Southwest Gas livens up its annual report

Friday, April 26, 2002 | 11:14 a.m.

Southwest Gas Corp. of Las Vegas is giving readers of its 2001 annual report a reason to smile and chuckle.

And so far, no one has raised a stink over it.

"I don't think an annual report has to be stodgy and conservative, especially if you have really good story to tell," said Roger Buehrer, a spokesman for Southwest, the dominant natural gas utility serving Las Vegas.

"The reaction, for the most part, has been positive," he said. "It brings a chuckle, but at the same time, people who see it realize that Southwest Gas is showing that we are not out of the same corporate mold and we're not like every other utility."

The cover photo of Southwest's report, issued last week, shows two company employees, a grinning John Wright and Barbara Demaree, both account representatives, with a caption that reads, "Do you have gas?"

Readers willing to press on will see "We have gas," on the second page and, over a two-page spread showing the Las Vegas Strip at sunset on the third page, a large headline delivering the message: "1.4 million Southwest Gas customers have gas."

Buerher said he and other company officials knew the junior-high humor might not be a hit with everybody, but the company was willing to take a chance. The joke is an attention grabber designed to get the word out to investors and potential investors that although last year's earnings were below the previous year's, the company had a record 70,000 meter installations in 2001.

In 2001 the company had net income of $37.2 million, $1.16 a share, compared with $38.3 million, $1.22 a share, in 2000. Those earnings are based on revenues of $1.4 billion in 2001 compared with $1.03 billion a year earlier. The company has paid an annual dividend of 82 cents a share since 1994.

The company illustrates other parts of its growth story in the report with photos of Las Vegas-area residents Rebecca Normile, a "Jubilee" dancer, Elvis impersonator Pete Willcox, Alize Chef Andre Rochat and Palms hotel-casino blackjack dealer Anna Rodriguez.

But it doesn't say anything about them having gas.

That's reserved for Wright, who said he didn't know what the text of the cover was going to say until he saw a review copy a few days before the report's release last week.

"I've had a little bit of ribbing, but not a whole lot," Wright said of the cover shot. "Some people thought we should be a little more serious, like, 'You're a utility, you should be a lot more formal.' But I think you've got to have fun at work or it makes for a dull society."

Wright said it was the first time he had ever posed for such a project and that it took about 30 minutes to get the shot that ultimately was used. He said there were three male-female pairings of employees photographed for the final selection for the cover.

"My son kind of snickered when he saw it," Wright said. "My wife thought it was a good picture. I liked it because I was kind of looking up and you can't see my bald spot."

Keith Schwer, director of the Center for Business and Economic Research at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, laughed out loud when he heard about the joke in Southwest's report.

"They're such bland documents most of the time, you kind of look forward to a little color sometimes," Schwer said. "Even the Wall Street types tire of all the balance sheets after awhile. I think it's good to put some humor in a report like this."

One of Schwer's colleagues concurred, but added that companies have to use humor cautiously.

"Using language in a witty way makes the report much more memorable," said Joe McCullough, a distinguished professor of English at UNLV. "Having the pun, 'Do you have gas?' is of questionable taste, but it will absolutely be remembered by people who read the report."

McCullough, a Mark Twain expert who teaches a course in American humor and has studied racial and ethnic jokes and humor in the workplace, said most of the time, it's all right to engage in a little funny business. He said another Southwest -- Dallas-based Southwest Airlines -- has used humor effectively to advance its product.

"You'll hear flight attendants tell jokes during the takeoff announcements to put passengers at ease before a flight," McCullough said. "But you won't hear them tell jokes about plane crashes.

"And it's not appropriate to use humor in an annual report if you're in a situation like Enron or (Arthur) Andersen, although I'm sure a lot of jokes have been told about them at their expense," he said.

McCullough said an executive shouldn't try to be too funny because "with one comedy routine after another, people may lose faith" in a company's ability to be serious when it needs to be. Companies also have to consider sensitivity issues when they attempt humor, he said, or it's possible to create a controversy.

Abercrombie & Fitch found out the hard way that misguided humor can be expensive. Last week the San Francisco clothing company recalled a line of T-shirts after receiving hundreds of complaints that a graphic design it produced was racist and offensive.

The $25 shirts with designs portrayed Asians with caricatured faces with slanted eyes and conical hats and the phrase "Wong Brothers Laundry Service -- Two Wongs Can Make It White."

A Las Vegas Toyota dealership also was taken to task last year for running a television advertisement that made fun of Asian accents.

McCullough said whether it's distributing reports, making speeches before Rotary Clubs or producing products of questionable taste, executives have to be wary or the entire joke could blow up in their faces.

Southwest Gas, which had its executives dress up in chef costumes for photographs for last year's annual report to tell about the importance of natural gas in Las Vegas' growing restaurant industry, doesn't think this year's joke goes too far.

Besides, shareholders seem to be having the last laugh.

After the company's stock price fell to a 52-week low of $18.61 a share following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, it climbed to a high of $25.35 in mid-March. Currently, the stock is trading in the $23 range.