CorpComms Magazine

When the travel groups Thomson and First Choice merged under umbrella company TUI at the close of 2007, it was immediately apparent that more than the standard internal communications efforts would be required to ensure a seamless transition.

The new group found itself with a large number of staff all over the world who had previously worked for a different brand and were now being asked to operate within a new ethos and a new set of core values.

'We had a cultural issue as one brand was performing better than the other and we now had 17,000 staff, which is huge, with potentially a huge cultural divide,' says Alexandra Phillips, internal communications manager for the airline and head office at TUI.

The answer was a series of events at which the group used a film, Be Special, to highlight the success stories of five employees from across both brands. A second film was also made especially for employees of the new airline - Thomson Fly and First Choice Airways merged to form Thomson Airways - as rivalry between airlines is notorious and could have presented problems for the merger.

'The vision of the Be Special campaign was to internalise our aim of making customers feel special,' says Phillips. 'We need to feel special ourselves if we are going to translate that to the customer.

'Lots of our employees are back-office people who do not see the customer face-to-face. This film was about showing people how their jobs do affect the customer and how they could go the extra mile for the customer. 

'One lady had stayed up all night and hand delivered luggage for a single mother who had needed to return home for her children. Another girl had received an order of black roses for a wedding, and had scoured all over Europe for them and then hand delivered them too.'

OFFERING INSIGHT

Events were put on for different groups of staff, starting with the top 250 business leaders at an off-site in Tenerife, and then moving on to other groups across the company. 'It was about inspiring pride and confidence,' says Phillips.

Richard McHardy, business development director at The Bank, which made the film for TUI, adds: 'It makes people feel great about the brand they work for.'

The second film, Special Delivery, featured the company's new director of flights and director of customer services on a flight to Palma. The two were interviewed along with the crew and pilots, and the film also addressed the issue of crossing the divide that is the locked door between the cockpit and the cabin.

Phillips says: 'Film is a great communication channel for internal communications. It must not be management-speak and it has to be real. For us, for example, this was an opportunity for the cabin crew to get to know the directors and to get to know the new board. It really hit home. We had to do this in a way which would capture employees' attention and tell them what we were doing to take the company to the next level, and to explain that it is down to them to make it happen.'

IMAGINATIVE RESPONSE

The use of film for internal communications has moved on sharply from the days of the corporate video featuring a monologue from the chief executive. Films are increasingly of television quality, and can even be broadcast on a dedicated website - a microsite - as a television programme. Going one step further, it is even possible to set up your own TV channel as the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has done for its small business members as a way of producing programmes to give advice and inspire in this difficult economic climate (www.smallbusinessadvice.tv). 

Agencies which specialise in making such films are also coming up with more imaginative ways to do it - from a classic chat show to a mocked-up news report to an animated film, the sky really is the limit.

The delivery of film and broadcast messages to employees is best suited to large or multi-national organisations. Most companies do not have the ability to enable lots of people within the same building to receive video into their computers at the same time. Therefore, film and broadcast are best used either at live events, or when received by people spanning several different locations.

The main advantage of using film to communicate with employees is that it is more likely to gain their attention. 'People won't necessarily read the company newsletter,' points out David Oakley, consultant at Markettiers4DC, which produces the TV channel for the BCC. 

'We are TV animals after all,' adds Jamie Swinton, creative director at BrightTALK. 'Visual media in the hands of a skilled communicator can change people's minds, can get across concepts and tell stories more effectively.'

Furthermore, with the use of the same piece of film or broadcast, everyone receives the same message at the same time. Swinton adds: 'The problem with corporate communications is that they are often required to be consistent and you need people to all get the same message. Video is by far the most effective way to do this. Within two to three minutes, you can get across a consistent point.'

TRACKING VIEWING FIGURES

Swinton, who does work for pension groups operating group personal pensions on behalf of employers, says that being able to allow employees the freedom to watch when they want is crucial.

'We work with oil companies in Aberdeen, where many employees are on rigs or in the US. We send a link to a video and say Please watch it within five working days, so we know who has and has not watched it. Then human resources can focus their efforts on those who have not watched it,' he explains.

'The style of Internet-delivered communication is one-to-one. You are talking directly to the employee. It is very different to the corporate videos of yesteryear. You can film it live, or you can produce it on demand so the employees can watch it when they want and you can give them a timescale to watch it in - perhaps at home with their families. A lot of the pensions work I do is aimed at families. We do a lot of communications where we see that people open the communication at work, then immediately close it down and then open it up again at 8.30 in the evening.'

Reaching large numbers of people in different locations in one go is the obvious attraction of broadcast tools for internal communications, but it is not the only reason that companies are increasingly turning towards film and broadcast for this purpose.

If a company holds a live broadcast for employees, which can be viewed either live or later on demand, it is possible for staff to send in questions either before or during the broadcast. This can be done anonymously using usernames if the company wishes to allow staff to express opinions or ask questions they may shy away from during a staff meeting, for example.

'This is real TV run on a company's website,' says Oakley. 'We usually have it led by an experienced TV presenter who will act as a prompt or interviewer to the chief executive, for example. It is technically very easy for a company's web team to manage and is very straightforward - you can very quickly talk to your staff with this method. You could decide to air a web TV programme tomorrow. It is completely controlled and password protected so only the people invited can watch it.' 

If you need greater security - as passwords can be easily shared - it is possible to restrict viewing to specific IP numbers on computers within your offices.

If security is less of an issue, employees can choose when to watch once they have received the link to the video, or username and password for the broadcast. If they can't watch it while it is on air, it is stored on a website and can be viewed later. It is possible for companies to track who has watched a film and for how long, if it is delivered via the Internet, or at least how many of an invited group have viewed, if access is by generic password rather than identity.

MANY LAYERS OF INTERACTION

Russell Goldsmith, digital media director at Markettiers4DC, says: 'As a way of internal communications, this works on several levels. From the employee's perspective there is no embarrassment about asking questions and they can watch when they want. From the employer's point of view, if you have got staff globally for instance, you are able to talk to them all from one location in one go.'

The company can also retain control of moderation by choosing which questions to answer on air - in much the same way as the editor of any television chat show programme would. Trickier questions can be dealt with in person after the end of the broadcast, if necessary.

Last October, Marks & Spencer used a film broadcast to provide help and advice to employees as their employee share scheme came up for vesting. A pre-recorded web TV chat show was produced by Markettiers4DC featuring two guests from the M&S employee share save scheme and Killik Employee Share Services, which administers the scheme, along with a presenter who posed questions which had been sent in beforehand by 400 managers invited to take part.

FROM WORK TO HOME

Goldsmith says: 'This was seen internally at M&S as an innovative way to engage staff, helping to provide them the information about what choices they have when the shares are released and to hopefully get them thinking now about how they can make the shares work for themselves.'

The 20-minute show was made with a view to staff watching in their own time from home and was hosted on a password-protected area of the website, www.financeexplainded.tv, a joint venture between Killik & Co and How To TV Limited, and is used to help companies explain issues of personal finance to employees.

'The show has been very well received internally,' says Goldsmith. 'In particular the style of programming, delivering financial information in the style of a TV chat show, with different camera angles, a presenter and talking heads interspersed with slides does not feel monotonous in watching one person, and certainly more engaging than reading the information.'

Live events are also a good platform for using film for internal communications. 'Our films are often used at major live events such as conferences,' says The Bank's McHardy. 'We often have a day-long conference being broken up by a series of films, such as interviews with staff, customers, or senior members of the company. This is a good way to get across key messages the company wants to send.'

Another benefit of video is its versatility, says McHardy, as it can later be used for recruitment or other purposes. Private bank Coutts discovered this when it made a film aimed at raising awareness of the brand as a global name, rather than just a London-centred bank. The film, A Day In A Life, was initially shown two years ago at a live event in London aimed at attracting Asian financial services workers back to Singapore, but has since been used repeatedly for other internal communications and has become very much a feature of the Coutts' brand.

A Day in the Life begins with the new dawn in Asia and moves across the world, through the day. It originally ended with the evening in London, but has since been extended. It now covers Singapore, Hong Kong, Dubai, Zurich, Geneva, London, Jersey, Cayman Islands and America.

IMAGINATIVE SOLUTIONS

Cathy Allard, internal communications manager at Coutts, says: 'It has a very uplifting feel to it. Most recently, it was used in the chief executive's briefing.  Film is very effective for internal communications. Banking can seem quite dull and film can really bring things to life to make it real. It definitely makes communications more interesting than death by Powerpoint.'

Coutts also recently made six success story films for a staff briefing held at BAFTA, on London's Piccadilly. The films, which featured successful deals and new products that have performed well, were based on real film scripts - one was The Avengers, for instance.

'It is a quirky and funny way to communicate the message and it sticks in the mind,' says Allard.

It is little surprise that such new ways of communicating with staff, and keeping them on board, are being sought in today's difficult economic climate and uncertain times. As McHardy says: 'The role of internal communications is now really, really key. The communications director will have a direct line into the communication of strategic goals, values and visions of the company, so this role is being taken very seriously these days. I think this makes absolute sense. What is the point in communicating brand values to the outside world if your own staff don't believe in it?'

share me: del.icio.us | digg | reddit | Tweet