Annual Reports

In my annual reports class, we were each given 3 companies to choose from and from that we have to design the company's entire annual report for the year. This includes the 'story/concept' in the front of the book as well as the financials at the end. We have to come up with a concept that would convince investors/shareholders to want to continue to invest in the company.  For my 3 choices I was given a restaurant company, a water energy company, and a firearms company.  Needless to say, I chose the firearms company. It is also not lost on me that I am from Texas and therefore choosing a firearms company for my annual report is somewhat of a stereotype. Oh well, I am excited. 

The company is called Sturm, Ruger and Co. and they sell Ruger firearms.  The company has been successful since its start back in 1949 in Connecticut. Luckily it isn't too hard to convince investors since the company has seen only growth and progress during recent years.  I have been doing a lot of research on guns and the firearms industry in general and it seems to be thriving across the board.  

At first I was a little lost on where to go with the concept but I think I have it almost nailed down. For the class we are each paired up with a photographer from school and they are helping us shoot all the imagery for the reports.  It will be really amazing at the end to have a complete report with all new design and photography. Anyways, we went up to the firearms store on peachtree on monday afternoon to talk to the employees to hopefully get some leads on a concept. I really wanted to talk to people who actually own Ruger guns and they sell that brand at the store.  Anyways, long story short, the son of the owner of the store was there and he turned out to be an incredible help. He got out his phone and started giving us the names of long-time customers that he thought would talk to us.  

Basically I want to talk to people about their experience shooting guns and the reasons they own guns as well as interesting stories and encounters they have had.  I also want to shoot portraits of each of the people to include in the report. The end result will be a series of short slice-of-life stories that will give an up close look at the real gun owners of today. And best of all, these people are not the run-of-the-mill gun owner types that you'd expect.  We got the names of people all across the board that you would never expect to have guns stowed in their homes. One such person happens to be Miss Georgia Teen and her mom who both own Ruger guns. They have agreed to talk to us in their home on Monday afternoon.  

Anyways, I will keep posting about the progress of this project but as of now everything seems to be falling into place. I have several meetings set up for this week and I am continuing to line more up for the future. Also, a group of students from school have been going to a skeet shooting range here in Atlanta and I might tag along with them this week to hopefully take pictures and meet some more people. Now all that's left is collecting these stories and tying them all together to create one cohesive report. It will be a challenge but I can't wait! stay tuned