Making the team

Since it was created 17 years ago, the All-Europe Research Team has become the most popular annual feature in Institutional Investor’s International Edition.

Since it was created 17 years ago, the All-Europe Research Team has become the most popular annual feature in Institutional Investor’s International Edition.

By David Schutt, Managing Editor
February 2002
Institutional Investor Magazine

Although designed to be a celebration of the previous year’s very best equity analysts, the rankings no doubt cause researchers a mixture of fear (“did I make it?”) and hope (“this could be my big year”). Our Art Department shares some of their anxieties.

The planning for this year’s AERT started in November, when Art Director Irene Ledwith, Deputy Art Director Patrizia Bove and Photo Editor Anastasia Pleasant met to brainstorm about various concepts. Once they’d narrowed dozens of ideas down to four, Bove designed page layouts for each variation. This year, explains Ledwith, they decided to go with black-and-white photos, leaving the analyst portraits in their film frames to capture an “unedited sincerity we liked.”

Surfing the Internet, the art team found the Shoe Factory, a loft that offered the perfect backdrop (hardwood floors and brick walls) in a dilapidated section of London’s Islington neighborhood.

With concept and venue in place, they then turned to London-based photographer Graham Trott, who shot last year’s AERT members. He seemed the perfect choice not just for his technique, but also because of his personality: Trott puts his subjects at ease, helping him get fresh, spontaneous shots.

As with all II research teams, there was intense deadline pressure. Because the names of team leaders are finalized (the culmination of nearly six months of research by Senior Associate Editor William Gaston, but that is another story) a few days before Christmas, Photo Editor Pleasant immediately blasted off 76 e-mails to winning team members and then followed up by phone the last week of December, one of the worst times of year to contact anyone. But by January 4 all the researchers were on board. Shooting occurred over four days in Islington starting January 9. Analyst attendance was perfect, though more than one researcher called from down the block to make sure they were in the right neighborhood.

Starting on page 55, you can evaluate the hard work of the analysts and artists. As Pleasant says, “It was tough but a lot of fun, too.”

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