The challenge

Define and shape the Royale International story in a way that differentiates and positions it as a viable competitor in the logistics industry and as an employer of choice.

What we did

Royale International’s story needed to serve two purposes: to engage all colleagues in the future growth strategy, and to communicate the differentiating value the business delivers to customers.

Helping colleagues to realise how crucial a role they play and understand the values behind the business’s success so far, would see them feel proud to be part of it and the quality of their work soar. In turn, customers needed to feel the passion that fuels the Royale International spirit and to consider Royale as a viable alternative to better-known names. It’s a two-part story with one goal: the long-term success of the business.

During the first part of our Story Shaping programme, we spent time with the team at Royale International, immersing ourselves in their back-story and ambitions for the future. This enabled us to properly understand the personality of their organisation, their thoughts and feelings about what they do, and what it is that makes them different. From that, we evolved a set of personality traits that were distinctive, compelling and unique. And then identified the smaller stories behind the bigger narrative, resulting in five focused and powerful storylines.

To make sure that our carefully shaped story connects with each intended audience, we then developed a communication strategy that makes the most of Royale International’s key milestones throughout the year – getting the important messages through the right channels at the right time for maximum effect. Our ‘episode plan’ approach provides a strong structure to follow but also empowers them to explore creative ways to deliver the strategy. It’s fluid and reactive to anything that might affect the story – internally and externally – while having enough detail to show clearly what needs to be delivered.

The triumph

It’s early days but our work in shaping the Royale International story is already informing their communication collateral with encouraging results – a four-minute film to celebrate their 25th anniversary has been launched and is resonating with colleagues old and new. Meanwhile, two further projects are in progress and we have more scheduled for the year ahead. The Royale International story looks set to fly high.

Please get in touch to talk about this project in more detail.

The challenge

Change the mindset of staff towards customer complaints, and help them to turn the customer frown upside down.

What we did

Kicking off with a Story Shaping session with the Customer Care team, we established the foundation for the planned communication, and clarified the perceptions and actions that needed to change.

Storylining revealed more about the target audience, and the options we had to influence and inform. We interviewed a cross section of branch and call centre staff to get their thoughts – many were afraid of complaints, seeing them as uncomfortable, time-consuming, and non-value adding. They acted defensively with customers who complained, taking the complaint personally.

We decided on an animated film, approximately six minutes long, to branch staff to get on board with a new way of looking at complaints. There’s a link between staff wellbeing and the customer experience, so we centred the film around a staff member, to encourage a sense of a collective journey rather than a forced march. We demonstrated to staff that the emotion they feel about complaints shows in their facial expressions and mannerisms. These emotions can transfer to the customer who reacts to them – the customer’s behaviour is affected by how the staff member feels about complaints. And making the lead character an employee sends out the message that this is not only beneficial for customers but for staff too.

After a hugely successful launch, the film became part of the strategy to embed the change in culture within AIB and now forms part of the New Entrant Induction Programme.

The triumph

Surveyed staff found the animation good, engaging, positive and educational:

“The link between staff wellbeing and customer experience is something we want to emphasis so that everyone is aware of the impact their tone and action/ inaction has on the customer and themselves”
– Customer Services

“Positive, educational and full of references to emotion, which help get the message across so well”
– Group Marketing

“Such an engaging way to communicate the important message”
– Chief Risk Office

There was a change of mindset, staff are now owning the customer complaint experience and the Net Promoter Score improved – up nine points on the quarter before. Happier staff = happier customers.

Please get in touch to talk about this project in more detail.

The challenge

Support 500 investment, compliance and risk professionals through a change in financial standards.

What we did

Our Story Shaping programme, involving the Head of Investment and project team, identified the important themes and laid firm foundations for the story. A story that would get the investment team excited about working energetically in sync to new standards.

We built a campaign around seven animations – a new medium that would surprise and engage. Keeping them simple helped the audience to absorb the changes, and we created a visual style that would act as a distinctive brand for ongoing communication. Focusing on the greater goal of AIA’s continually rising standards, using a ‘carrot, not stick’ strategy, we engaged these investment professionals in a collective effort to reach them. The campaign name ‘Together, we’re changing’ is inclusive of all functions and reinforces the idea of support.

The first three episodes of our campaign schedule included:

The big picture – where expectations shifted, the story got its impetus and everyone knew that something important was happening.

Making the connections – the rollout of workshops and shorter animations for momentum and additional context.

Navigating the detail– a comprehensive set of accessible user-friendly takeaway tools to help bed in the new way of working, and prevent the audience from reverting to old practices.

The triumph

The feedback? “The audience has not seen anything like this at AIA before. We’ve made our impact and delivered our intended message.” “The highest level of engagement for any of the sessions that day.” “Engaging even for people in the audience who aren’t necessarily involved with the roll-out.”

Responses to an emailed survey sent to employees after the workshops showed a clearer understanding of their role in the group and excitement about the function’s future.

The project team reported: “Although the programme is only in the early stages of being rolled out, we see it being a real success. So far, everyone’s on board and the tools are being used. The early positive adoption is a really good sign!”

Please get in touch to talk about this project in more detail.

The challenge

Encourage 15,000 colleagues around the world to talk with one voice.

What we did

Already established as a colleague magazine, The Globe brought the latest news and need-to-know information to Barclaycard colleagues. However, with low interaction and engagement rates we knew we could make it do more.

Collaborating with one of our design partners, we set out to transform The Globe into an irresistable read that would help colleagues, wherever they were in the world, feel proud to be part of a remarkable and progressive Barclaycard.

Spending time Story Shaping and Storylining with our client, we identify the subject matter for the year ahead and determined how each of the features should be treated. And making sure there are stories from all the different parts of the business keeps everyone feeling involved.

Reading how great your organisation is will always be more convincing when that opinion comes from somewhere else. So we recommended that the magazine should be written in a journalistic style from an independent viewpoint. And the investigative tone and edgier design differentiates it from a regular internal communication.

We design and break up the features with different types of reader in mind – those who have little time but still want to absorb the essential facts, and those who read it in more depth. From the editorial board meeting, issue planning and interviewing through to drafting, several levels of client review and final proofing, we make sure the content still cuts it for colleagues.

The triumph

The Globe is now read regularly by 60% of colleagues, with 96% of them preferring it following the relaunch and 92% recommending it to other colleagues. Recent readersurveys revealed that, through The Globe, they’re able to get a sense of what’s happening in other parts of the business, and are inspired to apply what other colleagues are doing to their own role.

Please get in touch to talk about this project in more detail.

The challenge

Direct 100s of marketers in 60 global locations to one approach of marketing. 

What we did

Addressing different marketplaces, while the organisation is going through significant change – isn’t that exactly when marketers will all need to be reading from the same page? It’s vital that their messages are unambiguous, compliant, and reliable.

So we created the MetLife Playbook. An easy-to-navigate tool that helped colleagues understand and act on the changes happening across the business. All 80 pages of it. The Playbook showed employees in 60 different global locations how their daily work fitted into the big picture and enabled them to speak clearly and coherently, with a single voice. Everything in sync – in simple language that was easy to understand.

First and foremost, we made sure the tone was upbeat and constructive. Direct. Clear. Human. This was a positive story and we were determined to help everyone at MetLife move forward together. We used persuasive language, encouraging hundreds of MetLife marketing professionals around the world to consider their roles in the same way.

The triumph

Since it was published on MetLife’s intranet, it’s been downloaded by hundreds of users and is proving to be the most popular MetLife tool from almost 100 available items.

And feedback from the project team: “Write the Talk’s approach of developing a narrative from large amounts of raw material was hugely effective. Their pitch of English was just right for an international audience – getting the balance right between simplicity and authenticity, and telling a story more than just relating the facts. The process was innovative for MetLife and we haven’t worked with any external agency more effectively!”

Please get in touch to talk about this project in more detail.

The challenge

Make 14,000 words of complex compliance engaging and easy-to-read.

What we did

The guidelines are needed to help employees understand what the company expects of them, to avoid jeopardising the AIA reputation.

First, we identified where the document’s problem areas were. The list was long. Working from wording that had already been translated meant the language was incorrect, inconsistent and difficult to understand. And the most important points were hidden in overcomplicated explanations and phrases.

Then, we went through the entire document, cleaning up typos, unnecessary wording and incorrect grammar. We added explanatory text to make points clearer, highlighted important information and pieced together sentences that didn’t make sense on their own. The layout was polished, long fact-listing sentences were turned into bullet points, and headings were made bold to make information easy to access.

The triumph

The guidelines are now engaging and, with fewer employees skim-reading, more regulations are learned. Our simplified version impressed and we were asked to do another. And another. And another…

Please get in touch to talk about this project in more detail.