2005 Shurgard Annual Report

You might say this is the last job we'll ever do for these guys. It's not that we aren't getting along. Quite the contrary. In fact, Shurgard says they're quite pleased with all the annuals we've done fomr them since the year they went public a decade ago. The reason we won't be working together any longer is because, earlier this year Shurgard agreed to sell their company in a not-exactly-friendly $5 billion takeover battle with Public Storage. So, we'll be saying farewell to a very generous, trusting, and decent client soon. Too bad the good guys don't always come out on top.

2004 Shurgard Annual Report

In 2005, as for the previous seven years, we worked with Shurgard Storage Centers to design and write their annual report. It's produced as a full-size newspaper (yes, printed on newsprint with the squiggly edges), which keeps production costs running about half of typical slick annuals. The 20,000-plus word report is a big winner with shareholders, as more than half of them report reading more than half of it. It also keeps Shurgard right in line with the current trend in annual report thinking--and that's to combine the 10-K wrap with a comprehensive story about the company. Read the whole darn thing.