The Annual General Meeting as a marketing platform
Trend observations from 120 Annual General Meetings
Around 120 general meetings have now been held via Konsento, and around a third of these involved resolutions that were notarised online by a notary. Based on this experience, we have compiled observations that we are presenting in a three-part blog series. We will be highlighting trends that influence the success of the public limited company beyond the AGM in some cases. Each blog is dedicated to a specific group of topics and offers valuable insights and tips for planning and organising general meetings.
The first blog in this series is dedicated to the question of how an Annual General Meeting affects the image of a public limited company.
The Annual General Meeting as a stage for image marketing
A well-organised Annual General Meeting is not only a mandatory event, but also an excellent opportunity for companies to present themselves and maintain or even increase shareholder interest. Skilful board members use the annual general meeting as a stage for image marketing and branding. In the case of consumer goods, this increases interest in the product and develops the shareholder into a brand ambassador. On the other hand, it can also arouse interest in further share purchases. In the case of start-ups and scale-ups, this can have an impact on the success of future financing rounds, and in the case of listed stock corporations, on share price maintenance.
High participation as a success factor
In order to find the most fertile ground possible, boards of directors endeavour to maximise participation with an appealing company presentation. Konsento supports them with functions that send reminders at the touch of a button to all shareholders who have not yet responded to the invitation and registered to attend the AGM or authorised the independent proxy. In this way, the Board of Directors can also encourage shareholders who have not yet issued a proxy to attend the AGM. Mobilising shareholders in this way increases voting participation and is desirable from a corporate governance perspective. Naturally, this function is organised in accordance with the provisions of the Swiss Code of Obligations and treats the instructions of individual shareholders confidentially until the AGM.
Fear is a bad advisor
Conversely, fear is also a bad advisor. Board members who hope that as few shareholders as possible will attend the Annual General Meeting generally do not offer equally attractive company presentations as those who use the event as a marketing and branding platform. As a result, they lose the interest of participating shareholders in future general meetings or capital increases. A lack of interest in an electronic general meeting can be recognised particularly well by the number of registered ("logged in") users.
Conclusion and outlook
All too often, the Annual General Meeting is still perceived by board members as a tiresome, mandatory event imposed by law and a gauntlet of annoying questions from shareholders. Through the observations shared here, however, we want to illustrate that it is a good opportunity to win over shareholders as brand ambassadors and bind them more closely to the company and its mission.
The next blog in this series will examine the data hunger of the various protagonists and the connections between AGM data, data analysis and technology. We will also show how modern tools can increase the efficiency and precision of these important corporate events.
We would be happy to present our innovative AGM tool in more detail during a non-binding demo appointment. .
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