GenNex and China Unicom honoured by prestigious awards

[Sponsored Article]

With the hosting of a “Best of Show” event in Hong Kong on October 26, GenNex Financial Media Limited celebrated the winning of prized trophies for itself and on behalf of its clients at the prestigious International ARC Awards Competition (2017). The trophies were exhibited at the venue before they were ceremoniously presented to representatives of respective winning companies.

The 31st International ARC Awards Competition was held in Tokyo on October 12, where GenNex garnered 67 awards for the excellence of annual reports it designed and produced for its corporate clients. Often referred to as the "Oscars of Annual Reports" within the financial media community, it is the world's largest international competition of its kind – and winning an ARC award is one of the leading accolades in the investor relations industry. This year, a total of 1,987 entries from 33 countries were submitted and competed for trophies under a range of categories. They were judged and scored in terms of creativity, clarity, effectiveness, and excellence in quality.

Nominated by GenNex, China Unicom (Hong Kong) Limited was the winner of multiple ARC trophies. They included the grand awards for “Best of Non-Traditional Annual Reports”, “Best of Cover Design”, “Best Interior Design”, and “Best of Hong Kong” (for the highest scoring work among entries from Hong Kong). The long list was topped by the most coveted “Best of Show” grand award (for the highest scoring work among entries from all over the world), setting a precedent for an entry from the city to clinch the top prize. The Platinum Achievement Award was bestowed on GenNex for receiving the greatest number of trophies on behalf of its clients, another crowning achievement for the company since it walked away with ARC’s Titanium Achievement Award in 2015 for delivering the highest percentage of wins.

The design of China Unicom’s annual report was inspired by the words of the group’s chairman. In response to increasingly competitive market conditions, Chairman Wang Xiaochu advocated the need to “beat the head wind, turn the tide”. The creative director at GenNex turned the word “tide” on its head, changed it into “edit”, and came up with the slogan “we edit the story, turn the tide”. The steel balls sliding on the cover are a symbol of the company’s dynamic resilience, helping it turn the corner and re-discover the path to sustainable growth. The silver-white colour tone, the use of ink calligraphy and sketch drawings reflect the overall minimalist design concept, which lends the work its contemporary artistic flavour.