3 1 0 2 X I R P D N A R FEIEA G S 13 CLAS E U S S I E L SING Z C . M ZNA
SE
f o n io t a c i h t un n m o m m e Co h c ta s u o m
2013
Communication of moustache month in 70 words
At Seznam, we are informal, and this is also our approach for charitable activities. Last year, we tried to actively link a moustache campaign with internal communications in order to appeal to Seznam’s employees to support Movember. We prepared the internal campaign ourselves with the budget we had and without any extra funding. We also took a DIY approach to bolster Seznam employees’ preference for engaging in charitable projects.
The goal was to collect more money but also to inspire colleagues from outside Prague to participate in an activity that would maintain the company’s position as a strong partner of the project and remind employees of all the important charity projects that Seznam.cz supports.
4+1 main goals of the internal campaign � � � � �
attract, by means of targeted internal communications, not only our colleagues from the headquarters in Prague but also from regional branches promote the collection of money for the treatment of prostate cancer in the Czech Republic keep internal communications interesting and original for the duration of the 30 days of “Movember” remind employees of Seznam’s charity programs possibly make use of the involvement of Seznam employees for external communication as well
Where we started
Description of phases and activities of the project
Movember in 2011
30 1
“”
employees participated in 2011 branch (headquarters) supported the Movember fundraising “That’s something at HQ again!” “Does it really help anybody?”
To někomu pomáhá?!
2011
The feedback we received from employees in 2011 suggested that the charity projects seemed too local, focusing only on Prague, and the nature of the project wasn’t sufficiently explained. In 2011, we also saw Seznam employees’ interest in the project decline during the 30-day period. We endeavoured to learn the lessons from last year’s experience.
Movember is one of seven major charitable projects that Seznam.cz supports, and last year we were looking for ways to get this information out to those colleagues who do not work at the Prague headquarters. That is why we tried to create a communications campaign that would appeal to all our colleagues across the country. We also had to explain that our cooperation with Movember is not something out of the blue but rather an activity that is supported by Seznam in the long run.
In the budget for internal communication, there was no special item in support of Movember. We therefore had to prepare the campaign in such a way that nothing was expensive, while we tried to use the normal channels of internal communication (intranet, a weekly e-mail with a news summary, LCD screens, company magazine, posters WC, Sblog, video news) to better relate and connect it with communication of the Movember fundraising. We created the communication campaign in-house, including the graphic design of the T-shirts and websites. The Young Lions made our banners in support of Movember participants, which also greatly reduced the cost of the campaign. The nexus of an intense campaign is the timing. The activities were dosed out gradually throughout the month, and we also came up with a communications strategy that could be of interest to our colleagues in the regional offices.
Support us across the country!
Limited-edition T-shirts for Seznam employees We wanted to use our website (www.seznam.cz/Movember) to show employees that their support is important for Movember. Internal Communications and PR joined forces by generating the content of the Fundraising tab, and we spread the news about how Seznam supports the moustache-related activities.
E-mail signature
Onas.seznam.cz
Movember je tady! Za podpory Mo Sester získávají Mo Bráchové další přívržence a také finanční prostředky na boj s rakovinou prostaty.
For Movember, we adjusted signatures in intra-company e-mails. Throughout November, all employees were referred to our project site.
On the home page, a tab with the company’s charity activities also contained up-to-date information about the progress of the fundraising. Furthermore, visitors to the site who were seeking information about Movember could easily find out more about Seznam’s other charity projects by glancing at the navigation panel.
Limited-edition T-shirts designed by our Seznam designers probably raised interest the most and helped us to overcome the perception of Movember as a “Prague-centric” project. We therefore sent the shirts to our 11 branches across the country throughout the month. The price per shirt was not fixed beforehand; we only asked for a contribution of more than 100 CZK. This method was very helpful to us, as the average amount paid per shirt climbed to 220 CZK. In total, we managed to sell T-shirts to collect nearly 30,000 CZK.
In order to distribute T-shirts without spending excessively on transport, we asked for the cooperation of our dealers and technicians who often go on business trips throughout the country. This cooperation proved very useful and brought about an unexpected effect: “Carriers” have become informal spokesmen of the project and have helped us explain the principles of the fundraising to the various branches.
Banner campaign
What do I need to show
Moustache “terror” on Neznám and LCD screens
for you to take us seriously?
Use your moustache to support the fight against prostate cancer.
We already started thinking about Movember at the beginning of last year. In 2012, Seznam.cz was a partner in the Cyber category competition for young creative artists, Young Lions. That is why contestants were asked to create a banner just for the Movember charity project. The banners that were created were actively used in November on the company website, Seznam.cz.
Mo-song début for Seznam employees
Last year, the fundraising was accompanied for the first time by a song. Eddie Stoilow, Orion and Erika Fečava group of Navigators filled our Movember music staff. Seznam employees could also play the “Movember Love” music video in advance on our Mixér.cz service. In other words, even before the song was officially launched on the radio and on music TV.
Article on Neznám (corporate intranet)
Not a single week in November passed when Seznam employees were not hearing something about Movember. For some, it may have smacked of communication terrorism — especially on Neznám (the corporate intranet). Every week, we mentioned Movember in Friday‘s weekly survey of news at Seznam. We created special reports and small pieces of news. We deliberately intensified the moustache message, particularly in the middle of the month, when Seznam employees get their paycheck. At that time, we also saw the most financial contributions to the Movember collection account. We published news summaries, as well as the ongoing status of the fundraising, on our LCD screens, with broadcasts reaching all branches of Seznam.
Internal competition
Video news
In the middle of November, we launched a photo competition that would promote renewed interest in Movember. Seznam employees were invited to take a picture of themselves with a moustache that wasn’t theirs. For this, we would reward them with a VIP ticket to the final Movember Gala Party hosted by the SaSazu club. Organising creative competitions at Seznam always pays off, and this time was no different: We received more than 30 photos from our employees. The most original photos for the competition
Seznam supported Movember in our video-news broadcast, which enriched the weekly summary of news from Seznam. In the broadcast, we summarised the progress of the project, and among other things we announced an internal competition for the best Borat moustache (see sample).
Final gala party All Seznam employees who contributed more than 1000 CZK to the Movember account automatically received tickets to the final Gala Party at the SaSazu club (see poster) for free. Originally, we had wanted to give away more tickets in a contest, but in the end we decided to try an auction. We set a minimum amount of 50 CZK, but on average we sold the tickets for around 150 CZK. This money helped to increase the final amount Seznam.cz sent to the Movember account.
Gratitude and more support for Movember We thanked employees for their support in many different ways – on Neznám and the LCD screens in video news, as well as in the corporate magazine Bajt (left). We sent the official Movember calendar to all Seznam branches as a thank you for their financial support of the project (center). In December, we launched a new feature in the company’s benefit program. “Cafeteria” is a flexible program, under which employees are awarded Seznam points for the calendar year. These points can be withdrawn according to an employee’s interests from the company’s selection of benefits. Since mid-December, Seznam employees could donate a portion of their points to any of our seven major charity partners (below).
Measurable results and evaluation of the benefits 145 000 CZK 2nd place
amount Seznam collected from employees for Movember amount collected was the second-highest in the Czech Republic
(see table below)
80 % of Seznam branches (11) participated in the Movember activities 50 % of top management grew a moustache 20 % of all employees donated money to the Movember fundraising 30 - 50% readership of articles on the intranet with a Movember theme 50% viewership on video news with a Movember theme (510 views)
55 000 CZK
One of the objectives of Movember was also to spread awareness about all of the major charitable projects among Seznam employees. In December, we introduced the aforementioned opportunity to donate benefit points to a charity. During the first three months after the launch, staff sent over 55 000 CZK. Seznam employees could use these points (one point equals 1 CZK) for themselves. We believe that such generosity and participation in charitable projects is rather exceptional among Czech companies. We have decided to continue this initiative this year.
Value for money and benefits
As mentioned in the introduction, we created the campaign in-house, most of the activities during office hours and within the framework of the normal budget. We designed the microsite ourselves and put it on our own website and got the tickets for the final gala party for free. Therefore, the only direct cost to us was the production of the T-shirts. And for that, we got 200 000 CZK (145 000 + 55 000 CZK) in return for a charity. That is certainly worth it!
Drawing a line under it
Some of our colleagues enjoyed working together with Movember so much that they supported moustache-style fundraising on their own in external communications with the media. That was the case, for example, with Kamil Veselý, account manager of key clients, in an interview with the weekly Marketing & Media.
Tomáš Novotný with graphic designers Jozef Vereš a Kristýna Kvapilová tomas.novotny@firma.seznam.cz +420 702 098 195