Internal Communications Presentations and Event Case study
Internal Communications Presentations
We had done a number of pieces of video work for our client, an oil distribution company, called GB Oils at the time, when they asked us to pitch to help them with the launch event for their new brand.
They were creating a new brand for the company, which included many structural and company changes, as well as redefining the vision and values for the business moving forward.
This involved a significant brand re-structure, wanting to give the group identity a much bigger and bolder part in their marketing and PR and a clearer national identity.
The plan was to invite 250 of the company senior managers from across the UK to an event where they are introduced to the company changes, the brand vision and values moving forward and what these changes would mean for the staff.
The event was to be motivational, inspirational and have the theme of team-working underpinning it. We used the concept of the British cycling teams marginal gains theory to emphasise the impact of every little change in the business and the collective team result.
The event was planned for early September and we started work on it in June. We worked closely with the client on the plan for the day, which would be run twice, with 125 managers attending each day. They already knew the structure of the presentations to take place and who would be presenting which sessions. So one of our first tasks was to create the script for each of the presentations and workshop sessions. We did this through thorough consultation with the client. Whenever we undertake a project such as this it is imperative that we learn and understand as much as possible, as early as possible. So in this case we needed to understand everything about the history of the company, what led them to this point, the changes taking place, the new structure, vision, values and what is driving the business. We also needed to understand aspects such as the marketplace they operate in, the customer segments, products and services delivered to these customers and the company processes for delivering totheir customers.
What was particularly challenging about this process, and something that we really enjoy at Capture 1, is that it was quite a complex set of messages covering the historic journey through how the re-branding process has worked to what it now meant for everyone in the team. As the re-branding was in it’s final phase, it meant the significant work that had been put into that needed tying together cohesively and clearly to tell the story successfully to the team.
From the scripts we then developed the slides for each of the presentations. The presentation slides were the critical visual support for explaining the new vision, strategy, values and company structure, so first and foremost we needed to create artwork that explained these factors in a snapshot using graphics. The end result was all about being in keeping with the new brand and animating within the Powerpoint environment to add to that clarity. These critical slides were sandwiched with exciting photos revealing the new branding in situ in the business and representing the key theme of sporting achievement and marginal gains that add up to business success.
Another major responsibility was the creative event management, which meant we had to ensure that workshops and every aspect of the event reflected the re-brand transformation and the event inspirational theme. We have a history of working with actors to great effect within the scope of training and team-working and in keeping with the theme we arranged for a Hacker team working exercise where delegates first worked together in small groups to learn the New Zealand infamous Hacker routine and this was later integrated into the finale of the event where all 130 delegates and management worked together to perform this. The energy and fun that this added to the event was significant.
There was a large amount of video content that needed to be produced, both for use at the event and following the event as general marketing video material for the website and presentations.
There has been a massive return on the investment for the client, not just with the rebrand launch event itself but all of these presentation assets and videos were re-used in a 5 week road-show campaign informing all 2000 staff across 200 depots across the UK about what the re-branding and new values means for them.
The main video presentation we created is now their corporate video on their website and the presentation slides in Powerpoint have been provided as assets that can be reworked reused and edited and so will provide long term use in the business.
This was a very involved project for us, which is the kind we love the most. We were able to really get to know our client, help them with successful communication, both internally and externally, ahead of the launch. We worked with all levels within the company, right up to working with the directors at board level on their presentations. We were instrumental in creating a style, structure, presentation assets and organisation of the event that resulted in achieving a successful communication of the new company brand, vision and values moving forward.
