For over 30 years, Eisenberg And Associates (E&A) has worked with Freeport-McMoRan (FCX), a leading international resources company, on its annual report to shareholders. This vehicle is an annual communication tool to its employees, investors, media, government officials and the communities it serves globally. The messaging and design is also carried through to its press releases, presentations, corporate responsibility report and other internal and external communications materials.
In 2014, with the decline in oil & gas and resource pricing, we were instructed to develop a professional and handsome annual report, but use prudence in our budget since they announced that they were cutting operational expenses drastically to meet the economic challenges that could last through 2016.

In November, E&A initiates the process for the annual report, including schedule and budget development, with a kick-off Vision Meeting with Freeport-McMoRan. The meeting involves public relations, investor relations, corporate responsibility and operations teams, along with the CEO and CFO. This engaging session provides Eisenberg And Associates themes and key messages for the annual report.
Key Message: Freeport-McMoRan continues to stay the course to advance for future growth, taking steps to optimize its industry-leading reserves and resource base in its existing geographically diverse operation sites. The annual report should demonstrate that FCX has the resources to execute on its plans and is positive about its focus on long-term fundamentals and keeping its core strong.
After this session, a creative brief is written and E&A internally kick offs the project with our entire creative team. Creative and marketing reviews and sessions take place over the next month, beginning with pencil concepts before moving to tight comps for the presentation.
In December, we come back and present cover concepts for the annual report to the team. This is a lively presentation and discussion and we walk away with a winning concept and design that will be woven through the report.

It only takes one approved concept for Eisenberg to take FCX’s annual report to the next stage of design and layout, including financial templates. In December, Value at Our Core was the winning message, with a graphic treatment that represented the resources that Freeport-McMoRan provides to the world. This graphic also alludes to the steppes and strata that these resources are produced out of. The printed piece utilizes a sand UV texture on the graphic to give a rougher texture like many of their resources.
The interior narrative pages showcase the core assets and locations Freeport-McMoRan operates in, utilizing custom photography.
The formatted financial pages use green and black and the financial team in particular was extremely happy with the formatting, along with the use of green instead of the standard gold and blue accents we’ve typically in the past. It provided a fresh change to a team that spends a tremendous amount of time in producing the financial information (and to the proofreading team as well).
Freeport-McMoRan thinks that the completed 2014 Annual Report represents the company and its annual review to shareholders accurately.