Newsletter + Annual Report – East-Central Iowa Rural Electric Cooperative
THE NEED
East-Central Iowa Rural Electric Cooperative publishes a bimonthly newsletter to keep its member-consumers up to date on Cooperative news, energy efficiency, electrical safety, energy policy, and more.
Included once a year in the newsletter is ECI REC’s annual report, which shares key financial information and other statistics, highlights from the year, and a message from the CEO and Board President.
OUR APPROACH
For each newsletter, ECI REC sends the Write Place an outline, article drafts, ads, and photographs. Our editors proofread the material and write articles as needed. Then, our graphic designers lay out the cover and each page using Adobe InDesign. We make good use of time-saving features like paragraph styles and the Creative Cloud library that we’ve set up for ECI REC, which stores things like brand colors and commonly used images.
The annual report starts with the selection of a theme, like “Energizing Tomorrow: A Resilient Journey of Innovation and Dedication.” ECI REC provides the financials, some of which we turn into data visuals to help catch readers’ attention. Statistics for things like outage minutes, the number of member-accounts served, and how many people used energy rebates are turned into infographics. Around 17 infographics appear in the annual report!
When the layout is done, the newsletter and annual report are proofread by our editors and sent to ECI REC. After working through revisions, we send press-ready files to the printer.
BY THE NUMBERS
- 12-page, full-color newsletter
- 7–10 articles
- 7,400 printed copies
- 17 infographics
CLIENT
East-Central Iowa Rural Electric Cooperative
DELIVERABLES
THE REACTION
“East-Central Iowa REC is a rural electric cooperative serving 9,200 member-accounts throughout 11 Iowa counties (with a one-person communications department). The Write Place has played an invaluable role in the success of our communications program. For our bimonthly newsletter, they edit material to fit our brand voice and follow our style guide. Their ability to turn data into visuals that help our members absorb and remember important information is also a great asset. Overall, their attention to detail, process, and professionalism is phenomenal.”