The Brief
As a huge global organisation, International Paper always needs new and innovative ways of communicating with its staff across the world. With the ever declining state of the global economy, communication within companies is more important than ever. We were asked to develop a cost effective communications solution for International Paper.
The Solution
With the advent of the credit crunch, Dave Higgins, the Head of Communications for International Paper in Europe, the Middle East and Asia invited us to help to improve communications with its staff within his region. He felt that in troubled times such as these, improved communication is key to efficiency and keeping staff morale high. Ultimately, these are two primary factors in ensuring that a business hits its targets.
He wanted an intuitive solution to improving communications. A main consideration was the fact that because EMEA covers such a vast region, there were a number of languages to consider.
Working with International Paper, we developed the concept of International Paper TV - or IPTV. This is a dedicated video broadcasting website, which the user can access through the International Paper intranet. Here, they are presented with a series of videos in an ITunes-style carousel interface, which we created using Flash. The user can view the videos with subtitles in six different languages.
We were commissioned to produce various videos for IPTV. These videos cover topics such as the 'IP EMEA 2007 Successes', a documentary video on box production entitled 'Box Rocks', and a detailed guide to using International paper's 'EU Issue Tracker' software. We have also now created a series of interviews with key decision makers within the organisation.
The site has proved to be cost effective and a great Return on Investment. Previously, International Paper had to either communicate using conference calls, cd-roms and/or brochures, which had to be printed in different languages. Through IPTV, we can bring the leaders directly to the staff, opening up communication throughout the business.
Throughout 2009 we will be developing a lot more content for IPTV as it evolves.
Dave HigginsIn challenging and harsh economic climates business leaders need to over communicate with their people. Employees need to be informed to stay engaged. The challenge for any Communications Department rests in doing this in a compelling and financially acceptable way. Digital Marmalade helped us launch IPTV a low cost highly effective way to continue telling the corporate story internally to our people. They offered the full suite of services from URL registration, hosting, filming, editing and packaging. Thanks to their creativity and tenacity we have a world class communications channel and a more engaged workforce.
Communications Director EMEA,