Situation
The VP of a leading outdoor sports company was struggling to get investors to understand how their business segments impacted their growth potential. Their current investor overview deck was complicated. Composed of 60 slides, the deck was mainly brand/product highlights that distracted from their overall message. They had a big challenge, over 70% of their business was in shooting sports - recreational guns and ammo sales. Analysts saw this as a very cyclical business, that post pandemic performance would most likely shrink as it had in the past. But the VP and CEO of Company X believed that their M&A strategy over the past 5 years was poised to keep company growth inline with their healthy pandemic performance.
Strategy
Step 1
The first step was to identify the big idea, the vision for the deck that all stakeholders aligned too. In our discover meetings the VP repeatedly stated that their Outdoor Sports segment - major acquisitions of top outdoor brands (think water tumblers, bicycle accessories, golf training equipment) was key to their diversification and growth. But this was only half the story. Through interviews with IR officers I better understood that the cash generated from the Shooting Sports segment was used to fuel the acquisitions and continued innovations in their Outdoor Segment, so that instead of a 70/30 split, the goal was that the segments would be closer to 50/50 by 2030. This was not clear in their current investor overview deck and was key to showcasing what I now understood to be their big idea - Outdoor Sports segments growth through acquisitions and investments, leading to portfolio diversification and continued overall growth.
Step 2
The second step required that I create a streamlined outline for the presentation. I proposed a deck with three sections. The opening section would focus on the company overview, company values, and the goal of outdoor sports to bring people together. The middle section focused on the business segments, acknowledging the 70/30 segment split and showing how the cash generated from the Shooting Sports segment would directly support growth in Outdoor Sports. The third section would be a deep dive into more details - acquisition strategy, innovation case studies, and their experienced leadership team.
Step 3
With the outline approved by the client I dove into their previous decks and began to find the necessary highlights to help flesh out a solid story. This involved showcasing their current TAM and potential TAM through growth projections in their Outdoor Sports, focusing a few slides on their COEs in supply chain and digital marketing, and displaying solid evidence through charts and financials that they were on the right path, understood their market, and that their unique founder mentality kept each individual brand fresh and willing to innovate.
Step 4
After presenting the deck for edits to the CEO we began designing a solid PowerPoint template that celebrated the outdoors with slab typography, photography of people enjoying the outdoors together, and a unique gradient map effect that helped tie their brand to the outdoors in a striking way. To help charts and financials to pop, I would use a dark background, allowing the audience to pause and take in the important numbers.
Results
The result was a 20 slide deck that projected a purpose, vision, and confidence for the company. Initial feedback from analysts was that is was much easier to understand the overall plan for both the Shooting Sports and Outdoor Sports segments. The executive team across the company also found the deck helpful in aligning their vision and many slides found themselves presented in internal town halls.
Services Provided
Story Development Framework
Story Outline and Presentation Strategy
Presentation Design
Note: To protect the confidentiality and privacy of my clients, I have altered some identifying details in this case study.