communications solution intended to help public companies simplify, enhance and maximize their annual message.

The Video Annual Report is a three to four minute corporate documentary that gives all stakeholders the opportunity to see and hear directly from senior management, employees, and in many cases, customers. It provides a video "state of the union" and shares management's vision going forward. Finally, the video goes beyond the static photography of a 10-K wrap or traditional annual report, and brings life to an oftentimes, outdated document.

According to studies, annual report readers spend approximately three minutes reviewing the actual document. Given this statistic, and taking into account the significant hard and soft costs associated with traditional annual reports or 10-K wrap production, ICR management believes that all public companies should re-evaluate how their annual message is delivered. In addition, viewer retention statistics on video versus print, suggest that video-based annual reports should receive strong consideration in today's digital age.

Since 2006, ICR's Digital Media group has created content for each video within the guidelines of RegFD and within the confines of SEC rules. Each piece is shot on location, and is edited in ICR's state-of-the-art digital production facility and turned around to the client in less than 40 days. When the Video Annual Report is complete, ICR hosts it on the company's Investor Relations web site, and distributes it to an online network including Google's (Nasdaq: GOOG) YouTube, Microsoft's (Nasdaq: MSFT) MSN Video, Time Warner's (NYSE: TWX) AOL Video (AOL), NewsCorp's (NYSE: NWS) MySpace (FIM), Revver, and Veoh.

Tom Ryan, Co-CEO of ICR stated, "By mandating that all public companies deliver proxies and annual reports online, the Securities & Exchange Commission has embraced greater efficiency through internet distribution. The Video Annual Report will only add to this efficiency while adding dimension to an otherwise static document. In addition, converting to digital will drive incremental savings for most companies while offering an environmentally friendly solution." Ryan added, "While we certainly appreciate tradition, we believe the S.E.C.'s ruling represents an inflection point, whereby all companies should evaluate their content and delivery practices in an effort to drive efficiencies throughout their organizations."

To learn more about ICR's Digital Media capabilities and to view a portfolio of Video Annual Reports, and other video samples, go to www.icrdigitalmedia.com.

About ICR

ICR is a leading financial communications firm specializing in investor relations, corporate communications and digital media. Established in 1998, ICR represents more than 225, primarily publicly listed companies and maintains offices in Westport, Conn., New York, Los Angeles, Boston and Beijing. ICR is one of the industry's fastest growing consultancies, and is consistently listed among the nation's top independent communications consulting firms. www.icrinc.com

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