Apple once reported its progress on sustainability directly to ‘Mother Nature’, the most important stakeholder of all. In a short film released in 2023, Hollywood actress Octavia Spencer plays an unimpressed deity, Mother Nature, who is quite clearly tired of corporate speak on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG).
Image Courtesy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=llWTcqtk4vY (Channel: Free the People)
In the film, Apple’s leadership nervously reports their progress on carbon-neutral facilities, recycled materials, and cleaner supply chains, managing to turn the sceptical deity into an optimist. This humorous and memorable take on ESG reporting shows how reports can use unconventional storytelling as an effective approach.
What could have been another corporate disclosure became a story that got people’s attention, beyond the regulators, and brought the brand closer to its users.
Unilever’s Integrated Annual Report followed a more conventional approach, but in style. The company didn’t just list down financials and sustainability targets and outcomes, but explained how it created value, why it made certain choices, and what those choices meant for the communities it serves. The report captured the momentum the company was building, along with its current success metrics.
Yet for every Apple or Unilever report that tells a powerful story and connects with its stakeholders, there are hundreds of reports that go unread. Every year, organizations produce thousands of pages of disclosures – sustainability updates, annual reviews, risk statements – all meant to inform, but few that engage. They meet the regulatory requirements but miss an opportunity to spotlight the progress made and show readers that behind every metric lies a story worth telling.
Read our case study on using storytelling in a technology company’s ESG report.
Common Mistakes to Avoid in Report Writing
Most reports fail to get the engagement of their audience, not because of a lack of depth but because of how the information is presented. When organizations view their reports as a compliance exercise rather than an opportunity to tell their story, engagement suffers.
Here are some common report writing practices that businesses must avoid:
A Myopic View
Reports that are written only to satisfy frameworks and regulators fail to keep the interests of the larger audience in mind. Such reports are often jargon-filled as they prioritize meeting regulators’ expectations of data reporting rather than speaking a language that appeals to diverse stakeholders. They don’t capture the organization’s voice and lack personality. A good report can meet every standard and yet create connections with its stakeholders.
Actions Without Alignment
Many reports read like a year-end catalogue, listing down an organization’s initiatives, partnerships, and community drives. The work may be impactful, but without connecting it to the organization’s vision or purpose, it feels random and unintentional.
Data Without Context is Noise
Saying “our emissions intensity reduced by 12% year-on-year” is information. Framing it as, “We reduced our emissions by 12%. That’s the equivalent of taking 5,000 cars off the road” is communication. Numbers need context that conveys the scale and relevance.
Inconsistent Tone and Style
When different teams write different sections, inconsistency in tone and style creeps in. To make it coherent, teams need to understand the central idea and speak the same language. Establishing a common tone, vocabulary, and sense of purpose helps ensure an annual report or ESG report reads as one story instead of a collection of perspectives.
Dry Messaging Without a Human Touch
Numbers build credibility, but stories form bonds. A report that doesn’t show the people behind the progress ends up feeling distant. Bringing in real voices, from the boardroom to those on the field, makes a report relatable.
Turning Information into a Narrative: The Art of Effective Report Writing
The art of report writing lies in transforming complex information into a story that people can follow, trust, and act upon. Clarity, structure, and intent turn information into insight and keep the reader engaged from start to finish.
Below are four principles that help make this shift from reporting data to communicating value.
1. Start with the Reader
Every effective report begins with creating a balance between what the company wants to say and what the reader wants to know. Board members want insights from reports that guide strategic decisions. A regulator looks for compliance assurance, employees want to feel a sense of pride, and communities seek transparency and alignment with purpose.
Defining the audience shapes everything from the tone, structure, and level of detail to the layout and design choices. A report written for analysts should inform; one written for the public should inspire, and one written for employees should help them see how their work contributes to the organization’s larger goals. DBS Bank’s Annual Report 2024 puts this principle into practice by structuring its disclosures around the needs of different audiences. Investors get a clear view of financial and strategic performance, while employees and customers see how that translates into innovation, trust, and service quality.
Image Courtesy: DBS Group Holding Ltd
A useful framework for report writing includes the 4Ps – Position, Problem, Possibilities, and Proposal. It guides readers from context to insights and action, ensuring the narrative flows logically and persuasively.
2. Lead with a Narrative
Every good report has a central story that ties the facts together and gives readers a reason to keep turning the pages. Without it, even the most valuable insights risk feeling like disconnected data points.
A report must have a beginning, a middle, and an end, quite like a story. Start with context and mention the business challenge or opportunity. Introduce conflict and show what changed and what needed to be solved. Finally, conclude with a resolution on what you learned, achieved, or plan to do next.
Nike’s FY23 Impact Report follows this arc. Built around its purpose of ‘People, Planet, and Play,’ the report connects the company’s long-term aspirations to everyday decisions from how products are made to how communities are supported. The report invites readers to see progress as an ongoing story rather than a checklist of achievements.
Image Courtesy: Nike, Inc.
When reports follow a clear narrative arc, they hold the reader’s attention even across hundreds of pages.
3. Make the Numbers Mean Something
Data alone rarely persuades. Context is important here. By pairing metrics with relatable comparisons or stories of impact, readers get a fair understanding of its scale and significance. Starbucks’ 2023 Global Impact Report shows how data can hold a reader’s attention when it is structured with purpose. In the section on its ‘Farmer Promise,’ the company lays out what progress looks like: more than 450,000 participating farms, 10 farmer support centers, and over 80 million climate-resilient coffee trees distributed.
Image Courtesy: Starbucks
The statistics are impressive, but what makes them memorable is the report’s use of follow-through. Each number comes with context about who it affects, what changes have been made, and what comes next. Targets such as achieving carbon-neutral coffee and reducing water use by 2030 are paired with actions already in motion, from soil testing and regenerative agriculture to $80 million in farmer loans.
By grounding numbers in human and environmental relevance, companies can turn metrics into messages. Readers might forget the figures, but they will remember the story and the impact.
4. Write for Clarity, Not Compliance
Reports that get read are well-formatted and, more importantly, well-framed. Too often, corporate reports cater to internal reviewers rather than actual readers. The result is a report that is dense, defensive, and difficult to follow.
Corporate reports must be written for decision-makers first, opening with what matters most, using plain language to convey complex ideas, and maintaining a clear thread without diluting substance. Take Apple’s Annual Report on Form 10-K, for instance. Despite being a highly regulated financial document, it opens with a clear and transparent introduction explaining how forward-looking statements work, what they mean, and why they matter. It even reminds readers that these statements are not guarantees, and that results may differ due to risk factors listed later in the report.
Image Courtesy: Apple Inc.
What Apple does right is simple but powerful. It educates the reader before informing them. Rather than assuming financial expertise or legal literacy, the report sets expectations and guides the reader’s interpretation.
Finding Meaning Behind the Numbers
A report isn’t just about the data a company publishes, but as much about expressing the organization’s vision and purpose with clarity and conviction. The best ones pay equal attention to presenting statistics and helping different stakeholders make sense of them. Data, after all, only means something when it is interpreted and put in the right context.
Good report writing is also about saying what matters and saying it well. Every piece of information should earn its place by clearing one simple test: “Why does this matter?” That’s how you cut through the noise and jump straight into telling your reader what they can take away from it.
When crafted with intention, a report becomes more than a record of progress. It becomes a conversation, one that acknowledges challenges, celebrates achievements, and invites trust.
