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Sharing Memories and Visions
ADM Anniversary Book is Both a Milestone and a Look into the Future
The Archer Daniels Midland Company is a large agribusiness corporation with over 24,000 employees, 268 processing plants and annual sales of $20 billion. ADM is, in fact, the largest food producer in the world. Early in 2002 the Decatur, Illinois-based company decided to publish a book to commemorate their 100th anniversary. This is the story of how that book became more than a corporate history -- even more than an expression of pride and heritage -- and how it became the revelation that allowed a wife and family to suddenly "get" why Dad went off to work each day...The Nature of What's to Come: A Century of Innovation is ADM's motto and the title of their 100th anniversary book. The book's 104 pages compile the rich history of the company that began as a flaxseed grower in southern Minnesota and grew into the global agriculture processing company it is today. Through insightful stories, employee profiles, and hundreds of retrospective photographs, the book proves ADM's belief that, "Our most valuable assets are our people and our customers."
The process of how the book came together could be called "100 Years in 100 days," because once ADM decided to embark on the project, there were just 100 days until the shareholders' meeting at which they hoped to unveil it. How the publishing team pulled it off within that time frame is an action-packed saga of planning, cooperation and decision-making.
Archer Daniels Midland's decision to produce a custom book was based on the management's desire to reaffirm the company's entrepreneurial spirit and to reinforce the sense of pride in its employees' contributions. As is the case with most successful corporations, numerous examples of these qualities exist in annual reports, archival photos, and internal communications, but none of this material is in readily accessible or understandable form. By using these materials to create an emotionally appealing and enduring book, ADM was able to deliver a unique summation of its company history to its investors, employees, and retirees.
Publishing a Corporate Legacy
The Nature of What's to Come represents the most recent project in a line of corporate anniversary publications coordinated by the Jenkins Group. Sweet Energy; The Story of the Monitor Sugar Company is the history of another agribusiness that has weathered numerous challenges throughout its 100-year history, from blight, drought, and flood through the vagaries of depression and changing attitudes among consumers. Its October 2000 publication kicked off a 16 month-long centennial celebration filled with exhibits, events, and lectures that exemplified the company's indomitable spirit.
The Foremost Story; The First 50 Years of the Foremost Insurance Company combines stories and photos to express the heritage and tradition of the country's leading specialty insurance company. The book celebrates the skills and camaraderie of founders and employees who raised the company to its current elite status. "We were started by a group of people with a dream and a vision. They have passed the torch to the generations that came after them. We proudly follow that heritage and tradition," says the book's dedication.
"Producing an anniversary book offers companies the opportunity to reflect on the pride, credibility, and hard work that has brought them to their current level of success. We truly enjoy helping these companies publish a record of their accomplishments," says Jenkins Group Chairman and CEO Jerrold R. Jenkins.
Anniversary books present the challenge of transforming all this random information compiled over decades of time, and turning it into something meaningful to the people involved, says Jenkins Group publishing consultant Bob Robbins, who headed up the ADM project.
"An anniversary book like this represents a monumental milestone in an ongoing quest. It's as much about the future as it is about the past. Many corporate executives cannot step back from the day-to-day challenges and see the value in communicating the big picture to their people. Great leaders recognize a milestone anniversary as a special opportunity, not only to tell the story of their company's heritage, but to expand on their vision for the future. It's simply about creating 'shared meaning' for all stakeholders. And an anniversary book is the perfect vehicle, through pictures and words, to strike an emotionally responsive chord in every person who will be asked to turn the vision into a reality."
To illustrate this point, one need only read from the ADM book's dedication by Chairman and CEO G. Allen Andreas: "The one constant that has not changed in our Company history is the critical value of our people. ADM employees, from John W. Daniels in 1902 down to the most recent hire, are the heart and soul of this Company. Their dedication allows ADM to remain focused, drives our creativity and enables constant innovation."
So, how does one combine this kind of corporate vision with 100 years of archival information and turn it into a book?
"Our role at Jenkins Group was to make it easy for ADM to make the decisions necessary to create the book," says Robbins. "During the proposal process I broke it down into a checklist of 25 elements, things like 'Write manuscript,' 'Design cover,' and 'Printing and binding' to help the client define the project scope. Next, we listed specifications to be decided upon such as page count, trim size, and percentage of photos to text. Finally we asked them to make decisions about budget, timeline, and project management. What is the budget range? When should the final product be delivered? Who will be the decision maker?"
"Once we had the go-ahead to get started it was all about making things happen, and quickly. Our first meeting that brought together their decision makers and our production team, including the designer and the writer, was on August 9th. Our scheduled print date was October 15th, and delivery date was November 5th. Success depended on coming up with an effective plan of action and carrying out each step in a timely fashion."
Robbins divided the project onto "Design Direction Worksheets," one for each element of the book, such as the Foreword, History, Evolution, Major Products, and Corporate Commitment. Each sheet asked for a page count, text/photo ratio, and must-have elements of both text and photos and where those elements would come from. These sheets became an important tool, giving the ADM people the ability to visualize the physical aspects of the book and also providing key tasks to fulfill.
The success of such a project is dependent not only on the talent and resources of the production team, but also on having the right "point person" from the subject company.
"ADM's Jennifer Moore was just what the doctor ordered," says JGI Production Manager Nikki Stahl. "She had been at ADM for five years and was absolutely committed to the company. Her dedication and organized style would be vital to getting us the material we needed to build the book. Fortunately, she had access to senior management when input for decisions and sign-offs was needed."
After that first meeting, Stahl was responsible for managing all facets of the project. Communication by phone and email became critical, and the use of PDF files to proof design styles and concepts bridged the distance between the team members. Throughout August, ghostwriter Rod Thorn worked day and night on the manuscript, and Stahl sent his work, section by section, to Moore for approval. Of course it took more time and effort than originally planned to get a synopsis of 100 years of business just right, and with a flurry of all-nighters Thorn got the job done on time. But the writing was only half the battle. Time was running out, with so much left to do...
Publishing at Warp Speed
Now the pressure was really on. More design work could now be done, most notably the History section, which is the largest in the book. The process of exchanging PDFs by email and hard copies by courier intensified greatly.
A second meeting took place when the rough layout was completed, and the team came together to pore over a mock-up of the book, addressing issues of content and design. "The design meeting was a truly interactive process, and so much was accomplished in terms of decisions and revisions," recalls Robbins.
Stahl was now on the go constantly, and continually wondering what needed to be done next and what questions needed to be asked. On October 14th she literally caught the UPS truck on its way to the airport to deliver final disks to the printer. Two days later she was on a plane, along with head designer Jennifer Allen, heading to the Phoenix Color printing plant for the press checks and signing off on proofs that would save four days of FedEx time. That is, until BAM the windshield of the plane cracked, a nervous descent was made, and the trip resumed by car, still some five hours away from the plant in New Jersey.
Finally arriving at 5:00 pm, it was time to start checking proofs, adjusting colors, and solving problems until late that night, all the next day and well into the evening. The entire plant was dedicated to this job, and all 40,000 copies, now in eight-page forms, were stacked in carts running the length of the building.
During the next week the cover jacket got fine-tuned and printed, with the plant working all weekend (Nov. 2/3) to get it done. Books were shipped out Nov. 4 and arrived in Decatur on the promised day of November 5, 2002, on schedule, with an hour and a half to spare! On the morning of November 7th, all employees at the Decatur headquarters found a copy of the book on their desks, and every attendee at that day's shareholder meeting received one.
Turnkey Publishing Solutions
The Jenkins Group team handled everything, from concept to manuscript, design to production, and, most notably, delivery, including custom packaging and fulfillment to an additional 12,028 U.S. employees, 6,478 retirees, and 8,470 overseas employees in 15 countries around the world.
It was a large undertaking indeed, but even with a company as big as ADM, it is still the simple things that matter. To illustrate this point, here is an excerpt from a letter ADM president Paul Mulhollem received from Shanna Elliot, the wife of an employee:
"I just want to take a moment to personally write to you and say thank you. Thursday evening my husband had returned home from work and had a book in his hand...He sat down on the couch and began showing our children pictures of the company where 'daddy works.' Our three year-old son took interest in it right away. Like his father, he has a love for agriculture and tractors! When I was finally able to get my hands on it I was so amazed at the history of the company in how it all first began. I never saw the big picture until now. Thank you for getting this book out to the families. You see, without it I may not have 'caught on' to the vision of ADM."
Yes, an anniversary book like this one is as much about tomorrow as it is about yesterday. It is all about making a company accessible to its people, and sharing both the memory of its legacy -- and its vision for the future.