It’s impressive enough that Media Matrix,
a full-service business communications firm,
was selected by the Southeastern Pennsylvania chapter of the American Red Cross
to put together their 2003 Annual Report.
An organization’s annual report is their
“best foot forward,” requiring skillful presentation and communications techniques to paint a flattering portrait. But Media Matrix wanted to go beyond the traditional printed document. They convinced the Red Cross that the time was right for a new kind of annual report—an interactive CD-ROM that offered greater advantages over a traditional printed report.

“We could have produced a high-quality, traditional annual report in the medium of print,” said Media Matrix President Michael Olenski. “But the Red Cross needed something different this year. In light of the funding crunch that is affecting many non-profit organizations across the country, they were seeking a “better, faster, less expensive” product, and we were able to deliver exactly that.

We have partnered with the Red Cross on so many business communications projects in all kinds of
media over the years, why not try something new?” Specifically, Media Matrix offered to create the annual report on CD-ROM—a first for this Red Cross chapter—complete with all the information you would find in a traditional annual report such as the letter from the chairman, financial report, list of services offered, list of donors, and more. Except now the data was brought to life with computer graphics, video, animation, web links, and printable files on the CD-ROM and then housed in custom packaging.

The Red Cross quickly agreed that producing their annual report on CD-ROM was the way to go. Using techniques refined on many computer-based and video projects over the last several years, the Media Matrix production team took a variety of Red Cross information and turned the data into interactive elements as appropriate. Viewers could browse the links to Red Cross web sites, “drill down” through an interactive menu to get details on various Red Cross services, view a video of the past year’s highlights, or print out files for later reading. The result was a program that was versatile, easy to use, and impressive. What’s more, the CD-ROM nicely blended “high-tech” elements—ideal for drawing attention to the 2003 Annual Report and to the “21st century capabilities” of the Red Cross—with printable materials in a traditional and very user-friendly format. The Red Cross has already announced that Media Matrix will also be doing the 2004 Annual Report, in the same format… continuing a string of successful projects produced by Media Matrix for the Red Cross dating back to the late-1990s.