In our latest webinar, FTSE250 Digital Index: aiming high or failing fast?, Richard Dixon, Chief Digital Officer at Black Sun Global, explored the latest findings from our FTSE250 Digital Index. The session examined how companies are adapting their digital communications in an increasingly complex and AI-driven landscape, highlighting key trends, areas of progress, and opportunities for improvement.
As turbulence continues across the digital environment, organisations are navigating the combined impact of AI, shifting user behaviours, and increasing technology fragmentation. These forces are reshaping how stakeholders discover, engage with and interpret corporate content.
Three key forces are driving change across corporate digital communications:
The FTSE250 Digital Index assesses corporate websites using a “Triple A” framework:
Our analysis highlights six key areas where FTSE250 companies are evolving their digital communications, alongside clear opportunities to go further. While progress is evident across purpose, investor storytelling and user experience, the growing influence of AI is accelerating the need for more structured, connected and machine-readable content.
The themes below explore where organisations are performing strongly, where gaps remain, and how leading companies are approaching these areas in practice.
Purpose-led storytelling continues to strengthen, with 78% of FTSE250 companies presenting a clear purpose-driven narrative and 87% providing at-a-glance summaries.
Organisations are increasingly connecting purpose, strategy and value creation into more structured and cohesive stories.
A strong example is Trainline, which clearly links its purpose across key sections such as careers and sustainability, ensuring a consistent and joined-up narrative regardless of where users enter the site.
There is growing focus on presenting a clear investment proposition, with 57% of companies now sharing an investment case and continued growth in online reporting.
As AI continues to influence investment decision-making, the corporate website remains a critical source of truth.
Tritax provides a strong example, bringing together strategy, market context, ESG and value creation within its investor section to present a clear and integrated investment narrative.
While progress is being made, sustainability remains an area with further opportunity. Around 30% of companies provide targets for each focus area, with increasing emphasis on demonstrating real-world impact and publishing accessible data.
Breedon demonstrates best practice by linking sustainability to its overall purpose, structuring content around clear focus areas, and supporting this with case studies and accessible data to evidence outcomes.
Careers content continues to evolve, with a stronger focus on culture, values and employee experience. Nearly half of FTSE250 companies now include people profiles, alongside more targeted content for specific roles and audiences.
IWG stands out for clearly articulating its employee value proposition, using people stories, benefits and career development content, and even providing transparency around the use of AI within its application process.
User experience remains a key differentiator as attention spans shorten. Research shows 76% of users lose interest in text-heavy content, increasing the importance of visual and engaging experiences.
Leading organisations such as Harbour Energy, Bridgepoint and Breedon demonstrate how strong brand expression, visual design and interactive elements can create more distinctive and engaging digital experiences.
AI is transforming how stakeholders interact with corporate content, with around 60% of searches now clickless, meaning users often consume information without visiting websites.
At the same time, websites are increasingly being used as content sources for AI tools, with significantly higher levels of scraping compared to user visits.
Examples highlighted included organisations embedding AI into their digital experience, such as:
This reflects a broader shift towards designing websites that serve both human users and AI systems.
We support organisations in strengthening their digital communications and improving performance across the areas highlighted in the Digital Index.
This includes:
If you would like to receive the full webinar recording or learn more about your organisation’s performance, please get in touch..
Abbie Dixon, Relationship Marketing Executive
adixon@blacksun-global.com
About Black Sun
Black Sun Global is a stakeholder advisory and engagement agency that's been driving transformation and positive change for ambitious brands for more than 20 years. With deep expertise in disclosure and reporting, ESG, sustainability, and digital engagement, we reshape how organisations connect with customers, investors, employees, and the wider world.
We are trusted partners to some of the most influential global organisations, sparking innovation and sustainable performance through our strategic insights, partnerships, and proprietary technologies.
As founders of the Positive Change Group, we are on a mission to create a new kind of stakeholder relations partner. Our world-class specialists work closely with executive leadership teams to protect reputations, inspire trust, and promote responsible business practices - building resilience and long-term value in a rapidly changing world.
For more information, please visit: www.blacksun-global.com
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