Steeple for inner cohesion

Quick passes, precise passes through many stations: In soccer, big teams like FC Barcelona celebrate this style of play. An ideal image for aligning employees with the new goals and processes in the company, thought the management of Wander AG (Neuenegg), the producer of traditional Swiss brands such as Ovomaltine, Caotina or Isostar.

GL strategy made understandable

Wander developed a change management program that was to be presented at an employee event in FC Thun's new stadium and sustainably anchored with an accompanying employee magazine. No easy task; to complete it with a "goal" requires efficient cooperation between all the "players": the event team, the management, but also the Infel agency, which learned the first details of the strategy at a kickoff meeting at the end of July 2011, which was to be translated into exciting, comprehensible stories in the shortest possible time - within a week of the event, every employee was to have a booklet in their hands that would anchor the management's core messages in their minds for the long term. A stand-alone issue or a special edition of the existing employee magazine that Infel has been producing for years and whose content is normally largely the responsibility of an internal editorial committee? Clearly the latter:

The new strategy was not to be communicated from "on high," but harmoniously integrated into the existing magazine. Within a few days, the Wander managers received a content concept and a page plan. The special issue was to be devoted entirely to the topic of soccer and GL's strategy. Attractive, exciting, clear and unambiguous. No dry managerial German, entirely dedicated to the spirit of cohesion between the various departments, from production to accounting. Bottom-up communication in the pleasing dress of previous "Unter uns" editions. For the special edition, Infel also took over the copywriting and editing of the stories: The arc spans the baking recipe of a success cake, notes from the world of soccer, an interview with FC Thun coach Bernard Challendes on the similarities between soccer and the company; added to this are an affectionate portrait of two hardcore soccer fans who work at Wander, an interview with striker legend Stéphane Chapuisat and a multi-page photo album with pictures of the employee event at the soccer stadium. But the centerpiece of the booklet - on a three-page fold-out - is clear, brief statements by the members of the management team on the new strategy. On a full page, seven icons developed by Infel present the new basic rules simply and concisely - accompanied by a text that fills the rules formulated by the GL with content.

A short time window for production

The production of the magazine immediately followed the staff event, which took place on a Friday. By midday on Saturday, the photographers had already delivered around 3,000 images, from which a selection for the magazine had to be made in a short space of time. There was a time window of three days for the design, image processing (around 200 images) and final text production - because the employees were supposed to find the magazine in their mail a week after the event at the latest. The client was completely satisfied, not only because all deadlines and milestones were met: "Infel implemented our specifications as requested and with foresight," says Franziska Schuler, who is responsible for internal communications at Wander. As a result, she says, the effort on their side remained low. "The agency knows us very well." You could put it another way: The agency and its client understand each other blindly - like soccer players who win matches efficiently. And like Wander employees, who now work together even more successfully. Bruno Habegger

Information:
Infel AG
Andy Schärer
[email protected]