The client
GEA Process Engineering is a division of the GEA Group, headquartered in Germany. The division is represented in more than 50 countries and has approximately 4500 employees. Denmark serves as the headquarters for the GEA Process Engineering’s marketing and HR activities. GEA is one of the leading stock-listed industrial groups in Germany.
GEA Process Engineering develops, designs and sells production plants for the dairy, brewery, food, pharmaceutical and chemical industries and is the world leader in process engineering within these industries.
Insight
The marketing and HR headquarters for GEA Process Engineering are based in Denmark. To avoid the “Not Invented Here” syndrome, the creative solution could not come across as headquarter diktats.
Employees are spread geographically, but have to pull in the same direction. And vision and values can’t be empty talk or management promises – actual deeds must illustrate the words.
Idea
A graphic novel approach was used. The campaign is built on a cast of comic strip characters whose real-life adventures demonstrate what the division’s values mean in practice and appeared in comic strips in employee newsletters and posters.
The campaign uses an internal medium so unusually it’s impossible not to notice. Real-life examples provide universal credibility. Situations aren’t sugar-coated – sometimes things do go wrong. But at all times “The Pro-Team” lives out company values.
Objectives of the campaign
There objective were:
- Communicate the corporate values in an engaging, understandable way
- Contextualise the values to be specifi c and relevant for GEA Process Engineering
- Use a channel that exposes employees to these values on an ongoing basis
Strategy
The challenge
Because GEA Process Engineering is made up of so many different companies located in so many different countries, a common sense of vision and values is critical to business success. Yet GEA Process Engineering had the feeling that its employees (primarily made up of engineers) perceived its vision and values – if they were even aware of their existence – as “typical corporate fluff,” devoid of any real relevance to their daily working life. Management knew employees had little faith in fancy speeches or management promises, yet it was necessary to fi nd some way to tie the company together
behind the vision and values. Actual deeds were key, rather than mere words. But how to communicate the vision and values in a credible, attention-getting manner?
The solution
CBC took an original graphic novel approach. Having worked with GEA Process Engineering for years, we knew comics strongly appealed to the inner-geek within engineers.
The campaign conveys the rather general, abstract vision and values through a series of “adventures” faced by a group of “superheroes” called the Pro-Team. The Pro-Team’s adventures, featured in a comic strip in the quarterly employee newsletter and in posters in employee canteens, demonstrate how the division’s vision and values are there to help employees make the right choices every single day.
Authenticity was key to making the vision and values tangible and relevant. All adventures are based on real-life situations and embody GEA Process Engineering’s vision and values without being too heavily corporate. They do so in a way that is so unusual that it’s simply impossible to ignore. And there is no sugar coating to these superheroes – sometimes things do go wrong. But at all times the Pro-Team adheres to the division’s values.
Published on a regular basis – online, every quarter – ensures continuing focus. Real situations and correct terminology get through the engineering target audience’s natural scepticism. And because the episodes stimulate discussion with colleagues, they make the vision and values part of daily work.
The creative idea
The Pro-Team is a cast of fi ctional, comic strip characters based on the fi ve typical types of GEA Process Engineering employees: the team leader, technologist, project coordinator, site engineer and technician. These characters remind employees of the division’s vision and values on a regular basis, and their ongoing adventures help employees better understand what the guidelines mean in practice. Each comic strip adventure tackles situations that actually have happened in GEA Process Engineering’s real working life.
And each adventure is put in the context of one of the five values: customer focus, excellence, reliability, teamwork and respect.
Target audience
The campaign was designed to appeal to the engineer. With their logical, literal and keenly perceptive minds, engineers are generally quick to detect the slightest bit of corporate fluff. Yet a mischievous side typically renders them susceptible to the charms of the quirky – when it’s based on facts, mind you. The Pro-Team had to appeal to 4,500 of these types spread across 50+ nations.
Media, channels and techniques used
“Broadsheet,” GEA Process Engineering’s online employee newsletter, was selected as the most appropriate bearer of the message. Because the newsletter is published every quarter, it ensures ongoing focus on the values. And because it is the only regular communication to all employees in the 50 different countries, it was a natural, cost-effective choice. The online medium also gives the opportunity to track readership and, if desired, even incorporate animated, Flash-based adventures in the future.
The initial Pro-Team adventure featured two pages of introductory material, including an “endorsement” by the division president, followed by the two-page story. Thereafter, each issue of the newsletter features a two-page adventure. Posters were also placed in employee canteens shortly before the debut of the first comic strip adventure in Broadsheet to generate interest in the topic and create buzz. The posters remain as a daily reminder of how employees should live GEA Process Engineering’s values every day.
Timescales of the campaign
The first Pro-Team adventure debuted in December 2009. Since then, the March issue featured an episode, and a third comic strip is currently in production.
The client picks a story and briefs the agency copywriter; the copywriter writes the script with “stage directions,” which are reviewed by the art director (info is generalized enough to make sure no customers are offended); the client reviews the script; and once the script is approved, the art director does the illustration.
Budgets
The creative development budget (excluding media, execution and production) was GBP
11,163. Each subsequent story line and comic strip is produced for GBP 7,000.
Results
Early figures show that the Pro-Team has proved to be among the most read stories within the Broadsheet newsletter. However, a detailed reader survey is expected during Autumn 2010.
Client testimonial
“The internal Pro-Team campaign CBC developed was very original and we were unsure whether we to move in this direction at first. But the response has vindicated our decision to move ahead. Everyone has noticed the comic strips and we’ve had lots of great feedback. People can really relate to the characters and the scenarios discussed. This is just what we were hoping for.”
Henrik Bertelsen, international marketing manager, GEA Process Engineering
