#PRagency Archives - Clairemont Communications

Spearheading communications for a merger and uniting two global company cultures with 16,000 employees can be difficult, but doing so in March 2020, the same month the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, presents an almost insurmountable challenge. This is what faced Ingersoll Rand during the merger of Gardner Denver, Inc. with the Ingersoll Rand Industrials segment to form the new Ingersoll Rand (NYSE: IR), a global provider of mission-critical flow creation and industrial solutions. As an essential business, Ingersoll Rand manufactures vital products to COVID-19 frontline workers – such as pumps for hospital ventilators – and there could be no production delay. The five-person global Ingersoll Rand communications team and Clairemont designed a successful internal communications program to unite 16,000 employees across 70 countries for a seamless Day 1 integration.

Ingersoll Rand set the goal to launch the newly combined company based on a Day 1 readiness list of go/no-go criteria, and to create a celebratory transition that would inspire employees and equip them to live out the company’s purpose – Lean On Us To Help You Make Life Better.

Based on research, the core team planned a company-wide Day 1 global celebration. With the target audience of 16,000 company employees, Ingersoll Rand set the following objectives and timelines:

Company Launch: Go live on time with all identified communications channels of the company by March 1, 2020, including intranet, company website, social media channels, Code of Conduct, Ethics Hotline posters and Purpose and Values posters.

Develop and deploy a comprehensive training toolkit for 200 site champions and all business unit leaders prior to March 1.

Host a live global town hall and Day 1 celebration at locations globally on March 9, 2020 with approximately 100% employee attendance, ‘Team IR’ pennants for each employee for photo opportunities and large banners at each location for employee signatures.

Employee Engagement: Increase employee satisfaction categories of “employee connectedness to company” and “understanding of long-term strategy” each by 2 points and maintain or improve by 1 point the rating that “leaders communicate a motivating vision” (maintain because the pre-Day 1 survey had an 80% rating, and that was already above manufacturing industry benchmark).

Financial Growth: Create a positive new company culture that would equip employees to meet quarterly financial goals in 2020, including strong margins, liquidity and cost savings of >$25 million.

EXECUTION

Championing Success: Success sprang from preparation and disciplined use of Ingersoll Rand Execution Excellence, the engine to how the company is managed. Beginning in November 2019, Ingersoll Rand and Clairemont formed a site champion team of liaisons to brainstorm concepts, convey corporate messages to all 300 sites, share employee feedback, develop materials, assist with translations 2 and plan a site-appropriate Day 1 experience. All site champions participated in a virtual training, idea exchange and ongoing support network to ensure two-way communication with all employees.

Purpose and Values: To unite employees behind a common vision, IR launched a research-based employee task force that created the company’s new Purpose and Values. The comms team then designed a simple, compelling graphic and poster around the Purpose and Values, which were translated and distributed to every site. Employees engaged in Purpose and Values training sessions, personally connecting their own values to those of the company and preparing them to “think and act like owners.”

Corporate Narrative: The team leveraged the Purpose and Values to create the corporate story, merging two companies’ rich histories and highlighting its unifying vision across 40+ brands. IT and comms teams worked around the clock to build, test and prepare the new social channels and strategy, asset libraries, website (translated and tested for 70 countries) and intranet. To support employee engagement, Ingersoll Rand hosted an employee contest to name the new intranet, IR NOW.

Cadenced Communications: Clarity was key for unity. Employees received regular integration updates, personal leadership messages, the new Purpose and Values, and even a humorous Brady-Bunch-style video introducing the new leadership team to forge a personal connection. The intranet featured an evolving FAQ section and articles spotlighting business units so employees could get to know their new coworkers. The comms team crafted toolkits for leaders to deliver to suppliers, vendors and employees the week before company launch. Employees across the globe received a “what you need to know to function on Day 1” desk drop on March 1, followed by Week 2 desk drop with a company overview – translated into 15 core languages.

An Open Dialogue: IR leadership committed itself to live out one of the company’s core values to help employees “think and act like owners” by encouraging questions and two-way dialogue. IR hosted two live global town halls (complete with red-themed backdrops for a little “team spirit”) where 16,000 employees tuned in to a live Q&A section with CEO Vicente Reynal. The intranet housed a Q&A section and provided an email welcoming employee integration questions at any time.

Day 1 Celebration: Ingersoll Rand went “red” – the company brand color that conveyed excitement – for its Day 1 celebration. The integration team equipped each of the 300 sites around the world with a “party in a box” translated into the native language, featuring inaugural banners for employees to sign, posters touting IR’s new purpose, a pennant to wave, Purpose & Values activities and even catering ideas. (Red bon-bons, anyone?) Since many had to celebrate from home, site champions coordinated with regional HR personnel to provide localized support. All sites hosted their celebrations simultaneously while tuning into a live town hall with the CEO. With unity as the goal, the town hall featured live vignettes from Shanghai to Spain — real-time interactivity that bridged thousands of miles and enabled employees to virtually meet their new colleagues. Vicente answered Q&As and finished the town hall with an iconic selfie, capturing on-site employees in the background waving celebratory pennants.

The Ingersoll Rand Day 1 internal communications campaign united employees, bolstered financial growth and ensured the company continued production.

Company Launch: IR successfully launched all identified communications functions of the company by March 1, 2020; trained 200+ site champions and all business units prior to March 1; and hosted a live global town hall and Day 1 celebration on March 9, 2020 with 100% employee attendance.

Employee Engagement: Despite the pandemic and inability to travel and meet to integrate the global organization of 16,000, ‘feel more connected to the newly combined company’ improved 5 points to 77%, surpassing the 2-point target. ‘Better understanding of the long-term strategy’ increased 8 points, jumping 4 times the 2-point goal; and ‘leaders communicate a motivating vision’ maintained at 80%.

Financial Growth: By the release of the IR first quarterly financial results as a combined company after Day 1 event, IR delivered solid margins, strong liquidity at $1.6 billion with the quarter closing at $556 million of cash on the balance sheet and actions added up to more than $50 million of cost savings.

Interested in hearing more about how we can help you with a successful internal communications campaign? Drop us a line!

The North Carolina Association of Fire Chiefs (NCAFC) and the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) banded together to address a critical volunteer firefighter shortage in North Carolina. Research showed that nearly 70 percent of North Carolina firefighters were volunteers, and this number was plummeting by approximately 12 percent annually. These organizations secured a federal SAFER Grant from the Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) targeting 12 high-risk counties in North Carolina in need of volunteers. The NCAFC turned to The Felice Agency and Clairemont Communications to launch a fully integrated communications campaign to recruit volunteer firefighters across the state.

Together, the agencies established an integrated communications strategy targeting two main audiences: 1) North Carolina media, especially those covering the rural counties in the grant 2) potential volunteers ages 16-60 located in the 12 rural counties in the grant. We crafted a comprehensive campaign in which The Felice Agency spearheaded advertising and digital marketing while Clairemont led media relations and event support. Our strategy leveraged a combination of traditional recruitment methods along with advancing technology to pinpoint with high accuracy the communities likely to yield ready candidates.

Our objectives were as follows:

Increase awareness of the critical need for volunteer firefighters by securing at least 10,000 website page views with 4,000 unique users by the end of 2020.
Boost visibility for the campaign through at least 25 news stories (approximately two/county) by the end of 2020.
Secure 290 applications and land at least 230 volunteers by the end of 2020.

Our Everyday Hero: First The Felice Agency crafted a hero for the North Carolina public, a face to personify the nebulous “volunteer firefighter.” The key graphic painted firefighters as an endangered species; their loss could mean our peril. The imagery depicted a firefighter in full uniform amidst the station’s fire trucks, but his image was slowly fading into the background – as if he, too, was disappearing. The agency team paired the visuals with poignant data, such as the daily rate of lives lost due to fires, to create a sense of urgency and drive home the impact on every citizen. This creative served as the cornerstone for collateral, online promotions and advertisements.

“This Is Our State” PSA: We worked with the NCAFC to produce a public service announcement – one designed to imbue each viewer with a sense of ownership and pride as part of the North Carolina “family.” The 30, 60 and 90-second versions depicted actual North Carolina firefighters saving children from burning homes or cutting crash victims from a car. The voiceover told the tale of neighbors helping neighbors, encouraging viewers to bind together to make their state stronger.

Winning Websites: NCAFC’s current recruitment website (volunteerfirenc.org) was revamped to target audiences beyond operational firefighters. We peppered in sections to showcase clear ways teachers, students, churches and businesses could join the recruitment cause. Fresh content, new visuals and short, compelling copy all created an easy user experience to increase navigation and website performance.

Neighbor to Neighbor: Since many of the target areas were in rural counties, grassroots efforts became critical in recruitment. We crafted partnership ideas for local fire departments to host virtual demos (during the socially distanced pandemic) at local high schools, partner with churches, display mannequins dressed in firefighter gear at hardware stores, or host socially distanced BBQ cookouts. Firefighters lined the event parameters with branded yard signs and sported face masks touting the NCAFC logo and a call to action to “Join Us.”

Lighting Up the Media: Clairemont crafted fiery, individualized pitches to major outlets across the state as well as hyperlocal media in the campaign’s 12 rural counties. We tied in staggering statistics of the decline in firefighters coupled with the impact, such as lives lost. We offered personal accounts from volunteers, fire chiefs and even inspiring stories, such as the first Black female cadet to graduate from the junior firefighter program in a county. Clairemont leveraged clever how-to videos with the fire chiefs, such as Halloween safety tips and a Macaroni Surprise Firehouse Recipe demo by the fire captain. Throughout 2020, Clairemont secured 38 stories across print, television and online with approximately 15 more in early 2021.

Getting Social: The Felice Agency developed a strong social media presence; for example, we leveraged the Facebook pages of individual fire departments to post volunteer opportunities on the Facebook jobs widget. We created branded cover images as well as profile stamps with a call for volunteers. An ongoing editorial calendar highlighted fire safety tips and engaging visuals, such as recent news coverage, tips for care and grilling safety, and graphics of volunteer positions. Utilizing the demographic profile provided through the GIS reports, we crafted a targeted social media campaign; we secured more than 200 applicants from Facebook ads alone, and we doubled the number of followers on Facebook.

The Felice Agency and Clairemont launched a successful integrated communications campaign that exceeded every goal and objective:

With the goal to secure 10,000 annual pages views and 4,000 unique users, the agency team surpassed the goal and secured approximately 11,000 page views with 5,600 unique users in 2020. Note: Due to Google Analytics reporting complications, these metrics only reflected November – December of 2020; the website in actuality secured much more traffic than even reported!
We surpassed our goal of 25 stories by securing 38 stories across the state with several more in the works.
With a goal of 290 applications and 230 volunteers, our campaign secured approximately 305 applications with 237 new volunteers in 2020.

The integrated campaign crafted by The Felice Agency and Clairemont Communications incorporated traditional public relations with digital marketing to spread the call for volunteer firefighters across the state like wildfire, increasing visibility and securing new recruits to revitalize the North Carolina fire station system.

Click here to read more about our work with the NCAFC.

Clairemont Communications

Tag: #PRagency

What Does a PR Agency Do? One Ingersoll Rand: Uniting 16,000 Global Employees Behind One Purpose

What Does A PR Agency Do? Lighting a Fire for Everyday Heroes