2010

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 contents

Introduction
English 3
Chinese 4
Japanese 5
Russian 6
Arabic 7
2010
Overall rankings 8-9

Table by metric and region

Construction 10
Message 11
Contact 12
Society 13

Regional rankings
and locations 14-15

Methodology 14

Table by metric and region

Investors 16
Media 17
Jobseekers 18
Customers 19

What and who

the Index judges 20

What makes top class 21

Themes and trends 22-23

State of the
corporate website 24-25

About Bowen Craggs & Co 26

 INTRODUCTION
The corporate website is not, as some people have claimed, dying. It is more
important than ever. But like all the best stars, it now has planets flying around
it, with strange names like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Skilled corporate
communicators know that, but they also know that at the heart of a truly effective
online strategy must lie a highly effective website.
That is why this, the fourth Financial Times Bowen Craggs Index of
corporate website effectiveness, shows that the recession has not really
touched this online world. There has been at least as much activity in
the past year, with skill combining with resources to create some truly
impressive channels.
You need both. It is no coincidence that a Bowen Craggs survey showed
that the energy sector spends much more on its web estates than any other
while the top of the table is jammed with oil companies. But resources are
not enough: some fabulously expensive sites fail because they have been let
down on skills and have too many flaws. This year we see some Chinese
companies finally investing in the web, but in every case the standard of
execution has not matched the promise.
As we have said before, the real differentiator is the attitude of senior
management. If top managers believe the web is one of their most
important communication channels, they will authorise the resources, and
effectiveness should follow. If they do not, it does not stand a chance.
But they have got to know what they are aiming for, and this is where the
Index comes into its own. The problem with non-transactional websites is
that return on investment is difficult to calculate.
What is needed is a way of judging whether a web estate is as good as it
can be – that is, it is doing all the things it could be doing, as well as it can
do them. And – at least as important – to see who is doing better so that
best practice can be observed and adopted or adapted. These are the jobs
the FT Bowen Craggs Index is attempting to fulfil.
FT Bowen Craggs Index of corporate website effectiveness © Bowen Craggs & Co 2010 <<
It is unlike other rankings for two reasons. First it takes an overall view.
Rather than concentrating on a particular element, it looks at the jobs a
web presence is asked to do, and sees how well it does them. Second, our
approach is ‘expert’ rather than ‘check box’: our analysts – experienced in
both business and the web – make judgements at every stage.
We have also for the first time taken the ‘planets’ into account – if a
company shows it is treating social media and the web as part and parcel
of its online effort, that reflects in the score.
We do not choose the companies we examine – they are defined by market
capitalisation from the FT Global 500 – and as a result there is a fair bit
of turnover. This year, as last, the most dropouts came from the financial
services sector, helping make room for a diverse lot of newcomers and four
returning to the fold having rebooted their valuation.
The Index is a ranking – in fact it is many rankings – but the real aim is
not to stimulate praise, blame or panic, but to show what should be done
(and what should not be done) to make a website as effective as possible.
It is not designed to say ‘these are the best corporate websites’ – rather that
this is how this group performs. But it does include the largest companies
in the world, and the sample is big enough to give a good idea of trends. It
also allows people responsible for corporate (or indeed non-corporate) sites
to see which way others are going, to spot ideas – and, if they wish,
to hijack some of them.
David Bowen
April 2010
< 3 >
FT Bowen Craggs Index of corporate website effectiveness © Bowen Craggs & Co 2010 << < 4 >
FT Bowen Craggs Index of corporate website effectiveness © Bowen Craggs & Co 2010 << < 5 >
FT Bowen Craggs Index of corporate website effectiveness © Bowen Craggs & Co 2010 << < 6 >
FT Bowen Craggs Index of corporate website effectiveness © Bowen Craggs & Co 2010 << < 7 >
overall rankings

2010 2010
overall overall Serving Serving Serving Serving Serving 2009 2009
position score Company Construction Message Contact society investors the media jobseekers customers Total score position URL Country

1 213 Royal Dutch Shell 44 38 9 27 28 21 24 22 213 195 8 www.shell.com UK-Netherlands

2 210 BP 43 35 10 25 27 21 24 25 210 209 2 www.bp.com UK
210 Siemens 43 42 10 26 20 27 20 22 210 202 3 www.siemens.com Germany
4 209 Roche 42 40 8 24 22 27 23 23 209 210 1 www.roche.com Switzerland
5 201 Rio Tinto 42 35 7 25 24 20 25 23 201 192 16 www.riotinto.com Australia
6 200 Eni 44 33 10 26 27 23 16 21 200 197 6 www.eni.it Italy
7 199 General Electric 44 36 8 26 19 22 21 23 199 195 8 www.ge.com USA
8 198 Unilever 45 36 8 23 25 19 21 21 198 197 6 www.unilever.com UK-Netherlands
9 196 AstraZeneca 46 38 7 24 23 22 15 21 196 - - www.astrazeneca.com UK
196 E.ON 43 33 8 25 21 23 19 24 196 189 20 www.eon.com Germany
196 Procter & Gamble 49 34 9 24 20 20 21 19 196 159 41 www.pg.com USA
12 195 Nestlé 38 36 8 25 23 24 18 23 195 194 11 www.nestle.com Switzerland
13 194 British American Tobacco 44 36 10 24 23 19 16 22 194 - - www.bat.com UK
194 Coca-Cola* 42 40 10 25 22 19 14 *22 194 187 22 www.thecocacolacompany.com USA
15 193 Cisco Systems 37 28 9 22 24 26 22 25 193 193 15 www.cisco.com USA
193 Qualcomm 36 38 10 22 23 20 25 19 193 - - www.qualcomm.com USA
193 Total 39 40 6 27 25 18 18 20 193 187 22 www.total.com France
18 192 Chevron 41 39 8 26 24 17 21 16 192 186 25 www.chevron.com USA
192 GlaxoSmithKline 46 36 8 23 25 18 21 15 192 192 16 www.gsk.com UK
192 IBM 39 35 7 22 21 23 22 23 192 195 8 www.ibm.com USA
192 Novartis 45 36 10 19 26 22 17 17 192 194 11 www.novartis.com Switzerland
22 191 Wal-Mart Stores* 44 36 9 21 22 22 15 *22 191 194 11 www.walmartstores.com USA
23 190 Vodafone Group 43 34 6 22 26 21 16 22 190 187 22 www.vodafone.com UK
24 189 Intel Corporation 38 29 9 25 27 16 23 22 189 192 8 www.intel.com USA
25 188 Google 34 36 9 18 23 21 24 23 188 191 18 www.google.com USA
188 Sanofi-Aventis 46 32 6 23 26 20 14 21 188 184 27 www.sanofi-aventis.com France
27 186 Statoil 43 38 4 24 22 19 19 17 186 180 32 www.statoil.com Norway
28 185 Hewlett-Packard 31 36 8 25 23 19 17 26 185 187 22 www.hp.com USA
29 182 Microsoft 32 27 7 19 24 22 25 26 182 190 19 www.microsoft.com USA
30 180 Deutsche Telekom 41 30 5 21 22 22 15 24 180 - - www.telekom.com Germany
31 179 BHP Billiton 42 30 8 21 23 14 21 20 179 182 30 www.bhpbilliton.com Australia
179 Johnson & Johnson 37 38 5 23 21 10 20 25 179 181 31 www.jnj.com USA
33 178 ExxonMobil 47 32 8 22 18 17 12 22 178 168 36 www.exxonmobil.com USA
34 177 HSBC 40 30 5 22 21 16 19 24 177 183 29 www.hsbc.com UK
35 175 Volkswagen* 39 39 7 23 20 15 12 *20 175 171 34 www.volkswagenag.com Germany
36 171 France Telecom 30 34 4 19 23 18 20 23 171 - - www.francetelecom.com France
171 Philip Morris International 37 32 6 17 22 20 17 20 171 174 33 www.pmi.com USA

* Serving customers score is proportional to the score for all other metrics
(Total other metrics/248 x 32 = Customers)

FT Bowen Craggs Index of corporate website effectiveness © Bowen Craggs & Co 2010 << < 8 >
 Disclosure: Bowen Craggs & Co has acted as consultant to several companies featured in the
ranking; see About Bowen Craggs.

2010 2010
overall overall Serving Serving Serving Serving Serving 2009 2009
position score Company Construction Message Contact society investors the media jobseekers customers Total score position URL Country

171 Royal Bank of Canada 30 28 8 21 21 18 20 25 171 - - www.rbc.com Canada

39 168 BG Group 35 30 7 18 25 17 21 15 168 - - www.bg-group.com UK
168 Pfizer 35 33 6 23 18 20 16 17 168 163 38 www.pfizer.com USA
168 Toyota Motor 40 29 5 21 19 17 17 20 168 159 41 www.toyota.co.jp Japan
42 167 AT&T 31 28 5 14 23 22 21 23 167 142 57 www.att.com USA
43 166 Wells Fargo 38 31 6 15 19 12 19 26 166 - - www.wellsfargo.com USA
44 164 EDF 33 35 4 19 18 17 17 21 164 144 55 www.edf.com France
45 163 GDF Suez 33 33 6 21 24 13 16 17 163 - - www.gdfsuez.com France
163 Verizon Communications 19 26 8 21 26 26 17 20 163 158 43 www.verizon.com USA
47 162 Apple 32 29 7 17 16 19 16 26 162 166 37 www.apple.com USA
162 JPMorgan Chase & Co 38 24 9 19 20 10 22 20 162 154 44 www.jpmorganchase.com USA
49 158 Oracle 33 28 7 14 17 19 15 25 158 - - www.oracle.com USA
158 PepsiCo* 34 32 9 22 17 14 12 *18 158 148 53 www.pepsico.com USA
158 Vale do Rio Doce 32 29 5 13 23 24 16 16 158 151 48 www.vale.com Brazil
52 157 Samsung Electronics 38 34 6 18 18 14 10 19 157 153 45 www.samsung.com South Korea
53 156 Gazprom 41 30 7 12 22 17 12 15 156 118 69 www.gazprom.com Russia
156 Telefonica 36 27 5 21 19 17 8 23 156 150 50 www.telefonica.com Spain
55 155 Petrobras 20 32 5 23 21 22 17 15 155 149 51 www.petrobras.com Brazil
56 153 NTT DoCoMo 34 30 5 12 22 20 13 17 153 152 46 www.nttdocomo.com Japan
57 151 Abbott Laboratories 29 28 6 23 15 14 19 17 151 - - www.abbott.com USA
58 148 McDonald’s* 36 27 7 18 13 19 11 *17 148 - - www.aboutmcdonalds.com USA
59 147 Ping An Insurance 36 26 7 16 17 8 14 23 147 - - www.pingan.com China
60 146 Banco Santander 35 25 4 18 21 12 11 20 146 152 46 www.santander.com Spain
61 145 Nippon Telegraph & Telephone 34 19 3 22 23 13 17 14 145 136 59 www.ntt.co.jp Japan
62 144 Industrial & Commercial Bank of China 42 28 6 17 16 9 6 20 144 143 56 www.icbc-ltd.com China
63 143 Honda Motor 25 28 3 19 20 14 11 23 143 - - world.honda.com Japan
143 Rosneft 39 29 4 16 23 15 7 10 143 127 65 www.rosneft.com Russia
65 134 China Construction Bank 39 26 6 12 14 8 16 13 134 132 61 www.ccb.com China
66 132 Bank of China 26 22 5 19 15 9 17 19 132 118 69 www.boc.cn China
132 Mitsubishi UFJ Financial 38 20 5 15 14 8 16 16 132 128 63 www.mufg.jp Japan
68 129 China Shenhua Energy 33 33 4 14 19 11 5 10 129 105 74 www.shenhuachina.com China
69 128 PetroChina 27 31 5 15 16 14 9 11 128 121 68 www.petrochina.com.cn China
70 127 Itaú Unibanco 19 23 4 18 17 12 16 18 127 - - www.itau.com.br Brazil
71 124 China Life Insurance 28 27 4 11 16 9 11 18 124 111 73 www.chinalife.com.cn China
124 Reliance Industries 29 25 5 17 19 10 5 14 124 129 62 www.ril.com India
73 117 Sinopec 26 30 3 13 16 8 8 13 117 112 72 www.sinopec.com China
74 109 CNOOC 27 24 4 10 15 10 7 12 109 - - www.cnoocltd.com Hong Kong
75 106 China Mobile* 25 20 4 16 17 11 1 *12 106 100 75 www.chinamobileltd.com China

FT Bowen Craggs Index of corporate website effectiveness © Bowen Craggs & Co 2010 << < 9 >
construction Regional rankings
Construction maximum score 60
Europe Rest of world US

This metric shows how easy a web estate is to use by all visitors, not just Procter & Gamble 49
ExxonMobil 47
one group. We look at coherence on the corporate site, with a premium AstraZeneca 46
on conventional navigation: it is risky to offer anything else. We examine GlaxoSmithKline
orientation – how easy it is to see where you are – and the way business, Sanofi-Aventis
country and brand sites are integrated into the whole. We then test the Novartis 45
internal search engine as well as ‘visibility’, how visible the site is on major Unilever
British American Tobacco 44 General Electric 44
search engines and how connected to social media. Eni Wal-Mart Stores
Royal Dutch Shell
Top performers 2010 2009 BP 43
E.ON
Procter & Gamble 49 36 Siemens
ExxonMobil 47 43 Statoil
AstraZeneca 46 Vodafone Group
GlaxoSmithKline 46 45 Roche 42 BHP Billiton 42 Coca-Cola 42
Sanofi-Aventis 46 47 Industrial & Commercial Bank of China
Novartis 45 48 Rio Tinto
Unilever 45 43 Deutsche Telekom 41 Gazprom 41 Chevron 41
British American Tobacco 44 HSBC 40 Toyota 40
Eni 44 42 Total 39 China Construction Bank 39 IBM 39
General Electric 44 42 Volkswagen Rosneft
Royal Dutch Shell 44 31 Nestlé 38 Mitsubishi UFJ Financial 38 Intel Corporation 38
Wal-Mart Stores 44 42 Samsung Electronics JPMorgan Chase & Co
BP 43 41 Wells Fargo
E.ON 43 42 Cisco Systems 37
Siemens 43 40 Johnson & Johnson
Statoil 43 43 Philip Morris International
Vodafone Group 43 41 Telefonica 36 Ping An Insurance 36 McDonald’s 36
BHP Billiton 42 42 Qualcomm
Coca-Cola 42 42 Banco Santander 35 Pfizer 35
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China 42 42 BG Group
Rio Tinto 42 39 Nippon Telegraph & Telephone 34 Google 34
Roche 42 42 NTT DoCoMo PepsiCo
EDF 33 China Shenhua Energy 33 Oracle 33
GDF Suez
Top improvers 2010 2009 + Vale do Rio Doce 32 Apple 32
Microsoft
EDF 33 19 +14 AT&T 31
AT&T 31 18 +13 Hewlett-Packard
Procter & Gamble 49 36 +13 France Telecom 30 Royal Bank of Canada 30
Royal Dutch Shell 44 31 +13 Reliance Industries 29 Abbott Laboratories 29
Telefonica 36 25 +11 China Life Insurance 28
Gazprom 41 31 +10 CNOOC 27
PetroChina
Bank of China 26
Highest newcomer 2010 Pos Sinopec
China Mobile 25
AstraZeneca 46 3= Honda Motor
Petrobras 20
Itaú Unibanco 19 Verizon Communications 19

FT Bowen Craggs Index of corporate website effectiveness © Bowen Craggs & Co 2010 << < 10 >
MESSAGE Regional rankings
Message maximum score 48
Europe Rest of world US

The aim of this metric is to see how well companies are using their Siemens 42
Roche 40 Coca-Cola 40
websites to project a suitable image to the world. That does not mean it Total
has to fit a particular model, but it must be appropriate for the group. Volkswagen 39 Chevron 39
AstraZeneca 38 Johnson & Johnson 38
We look at the strength of the home page, at overall visual design, at the Royal Dutch Shell Qualcomm
appropriate use of international content and at what the site tells in its Statoil
British American Tobacco 36 General Electric 36
group information pages. GlaxoSmithKline Google
Nestlé Hewlett-Packard
Top performers 2010 2009 Novartis Wal-Mart Stores
Unilever
Siemens 42 42 BP 35 Rio Tinto 35 IBM 35
Coca-Cola 40 41 EDF
Roche 40 42 France Telecom 34 Samsung Electronics 34 Procter & Gamble 34
Total 40 33 Vodafone Group
Chevron 39 34 E.ON 33 China Shenhua Energy 33 Pfizer 33
Volkswagen 39 38 Eni
AstraZeneca 38 GDF Suez
Johnson & Johnson 38 38 Sanofi-Aventis 32 Petrobras 32 ExxonMobil 32
Qualcomm 38 PepsiCo
Royal Dutch Shell 38 40 Philip Morris International
Statoil 38 35 PetroChina 31 Wells Fargo 31
British American Tobacco 36 BG Group 30 BHP Billiton 30
General Electric 36 33 Deutsche Telekom Gazprom
GlaxoSmithKline 36 HSBC NTT DoCoMo
Google 36 36 Sinopec
Hewlett-Packard 36 36 Rosneft 29 Apple 29
Nestlé 36 35 Toyota Intel Corporation
Novartis 36 38 Vale do Rio Doce
Unilever 36 37 Honda Motor 28 Abbott Laboratories 28
Wal-Mart Stores 36 33 Industrial & Commercial Bank of China AT&T
Royal Bank of Canada Cisco Systems
Oracle
Top improvers 2010 2009 + China Life Insurance 27 McDonald’s 27
Telefonica 27 Microsoft
Procter & Gamble 34 22 +12 China Construction Bank 26 Verizon Communications 26
Total 40 33 +7 Ping An Insurance
China Shenhua Energy 33 27 +6 Banco Santander 25 Reliance Industries 25
Gazprom 30 24 +6 CNOOC 24 JPMorgan Chase & Co 24
Chevron 39 34 +5 Itaú Unibanco 23
Bank of China 22
China Mobile 20
Highest newcomers 2010 Pos Mitsubishi UFJ Financial
Nippon Telegraph & Telephone 19
AstraZeneca 38 4=
Qualcomm

FT Bowen Craggs Index of corporate website effectiveness © Bowen Craggs & Co 2010 << < 11 >
CONTACT Regional rankings
Contact maximum score 12
Europe Rest of world US

Many people use websites simply as a route to getting in touch with a BP 10 Coca-Cola 10
British American Tobacco Qualcomm
company, which is why we include this as a separate metric. How the Eni
company chooses to handle such visitors varies, but we make a judgement Novartis
on whether it is considering their needs and its own appropriately. Siemens
We look at contact information – are details tailored for each group, Royal Dutch Shell 9 Cisco Systems 9
is it possible to find everything in one place? We also look at how the Google
Intel Corporation
company tries to make its own life easier by answering the visitors’ needs JPMorgan Chase & Co
on site – with frequently-asked questions or signposts to useful pages. PepsiCo
Procter & Gamble
Top performers 2010 2009 Wal-Mart Stores
E.ON 8 BHP Billiton 8 Chevron 8
BP 10 10 GlaxoSmithKline Royal Bank of Canada ExxonMobil
British American Tobacco 10 Nestlé General Electric
Coca-Cola 10 8 Roche Hewlett-Packard
Eni 10 10 Unilever Verizon Communications
Novartis 10 11 AstraZeneca 7 Gazprom 7 Apple 7
Qualcomm 10 BG Group Ping An Insurance IBM
Siemens 10 10 Volkswagen Rio Tinto McDonald’s
Cisco Systems 9 6 Microsoft
Google 9 9 Oracle
Intel Corporation 9 9 GDF Suez 6 China Construction Bank 6 Abbott Laboratories 6
JPMorgan Chase & Co 9 9 Sanofi-Aventis Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Pfizer
PepsiCo 9 9 Total Samsung Electronics Philip Morris International
Procter & Gamble 9 6 Vodafone Group Wells Fargo
Royal Dutch Shell 9 6 Deutsche Telekom 5 Bank of China 5 AT&T 5
Wal-Mart Stores 9 9 HSBC Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Johnson & Johnson
Telefonica NTT DoCoMo
Petrobras
Top improvers 2010 2009 + PetroChina
Reliance Industries
Cisco Systems 9 6 +3 Toyota
Procter & Gamble 9 6 +3 Vale do Rio Doce
Royal Dutch Shell 9 6 +3 Banco Santander 4 China Life Insurance 4
Coca-Cola 10 8 +2 EDF China Mobile
Gazprom 7 5 +2 France Telecom China Shenhua Energy
Samsung Electronics 6 4 +2 Statoil CNOOC
Itaú Unibanco
Rosneft
Highest newcomers 2010 Pos Honda Motor
Nippon Telegraph & Telephone 3
British American Tobacco 10 1= Sinopec
Qualcomm

FT Bowen Craggs Index of corporate website effectiveness © Bowen Craggs & Co 2010 << < 12 >
serving SOCIETY Regional rankings
Serving society maximum score 32
Europe Rest of world US

Reputation management is a big issue for many companies, and several Royal Dutch Shell 27
Total
have realised that their website is a good place to tackle it. They have Eni 26 Chevron 26
two main audiences: the general public and the burgeoning social Siemens General Electric
responsibility profession, which is looking to compare performance BP 25 Rio Tinto 25 Coca-Cola 25
against set standards. E.ON Hewlett-Packard
Nestlé Intel Corporation
AstraZeneca 24 Procter & Gamble 24
We look at three aspects: corporate governance content and how well the British American Tobacco
web is used to make it accessible; the supply of performance data and Roche
management information; and how the site is used to reinforce or defend Statoil
a company’s reputation. GlaxoSmithKline 23 Petrobras 23 Abbott Laboratories 23
Sanofi-Aventis Johnson & Johnson
Unilever Pfizer
Top performers 2010 2009 Volkswagen
HSBC 22 Nippon Telegraph & Telephone 22 Cisco Systems 22
Royal Dutch Shell 27 27 Vodafone Group ExxonMobil
Total 27 21 IBM
Chevron 26 25 PepsiCo
Eni 26 26 Qualcomm
General Electric 26 24 Deutsche Telekom 21 BHP Billiton 21 Verizon Communications 21
Siemens 26 24 GDF Suez Royal Bank of Canada Wal-Mart Stores
BP 25 26 Telefonica Toyota
Coca-Cola 25 24 EDF 19 Bank of China 19 JPMorgan Chase & Co 19
E.ON 25 23 France Telecom Honda Motor Microsoft
Hewlett-Packard 25 26 Novartis
Intel Corporation 25 25 Banco Santander 18 Itaú Unibanco 18 Google 18
Nestlé 25 24 BG Group Samsung Electronics McDonald’s
Rio Tinto 25 23 Industrial & Commercial Bank of China17 Apple 17
AstraZeneca 24 Reliance Industries Philip Morris International
British American Tobacco 24 China Mobile 16
Procter & Gamble 24 21 Ping An Insurance
Roche 24 24 Rosneft
Statoil 24 22 Mitsubishi UFJ Financial 15 Wells Fargo 15
PetroChina
China Shenhua Energy 14 AT&T 14
Top improvers 2010 2009 + Oracle
Sinopec 13
Bank of China 19 9 +10 Vale do Rio Doce
Total 27 21 +6 China Construction Bank 12
China Shenhua Energy 14 10 +4 Gazprom
China Life Insurance 11 8 +3 NTT DoCoMo
Procter & Gamble 24 21 +3 China Life Insurance 11
Samsung Electronics 18 15 +3 CNOOC 10
Vodafone Group 22 19 +3

Highest newcomers 2010 Pos

AstraZeneca 24 14=
British American Tobacco

FT Bowen Craggs Index of corporate website effectiveness © Bowen Craggs & Co 2010 << < 13 >
Overall rankings by region
The index is populated by the top 25 companies in the FT Global 500
from, respectively, Europe, the US and Rest of the world. On this page
we show the overall rankings for each of the regional blocs along with a
note of the companies’ industry/sector as they appear in the FT Global
500. We also locate each company on the world atlas according to its
corporate headquarters.
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but at a lighter level. The metrics are divided into two groups: overall and
specific. Specific metrics concentrate on how well the site serves different
groups. Within the overall metrics, Construction covers navigation
and coherence, Message looks at the visual and content messages the
Newcomers shown in italics
site transmits, while Contact covers both ease of making contact and
appropriate use of FAQs. US
Company Industry/sector Ranking
Each metric is sub-divided and the same questions asked of each site. We
do not, however, use a checklist approach: our analysts are all experts on Abbott Laboratories pharmaceuticals & biotechnology 57
the corporate web and are trained to ask first what should be provided, and Apple technology hardware & equipment 47=
AT&T fixed line telecomms 42
only then to judge how well it is provided. ‘Appropriate’ is the key word. Chevron oil and gas producers 18=
A new review takes 12 hours on average and is carefully documented: we Cisco Systems technology hardware & equipment 15=
have 400,000 words of analysis to support this table. There have been some Coca-Cola beverages 13=
refinements of methodology this year: notably the inclusion of social media Exxon Mobil oil and gas producers 33
General Electric general industrials 7
indicators, and the averaging of customer scores where not relevant. Google software & computer services 25 >iVJc^WVcXd EZigdWgVh
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Hewlett-Packard technology hardware & equipment 28
Companies included in the index are taken from the FT Global 500 2009, IBM software & computer services 18=
ranked by market capitalisation. We have indexed the top 25 from each of Intel Corporation technology hardware & equipment 24
the US, Europe and the rest of the world. The only company excluded is Johnson & Johnson pharmaceuticals & biotechnology 31=
JP Morgan Chase banks 47=
Berkshire Hathaway, which chooses not to use the web in a conventional McDonald’s travel & leisure 58
way. We look at the entire presence, covering non-English content where it Microsoft software & computer services 29
is important to do so. Chinese-, Japanese- and Russian-speaking associates Oracle software & computer services 49=
are used to check relevant areas. PepsiCo beverages 49=
Pfizer pharmaceuticals & biotechnology 39=
Philip Morris International tobacco 36=
Companies featured last year that no longer fit the criteria: Allianz, Procter & Gamble household goods & home construction 9=
America Movil, American International Group, Arcelor Mittal, Bank Qualcomm technology hardware & equipment 15=
of America, BNP Paribas, Citigroup, ConocoPhillips, Intesa Sanpaolo, Verizon Communications fixed line telecomms 45=
Lukoil, Nintendo, Nokia, Saudi Basic Industries, Sberbank of Russia, Wal-Mart Stores general retailers 22
Wells Fargo banks 43
Schlumberger, Unicredito Italiano.

FT Bowen Craggs Index of corporate website effectiveness © Bowen Craggs & Co 2010 << < 14 >
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Rest of world
E^c\6c>chjgVcXZ 8]^cVBdW^aZ Company Industry/sector Ranking
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Bank of China banks 66=
BHP Billiton mining 31=
China ConstructionBank banks 65
Europe China Life Insurance life insurance 71=
Company Industry/sector Ranking China Mobile mobile telecommunications 75
China Shenhua Energy mining 68
AstraZeneca pharmaceuticals & biotechnology 9= CNOOC oil and gas producers 74
Banco Santander banks 60 Gazprom oil and gas producers 53=
BG Group oil and gas producers 39= Honda Motor automobiles & parts 63=
BP oil and gas producers 2= Industrial & Commercial Bank of China banks 62
British American Tobacco tobacco 13= Itaú Unibanco banks 70
Deutsche Telekom telecoms 30 Mitsubishi UFJ Financial banks 66=
E.ON gas, water & utilities 9= Nippon Telegraph & Telephone fixed line telecomms 61
EDF electricity 44 NTT DoCoMo leisure goods 56
Eni oil and gas producers 6 Petrobras oil and gas producers 55
France Telecom telecoms 36= PetroChina oil and gas producers 69
GDF Suez gas, water & utilities 45= Ping An Insurance life insurance 59
GlaxoSmithKline pharmaceuticals & biotechnology 18= Reliance Industries chemicals 71=
HSBC banks 34 Rio Tinto mining 5
Nestlé food producers 12 7=E7^aa^idc
Rosneft oil and gas producers 63=
Novartis pharmaceuticals & biotechnology 18= G^dI^cid Royal Bank of Canada banks 36=
Roche pharmaceuticals & biotechnology 4 Samsung Electronics technology hardware & equipment 52
Royal Dutch Shell oil and gas producers 1 Sinopec oil and gas producers 73
Sanofi-Aventis pharmaceuticals & biotechnology 25= Toyota Motor automobiles & parts 39=
Siemens electronic & electrical equipment 2= Vale do Rio Doce mining 49=
Statoil oil and gas producers 27
Telefonica fixed line telecoms 53=
Total oil and gas producers 15=
Unilever food producers 8
Vodafone Group mobile telecommunications 23
Volkswagen automobiles & parts 35

FT Bowen Craggs Index of corporate website effectiveness © Bowen Craggs & Co 2010 << < 15 >
serving investors Regional rankings
Serving investors maximum score 32
Europe Rest of world US

Investors remain the most important target group for many large Royal Dutch Shell 28
BP 27 Intel Corporation 27
companies. It may be only a handful of people – analysts and fund Eni
managers – they need to impress, but they are worth thousands of Novartis 26 Verizon Communications 26
‘ordinary’ people. Some companies, though still too few, have realised that Sanofi-Aventis
private shareholders should also be served, both to treat them better and Vodafone Group
to save administrative costs. BG Group 25
GlaxoSmithKline
Total
We segment investor relations (IR) customers into three: analysts/ Unilever
investors who follow the company; analysts/investors wanting to research GDF Suez 24 Rio Tinto 24 Chevron 24
it; and private shareholders. It makes sense to think of the needs of these Cisco Systems
Microsoft
groups and give them what they want – companies at the top of the list AstraZeneca 23 BHP Billiton 23 AT&T 23
take them all into account. British American Tobacco Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Google
France Telecom Rosneft Hewlett-Packard
Top performers 2010 2009 Nestlé Vale do Rio Doce Qualcomm
Deutsche Telekom 22 Gazprom 22 Coca-Cola 22
Royal Dutch Shell 28 26 Roche NTT DoCoMo Philip Morris International
BP 27 28 Statoil Wal-Mart Stores
Eni 27 24 Banco Santander 21 Petrobras 21 IBM 21
Intel Corporation 27 27 E.ON Royal Bank of Canada Johnson & Johnson
Novartis 26 25 HSBC
Sanofi-Aventis 26 24 Siemens 20 Honda Motor 20 JPMorgan Chase & Co 20
Verizon Communications 26 27 Volkswagen Procter & Gamble
Vodafone Group 26 26 Telefonica 19 China Shenhua Energy 19 General Electric 19
BG Group 25 Reliance Industries Wells Fargo
GlaxoSmithKline 25 24 Toyota
Total 25 24 EDF 18 Samsung Electronics 18 ExxonMobil 18
Unilever 25 24 Pfizer
Chevron 24 24 China Mobile 17 Oracle 17
Cisco Systems 24 27 Itaú Unibanco PepsiCo
GDF Suez 24 Ping An Insurance
Microsoft 24 25 China Life Insurance 16 Apple 16
Rio Tinto 24 24 Industrial & Commercial Bank of China
PetroChina
Sinopec
Top improvers 2010 2009 + Bank of China 15 Abbott Laboratories 15
CNOOC
AT&T 23 19 +4 China Construction Bank 14
Rosneft 23 19 +4 Mitsubishi UFJ Financial
Gazprom 22 18 +4 McDonald’s 13
China Shenhua Energy 19 15 +4

Highest newcomer 2010 Pos

BG Group 25 9=

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serving the media Regional rankings
Serving the media maximum score 32
Europe Rest of world US

One aspect of corporate web use consistently exposed by the Index is that Roche 27
Siemens
many press offices simply do not see the medium as an important part of Cisco Systems 26
their service. Verizon Communications
Nestlé 24 Vale do Rio Doce 24
We look at how well a site caters to four areas of journalistic enquiry: news E.ON 23 IBM 23
releases and their archiving; the ready availability of good quality contact Eni
AstraZeneca 22 Petrobras 22 AT&T 22
information; the scope and range of background about the company and Deutsche Telekom General Electric
its industry; and the provision of publication-quality imagery. Novartis Microsoft
Wal-Mart Stores
Top performers 2010 2009 BP 21 Google 21
Royal Dutch Shell
Roche 27 26 Vodafone Group
Siemens 27 25 Sanofi-Aventis 20 NTT DoCoMo 20 Pfizer 20
Cisco Systems 26 27 Rio Tinto Philip Morris International
Verizon Communications 26 26 Procter & Gamble
Nestlé 24 23 Qualcomm
Vale do Rio Doce 24 24 British American Tobacco 19 Apple 19
E.ON 23 23 Statoil Coca-Cola
Eni 23 23 Unilever Hewlett-Packard
IBM 23 24 McDonald’s
AstraZeneca 22 Oracle
AT&T 22 France Telecom 18 Royal Bank of Canada 18
Deutsche Telekom 22 GlaxoSmithKline
General Electric 22 23 Total
Microsoft 22 23 BG Group 17 Gazprom 17 Chevron 17
Novartis 22 22 EDF Toyota ExxonMobil
Petrobras 22 21 Telefonica
Wal-Mart Stores 22 24 HSBC 16 Intel Corporation 16
BP 21 19 Volkswagen 15 Rosneft 15
Google 21 21 BHP Billiton 14 Abbott Laboratories 14
Royal Dutch Shell 21 21 Honda Motor PepsiCo
Vodafone Group 21 22 PetroChina
Samsung Electronics
GDF Suez 13 Nippon Telegraph & Telephone 13
Top improvers 2010 2009 + Banco Santander 12 Itaú Unibanco 12 Wells Fargo 12
China Mobile 11
China Life Insurance 9 5 +4 China Shenhua Energy
China Shenhua Energy 11 7 +4 CNOOC 10 Johnson & Johnson 10
Gazprom 17 13 +4 Reliance Industries JPMorgan Chase & Co
NTT 13 9 +4 Bank of China 9
JPMorgan Chase & Co 10 7 +3 China Life Insurance
PepsiCo 14 11 +3 Industrial & Commercial Bank of China
Procter & Gamble 20 17 +3 China Construction Bank 8
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial
Ping An Insurance
Highest newcomers 2010 Pos Sinopec

AstraZeneca 22 10=
AT&T
Deutsche Telekom

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serving JOBSEEKERS Regional rankings
Serving jobseekers maximum score 32
Europe Rest of world US

Jobseekers are still one of the largest visitor groups to company websites. Rio Tinto 25 Microsoft 25
Qualcomm
Our metrics look at three aspects of online recruitment: the company- BP 24 Google 24
wide job search and application system; information for college leavers; Royal Dutch Shell
and ‘value added content’ – how engagingly the company sells itself as a Roche 23 Intel Corporation 23
place to work. Cisco Systems 22
IBM
JPMorgan Chase & Co
Top performers 2010 2009 BG Group 21 BHP Billiton 21 AT&T 21
GlaxoSmithKline Chevron
Microsoft 25 27 Unilever General Electric
Qualcomm 25 Procter & Gamble
Rio Tinto 25 22 France Telecom 20 Royal Bank of Canada 20 Johnson & Johnson 20
BP 24 24 Siemens
Google 24 24 E.ON 19 Abbott Laboratories 19
Royal Dutch Shell 24 22 HSBC Wells Fargo
Intel Corporation 23 28 Statoil
Roche 23 21 Nestlé 18
Cisco Systems 22 23 Total
IBM 22 24 EDF 17 Bank of China 17 Hewlett-Packard 17
JPMorgan Chase & Co 22 24 Novartis Nippon Telegraph & Telephone Philip Morris International
AT&T 21 18 Petrobras Verizon Communications
BG Group 21 Toyota
BHP Billiton 21 21 British American Tobacco 16 China Construction Bank 16 Apple 16
Chevron 21 22 Eni Itaú Unibanco Pfizer
General Electric 21 20 GDF Suez Mitsubishi UFJ Financial
GlaxoSmithKline 21 19 Vodafone Group Vale do Rio Doce
Procter & Gamble 21 21 AstraZeneca 15 Oracle 15
Unilever 21 21 Deutsche Telekom Wal-Mart Stores
Sanofi-Aventis 14 Ping An Insurance 14 Coca-Cola 14
NTT DoCoMo 13
Top improvers 2010 2009 + Volkswagen 12 Gazprom 12 ExxonMobil 12
PepsiCo
Gazprom 12 0 +12 Banco Santander 11 China Life Insurance 11 McDonald’s 11
Petrobras 17 8 +9 Honda Motor
Bank of China 17 12 +5 Samsung Electronics 10
China Shenhua Energy 5 0 +5 PetroChina 9
Novartis 17 12 +5 Telefonica 8 Sinopec 8
Sinopec 8 3 +5 CNOOC 7
Rosneft
Industrial & Commercial Bank of China 6
Highest newcomer 2010 Pos China Shenhua Energy 5
Reliance Industries
Qualcomm 25 1= China Mobile 1

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serving CUSTOMERS Regional rankings
Serving customers maximum score 32
Europe Rest of world US

We test the sites by creating a small selection of ‘journeys’ and seeing how Apple 26
Hewlett-Packard
easy it is to complete them, how good the information and if it is clear Microsoft
what to do next. Wells Fargo
BP 25 Royal Bank of Canada 25 Cisco Systems 25
Some companies are not trying to use their corporate site to help Johnson & Johnson
customers. This can make sense. This year we have identified six such Oracle
Deutsche Telekom 24
companies, and scored them in this section proportionate to their overall E.ON
performance in all other areas. HSBC
France Telecom 23 Honda Motor 23 AT&T 23
Top performers 2010 2009 Nestlé Ping An Insurance General Electric
Roche Rio Tinto Google
Apple 26 26 Telefonica IBM
Hewlett-Packard 26 25 British American Tobacco 22 Coca-Cola* 22
Microsoft 26 26 Royal Dutch Shell ExxonMobil
Wells Fargo 26 Siemens Intel Corporation
BP 25 24 Vodafone Group Wal-Mart Stores*
Cisco Systems 25 28 AstraZeneca 21
Johnson & Johnson 25 25 EDF
Oracle 25 Eni
Royal Bank of Canada 25 Sanofi-Aventis
Deutsche Telekom 24 Unilever
E.ON 24 23 Banco Santander 20 BHP Billiton 20 JPMorgan Chase & Co 20
HSBC 24 24 Total Industrial & Commercial Bank of China Philip Morris International
Volkswagen* Toyota Verizon Communications
Bank of China 19 Procter & Gamble 19
Top improvers 2010 2009 + Samsung Electronics Qualcomm
China Life Insurance 18 PepsiCo* 18
EDF 21 19 +2 Itaú Unibanco
Rosneft 10 8 +2 GDF Suez 17 NTT DoCoMo 17 Abbott Laboratories 17
Telefonica 23 21 +2 Novartis McDonald’s*
Vale do Rio Doce 16 14 +2 Statoil Pfizer
Mitsubishi UFJ Financial 16 Chevron 16
Vale do Rio Doce
Highest newcomer 2010 Pos BG Group 15 Gazprom 15
GlaxoSmithKline Petrobras
Wells Fargo 26 1= Nippon Telegraph & Telephone 14
Reliance Industries
China Construction Bank 13
Sinopec
China Mobile* 12
CNOOC
PetroChina 11
China Shenhua Energy 10
Rosneft

* Serving customers score is proportional to the score for all other metrics (Total other metrics/248 x 32 = Customers)

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What and who the index judges
How the ranking works and companies are chosen for inclusion
The FT Bowen Craggs Index of corporate website effectiveness is
a ranking – in fact it is many rankings – but the real aim is not to
stimulate praise, blame or panic, but to show what should be done (and
what should not be done) to make a website as effective as possible.
A large company’s web presence is an expensive thing – companies
brave enough to tot up the total may find it runs into tens of millions
of dollars a year. Yet return on investment is hard to pin down. But
with the web now becoming a mass medium in the developed world,
and growing at a giddy rate elsewhere, it is an essential part of the
communications mix.
What is needed is a way of judging whether a web estate is as good as it
can be – that is, it is doing all the things it could be doing, as well as it
can do them. And – at least as important – to see who is doing better so
that best practice can be observed and adopted or adapted. These are the
jobs the FT Bowen Craggs Index is attempting to do.
Unique index
This Index is unlike other rankings for two main reasons. First, it takes
an overall view. Rather than concentrating on a particular element, it
looks at the different (and often complex) jobs a site is asked to do,
and assesses how well it does them. The advantage with corporate sites
is that although there are considerable differences in emphasis, these
tasks are pretty much the same for all. (In rare instances where a metric
is considered inapplicable, a score is awarded to preserve comparability
in proportion to the site’s performance in all other metrics – see the
footnote to the main table, p8.) Second, our methodology is based on
FT Bowen Craggs Index of corporate website effectiveness © Bowen Craggs & Co 2010 <<
the judgement of experts, rather than a ‘check box’ approach: websites
are too complex to be measured in a simple way (see Methodology, p14,
for more).
Changing global constituency
This year the Index again covers 75 companies: the top 25 in the FT
Global 500 – ranked by market capitalisation – from each of the US,
Europe and Rest of the world (including Russia). Inevitably, there
have been changes to the cast. Of the 16 fresh faces in 2010, four are
returning to the fold: Wells Fargo, Honda Motor, Royal Bank of Canada
and AstraZeneca; two companies, CNOOC and Ping An Insurance,
have added to the contingent of Chinese corporates in the list, taking
their number to 10. The nine debutants from the US and Europe include
three from the telecoms sector (Oracle, France Telecom and Deutsche
Telekom). Half of the 16 companies featured in 2009 and dropped
because they no longer meet the market cap criteria are banks or other
financial services companies (for the full list, see Methodology, p14).
What is needed is a way to see who is
doing better so that best practice can
be observed and adopted or adapted.
< 20 >
What makes top class

The characteristics of an effective corporate web presence

What constitutes a top-class corporate web presence? First, you can move
around easily without losing your bearings. This is a sign both of good
construction and good governance – that is, the web presence is run
according to well-observed rules and processes.
Second, the best sites do all the jobs they could be doing. They offer a
high quality service to all stakeholders: people looking for jobs, customers,
journalists, investors and the important social responsibility lobby (for
more, see the individual metric tables, pp10-19). They even take care to
offer good contact points – an element we include separately because it is
often the most important role a site plays.
spots that had appeared in their respective web presence. BP’s continuing
commitment to incremental improvement of an already high-performing
presence is of itself a noteworthy achievement.
The continued raising of the general standard (23 companies now
score 190 or more compared with 180 two years ago) indicates that
these companies are inspiring others in the search for effectiveness. In
continuing to raise the benchmark, they ensure that no one, least of all
themselves, can afford to rest on their achievements.

Third, they make good use of web technology. The spread of broadband
means video, podcasts and the like make increasing sense, though
imaginative use of less bandwidth hungry tools can be at least as
There is limited evidence of social
valuable. We see limited but growing evidence of social media such as
Twitter, Facebook and YouTube and other ‘web 2.0’ devices to build
media such as Twitter, Facebook
communities online. This may be because these corporate giants are and YouTube and other ‘web
laggardly or because they are rationally cautious, keeping their fingers
cool while waiting for an exploitable model to emerge. Nevertheless, we 2.0’ devices. We have nevertheless
have seen more experimentation in the past year, and have fine-tuned our
methodology to reflect such activity (for more, see Methodology, p14). seen more experimentation in the
Royal Dutch Shell, the new index leader, displacing Roche, and its
past year and have fine-tuned the
regents, BP and Siemens, stand out because of the impressive quality
they achieve across all areas of their respective web presences. Where
methodology to reflect such activity.
others shine in places and stumble elsewhere, the top companies have
no significant areas of weakness. In the cases of Shell and Siemens, this
reflects a constant quest for improvement that has seen both tackle soft

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Themes and trends
The corporate website is an area where the giant companies of the world are
undoubtedly getting better at what they do.
Last year we said that there had been a jump in the quality of corporate
websites. This year there has been another. The average has risen by five
points, after a four point advance in 2009. Two years ago 23 companies
scored 180 or more; now the same number has reached 190 or higher.
It is not just about resources, though they help a lot. We carried out a
survey last summer that revealed that the oil and gas industry spends
twice as much as any other on its corporate web presence. It shows, but
the difference between BP, Shell and Eni, all at or near the top, and Total
and Statoil, rather lower down, lies in the skill of execution, not the
money spent.
Something old something new
Are BP and Shell much of a muchness? More like chalk and cheese.
BP’s site is one of the oldest in the Index – look at it in 2004 and now,
and you would not spot much difference. But it has been polished and
polished, so that what it does, it does very well. Shell, by contrast, has
Shell’s relaunch buzzes with
fascinating features. Think of the
website as the company’s biggest
publication, and you will see
the point.
FT Bowen Craggs Index of corporate website effectiveness © Bowen Craggs & Co 2010 <<
been relaunched twice in the past two years – first time round the
site had usability problems, this version does not. It buzzes with
fascinating features – think of the website as the company’s biggest
publication, and you will see the point.
Greater interest in being interesting
The idea that a corporate website should be interesting is one that
is catching on. The spread of broadband has helped greatly, because
it is now reasonable, rather than anti-social, to offer video and
multimedia. Siemens’ well-established home-page features lead into a
maze of beautiful images and videos; most impressively, these are
now localised across dozens of country sites. Like Shell it has jumped
back up the Index by tackling navigational oddities introduced in its
last edition.
Also in the stakes for ‘most engaging website’ prize are Statoil and
GDF Suez, for their videos, and AstraZeneca, for its home page
headlines. The pharmaceuticals company is strangely rare in believing
that if your website is a magazine, then the home page should make
people want to look inside.
A familiar restraint on development
Quality of content is where the Chinese tend to fall down. China
Shenhua Energy has launched a new site that looks good and works
well, but the English version is so riddled with errors it is in effect
saying ‘We do not see the web as a serious way of communicating
with an international audience’.
Other Chinese companies still don’t get the web. Bank of China puts
out printed corporate responsibility and annual reports that match
the best, but its website is poor indeed. Its problem is one that all
companies used to face: bosses who see online as an add-on, not a
prime communication channel.
< 22 >
 Technological laggards such as
Apple, Google and Microsoft let
their decentralised philosophy roam
free on their websites, leading to
dire dysfunctionality.
Extremes of experience
Some of the worse-constructed sites are American, including such
technological laggards as Apple, Google and Microsoft. The issue,
unchanged from last year, is that they let their decentralised philosophy
roam free on their web estates, leading to dire dysfunctionality. Try
getting from Apple’s investor section to its media section – it’s an
interesting puzzle. Does that matter? Ask a financial journalist.
Some of the big IT sites, including Cisco and IBM, are impressive, but
a prize should go to Qualcomm for daring to believe that a corporate IT
website does not have to look like all the others.
Reputations on the line
If there is one reason why a company needs to pay attention to its
website, it is to manage its reputation. If something goes wrong, this
is the first place people will look. Despite corporate Japan’s overall
indifference to the web – reflected in continuing poor scores – Toyota
has been using its global site (not toyota.com but toyota.co.jp) to
apologise to the world for the sticking accelerator problem that sparked
a worldwide safety recall of some models. “We deeply regret the
inconvenience and concern,” it says in a home page splash.
FT Bowen Craggs Index of corporate website effectiveness © Bowen Craggs & Co 2010 <<
Moving from the defensive to the combative, try Chevron. It is waging
legal war in Ecuador, with a $27 billion class action suit against it, and
is deploying every weapon it can – most particularly its website and
YouTube. It is rare to see a company using the web and social media so
closely together.
Social media reticence
For each company in the Index we checked for communications
activity on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, and also looked for social
media links on the website. There is not a great deal going on, frankly,
but the fizzy-drink giants Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are busy linking
outward where they can. General Electric has a blog/newspaper,
GE Reports, which is heavily supported on all three platforms. And
– back to reputation management – Nestlé has been actively if not
entirely successfully using its Facebook page in an attempt to engage
with its critics.
Follow them if you want to see how this latest facet of the corporate
web presence develops. We certainly will.
The fizzy-drink giants are busy linking
outward and Nestlé has been actively
if not entirely successfully using its
Facebook page in an attempt to engage
with its critics.
< 23 >
STATE OF THE CORPORATE WEBSITE

You do not read much about corporate websites any more. Then again, you don’t
read much about open-plan offices. That is the fate of the truly successful innovation;
it becomes part of the fabric, taken for granted.
But as the 2010 FT Bowen Craggs Index of corporate website home page multimedia, is slickly efficient. Siemens, doing everything
effectiveness shows, lack of news does not mean lack of activity. It is it can to excite and engage. Roche, taking the road to elegant
not quite true to say that there has been no slackening in this online simplicity. And that is just the look and feel. See Themes and trends,
world, but increasing commitment from senior management combined pp 22-23, for more.
with the relatively modest resources needed has kept development
programmes largely on track. More in the top division

To be more specific, we surveyed web managers at 115 large
corporations last summer and found that just over half had seen their
online communications budget maintained or increased. Online did
much better than offline: 56 per cent said their share of the total
external communications budget had gone up, with only 14 per cent
reporting a decrease. Why? Because websites are a cost-effective way to
keep in touch with the outside world: 75 per cent said online accounted
for less than 10 per cent of the comms budget.
The main table (pp 8-9) has taken 1,000 working hours to assemble
and is backed up by 400,000 words of documentation. It shows
where each of the 75 companies has (and has not) put its energies.
The main finding is that corporate websites are getting better, with a
growing group of sites that can claim a place in the top division.

Social media boost Over half of the web managers at

What about social media – Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and the like? 115 large corporations surveyed last
They are as the web was in the old days (10 years ago, that is). Lots
of news coverage, some experimentation, not many real resources yet summer said they had seen their
being committed. We have woven a number of social media indicators
into our methodology this year (see p 14), so that companies using online communications budget
social media as part of their communications effort are given a boost.
increased or maintained. Online
Pace of change did much better than offline:
But the really interesting things are still happening on the website. Just 56 per cent said their share of the
as it took a good few years of hard work to get the open-plan office
right, so the same is true here. What is particularly interesting is that total external communications
there is not yet a common approach – a reminder that this is still a
young, fast-changing medium. budget had gone up.
So, looking at the top of the list, we see Shell with a storm of
experimentation and social media hooks. BP, which has dropped its

FT Bowen Craggs Index of corporate website effectiveness © Bowen Craggs & Co 2010 << < 24 >
 The Index is unlike other rankings for two reasons. First, it takes an
overview. Rather than concentrating on a particular element, it looks at
the jobs a web presence is asked to do, and sees how well it does them
– this is what we call effectiveness. Second, our approach is ‘expert’
rather than ‘check box’: our analysts – experienced in business and the
web – make judgements at every stage (see Methodology p14).
Source of trends and ideas
It is not a list of the best corporate websites in the world, because the
75 featured in it are the only ones we look at, and they are chosen for
their market capitalisation, not online skills. This year even more banks
have dropped out, and even more Chinese companies are included.
and a quite different view emerges. Sorting on the Serving customers
metric, seven of the nine sites with the leading scores are US – which
tells quite a bit about different attitudes to the corporate web on either
side of the Atlantic.
Closer examination pays
Looking at this Index by metric may not be as much fun as looking at
the overall list, but it is undoubtedly the most productive exercise. By
doing this – starting with the breakdown charts on pages 10 to 19 – you
can hone in on best practitioners in specific areas. This, we hope, will be
a fruitful undertaking.

Even so, the Index does include all the largest quoted companies in the
world, and the sample is big enough to give a good idea of trends. It
also allows people responsible for corporate (or indeed non-corporate)
sites to see which way others are going, to spot ideas and, if they wish,
The Index is not a list of the best
to steal some of them. corporate websites in the world, but
Newcomers show old failings it does allow people responsible for
Sixteen of the companies are from the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, corporate (or non-corporate) sites to
India, China), which makes for interesting comparisons. In general,
they still populate the lower regions of the list, but there are signs of see which way things are going, to
action. Russia’s Gazprom has relaunched with energy and some of
the Chinese are clearly taking the web seriously. They are all dogged
spot ideas and, if they wish, to steal
by problems of implementation, though – the best in the West
have been through that phase and work like (reasonably) smooth-
some of them.
running machines.

Last year we saw a surge of activity among US companies, catching

up with the Europeans who dominated before. This year the best
Europeans are still ahead and take eight of the first 11 places (nine if
you count the Anglo-Australian Rio Tinto). But look metric by metric,

FT Bowen Craggs Index of corporate website effectiveness © Bowen Craggs & Co 2010 << < 25 >
About Bowen Craggs & Co
Bowen Craggs & Co is a unique website effectiveness research and
consultancy group. We help you close the web effectiveness gap: the
difference between what you are doing and what you could be doing
with your web presence.
We do not build websites (this means you can rely on the independence
of our advice) but help improve effectiveness with strategy, expert
reviews, market research, measurement and identification of relevant
best practice. Our deliverables typically are clear documents and
management presentations that combine deep analysis with actionable
recommendations. It is a combination that makes clients return over
and again.
We advise many private corporations and public sector organisations
from around the world. Several companies we have produced work
for appear in the current FT Bowen Craggs Index. They are: Abbott
Laboratories, BP, British American Tobacco, Chevron, Cisco Systems,
Coca-Cola, Eni, GlaxoSmithKline, HSBC, Nestlé, Novartis, Philip
Morris International, Procter & Gamble, Roche, Samsung, Shell,
Siemens, Total, Unilever, Vodafone. Our association with them has not
affected the scoring: we have no interest in marking them either up
or down.
FT Bowen Craggs Index of corporate website effectiveness © Bowen Craggs & Co 2010 <<
Subscribe to the complete FT Bowen Craggs Index
For more detail, including rankings by metric and about subscriber access
to the full database, please visit www.bowencraggs.com. Subscribers can
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E-mail Dan Drury at ddrury@bowencraggs.com if you would like to
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< 26 >
Bowen Craggs & Co Limited
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