The changing landscape

There’s no need to tell HR departments that internal communications has been the poor relation of the marketing family. Advertising seems to eat up the big budgets, the most talented creatives and the focus of senior management.

However, most businesses now understand the vital importance of a dialogue with the people who actually have to deliver the brand promises to customers – their own workforce.

Creating great internal communications enhances talent attraction and retention, improves strategy, performance, and ultimately the external customer experience.

Duke is an award winning digital marketing agency with expertise in film, animation, branding, motion graphics, digital implementation and delivery. Among our satisfied clients for internal communications we count Dell, Nike, Discovery, Symbian, EA Interactive, Fiat and ITV.

Why use rich media?

The main advantage of using video and other rich media to communicate is that the medium is far more likely to gain employees’ attention. Improved technology means that costs of film production are now far lower, and distribution via webcast or a dedicated micro site means that everyone can receive the message at the same time.

•    Creative possibilities available under tight budgets have expanded to include contemporary animation and graphic techniques, allowing companies to create genuinely exciting internal communication – even to set up their own corporate TV channel online.

•    There are many applications – the film could be a short piece with images, music and animation for a product launch (such as EA Vision), a conference (such as Symbian’s keynote address presentation for the Smart Phone Show), or a record of the event for those who couldn’t attend. Alternatively it might be a mini-documentary featuring some punchy interviews and statistics to kick off a training course. A new product, a change in strategy, or corporate news can all be powerfully explained by film (our work with Nike’s series of internal digital marketing awareness films and Fiat’s positioning piece on the Fiat 500 Channel Five sponsorship shows this to good effect).

Budget constraints

With modern technology there is no need to shoot with enormously expensive equipment. Costs may be lower than you think – simplicity and preparation are the keys to keeping costs down.

Letting your own staff speak is cheaper, and often more authentic than using external actors. If you need a professional voice over for instructive or character based executions, consider the tone and effect you are trying to achieve in advance (Dell’s animated mobile training video demonstrates a straight-talking animated piece).

Location and logistics

If you are using an office-based location, try to film in one day and in one place. Get all the necessary permissions internally and make sure that the location is suitable – is electricity accessible? Is there an intrusive humming from lights, excessive crowd noise, etc.?

Explore the possibilities of using a studio; you may achieve a slicker look for the same spend. (Nuffield Health’s internal positioning piece is a good example). There are obvious logistical problems with dragging senior staff out-of-office but control may be easier, as will post-production. Ensure that contributors and interviewees are well prepared for the shoot.

Responsibility for Internal Communication is often fragmented, with the CEO, HR, department heads and Marketing all sharing the role. When directors want a say it is complicated by the fact that they are often the subjects of the film – but confusion over sign-off is a recipe for failure and expense.

•    7 Ideas for internal Digital Communication

•    Always take your organization’s culture and technological ability into account when selecting communication vehicles. Have you considered the following seven ideas

1. Rich Media Micro Sites

Micro sites are an ideal way to quickly and inexpensively house corporate video; both idea intensive and message specific – perfect for standalone internal communications. To support the rich media on the site, we can position related text information and links around the video content.

Duke can deliver complete tactical messaging solutions, including content, build and integration, fast.

2. Intranet / Internal networks

We can provide internal networks based either on server based options or online “cloud computing” solutions.  A social network not only enables interaction but also allows you to deliver hosted applications (such as video conferencing or remote file sharing), to your workforce on demand. Duke can provide a sophisticated network without the cost of an enterprise standard solution and infrastructure.

Duke’s aesthetic excellence, combined with our deep digital design expertise, produces a front end that is both engaging and interactive, creating user friendly online spaces which employees will want to visit and use as part of their daily workflow.

3. SMS and MMS Communication

We can deliver SMS, video messaging and WAP pushes, enabling you to communicate instantaneously with the workforce. Mobile applications are particularly suitable for organizations with remote workforces, or where speed of communication is of particular importance.

4. Widgets and Desktop Applications

Duke can create any type of branded desktop application to keep corporate messaging front of mind, or to amuse or motivate workforces. Examples might include a desktop calculator in corporate livery and logo, or a screensaver that offers a motivational quote daily, or an animation of the Head of Sales exhorting teams to book appointments, or more prosaically – an application that updates the company intranet with news, diaries or blogs.

5. Branded Internal Message Delivery

Why not deliver an engaging digital message by hand? Duke can package any digital communication and deliver it on bespoke, branded USB products, in almost any form you require. How about delivering a USB Egg in order to hatch a great idea? Swallowing a USB pill of knowledge? Kicking around a USB football containing fresh ideas?

6. Live Digital Broadcast

It’s always more exciting to watch events as they happen. If employees can’t attend a conference or product launch, why not broadcast live video to website or intranet? Duke can create live online events for you with a minimum of effort, and engage your audience through a variety of interactive features.

7. Games and Learning

Learning through play is always more effective. Duke can create branded puzzles, games and interactive competitions to educate and engage employees. For example, it may be better to teach recruits about accounting procedures in a virtual puzzle, than make resource-expensive mistakes in the real world.

If you’d like to discuss any of the ideas in this piece further, please call Joe Rider at Duke & Earl on 0207 580 7070 or email joe@dukeandearl.com