Case Studies

We can become an extension of your team. Outsource either part of or an entire project to us or invite us to help on some of your day-to-day activities. Think of us as an extra pair of hands. Below are examples of how we have helped businesses.

CASE STUDY: Change management internal communications across a global network

CHALLENGE: One of the world’s largest mining companies was journeying through organisational change and internal communications resources were stretched.

SOLUTION: This Fortune 500 company engaged Forward Communications to run an internal communications change management program, which involved producing a range of written and visual content for the globally networked organisation’s intranet, Yammer, e-newsletters and other communication channels. During this process, Forward Communications worked in a truly “global” way, interacting via WebEx video or audio with offices in Shanghai, London, Montreal, Singapore, Chicago, Perth and Brisbane. Forward Communications resources regularly worked from the Brisbane office, but also travelled to Perth and Montreal to attend stakeholder engagement workshops. Initially, Forward Communications was engaged for just a six-week period, but the contract was renewed three times to bring it to a 12-month term. Throughout this time, the scope and projects awarded to Forward Communications extended also.

RESULT:

Forward Communications developed a range of strategic communication materials to communicate the change including a communications cascade, FAQs, slide decks, video and “town hall” scripts for executives, people profiles and feature stories
Forward Communications rebranded an internal function to better reflect the organisation’s change; this included a new name, a new SharePoint intranet site, a series of feature stories and case studies, photography briefs and a Yammer activation strategy. The result was an elevated awareness of this internal function and uptake of its services
For another function, Forward Communications developed a manifesto, fact sheets, case studies, feature stories, people profiles and other collateral to heighten its internal reputation.

CASE STUDY: From start-up to the big (vegan) cheese

CHALLENGE: This start-up had a great product it had worked three years perfecting, but it needed to get its brand out there quickly to capitalise on its “early to market” position.

SOLUTION: Greer and her team initially put together a 90-day communications plan, which was kicked off with a branding workshop where we established key messages and values. Due to the outstanding success of the campaign, the company opted to continue to engage Forward Communications beyond this period. As part of a holistic communications approach, we developed a slide deck to pitch to retailers and export markets, regular media releases, blog content, a monthly EDM and produced a styled photoshoot.

RESULTS:

Extensive and continuous earned local and national media coverage across TV, radio, print, online and industry publications
The cleverly and beautifully styled photoshoot led to large-scale photographs published in magazines, newspapers and government publications
Within the first year of engaging Forward Communications, the company achieved distribution in 900+ retail outlets in Australia and began exporting to six countries
Forward Communications assisted with an award submission, which resulted in the company winning the “Emerging Business” category
The media coverage and EDMs have provided ongoing “touch points” for the company to interact with prospective retailers and have even led to retailers and food manufacturers making direct inquiries
The multiple pieces of earned media coverage have been re-shared through the company’s social media channels.

CASE STUDY: Tailored training, mentoring + overflow

CHALLENGE: This government department’s busy communications team had been through several waves of change. They came from diverse backgrounds and some had experienced different managers, so each team member had their own way of doing things. There was a lack of consistency in strategy and style. In particular, the team had various levels of skills and experience when it came to writing. The new manager needed to get everyone on the same page, but in a way that engaged, inspired and re-set the team’s culture.

SOLUTION: Forward Communications’ role with this particular Victorian Government department began with an invitation to conduct a tailored “newswriting” training workshop for its internal communications team. This initial workshop then led to ongoing team mentoring and copywriting for this department, but has also resulted in communications/marketing consultancy with two other departments. Given change is the only constant in today’s workplace, the workshop with Forward Communications has become somewhat of a tradition for this manager and she has invited Greer back for three consecutive years.

RESULTS:

A more competent team that is able to produce news stories and case studies for their internal communication (electronic and print) purposes while aligning to the organisation’s corporate strategy and a consistent style
Greer has become a resource the team can call on for advice, editing or content creation during busy or transitional times

Other projects:

Annual report and corporate plan editing/writing
Writing of “thought leadership” paper following a round table discussion involving industry experts, government departments and academics about the role the organisation should play around sustainability.

CHALLENGE: This internal corporate affairs and marketing department was already stretched when it came to resources, so there was a major hurdle when it came to producing content for an quarterly magazine. The department had an incumbent graphic designer to undertake the magazine’s layout, but needed a resource to produce content. Given the complex and intellectual nature of the content covered, they needed a resource familiar with the medical world. The magazine was distributed to industry professionals with the aim of demonstrating how the University contributes to the medical landscape. All stories developed for the magazine were then repurposed for use on social media, the Health Group’s website and media releases.

SOLUTION: The university engaged Forward Communications and its specialist medical writers. Forward Communications conducted interviews, drafted stories, coordinated approvals, sourced photos (or briefed photographers) and wrote notes from the editor for each edition.

RESULT: Content was developed directly alongside the university executives, academics and extended communications’ team on a monthly basis. This content was re-purposed through social media channels, while the best-of-the-best was featured in the quarterly magazine, freeing up the in-house team to focus on other tasks.

CASE STUDY: A beautifully nimble PR campaign

CHALLENGE: This global beauty business consisted of a tiny agile team that aimed to play big on the international retail stage, but lacked the resources of its competing multinational heavyweights.

SOLUTION: Forward Communications developed and executed a public relations campaign that ensured all earned media coverage was integrated across the business’ various communication channels including social media, blogs, e-newsletters and nurture-sequenced EDMs. We worked with a graphic designer to develop professional slide decks that the team pitched to international retailers. To keep the business newsworthy and credible, we also identified and applied for multiple awards. As this dynamic team was so tiny and lacked substantial mentors, we also provided mentoring to team members and media training to the company’s Founder.

RESULT: Forward Communications secured multiple TV, radio, print and online earned media placements, including the front page of a major metropolitan newspaper, which resulted in so many website visits that the site temporarily crashed. Other achievements:

This beauty ninja became one of just three Aussie brands to land full distribution in Nordstrom – a US department chain that despite tough economic times recently boasted a 110 per cent growth
The business also successfully won the following awards: Gold Coast Women in Business “Business Achiever Awards”, Finalist for the Gold Coast Young Entrepreneur Awards, Finalist for Brisbane Lord Mayor Awards “Young Entrepreneur of the Year”, Finalist for Stevie Awards “Female Entrepreneur Asia Pacific” and BRW Fast Starters. Each award provided fodder for Forward Communications to achieve additional media coverage.
The public success resulted in the company becoming a business of interest to multiple investors as well as leading to SBS approaching the founder to participate in an experiential documentary.

CASE STUDY: Clearing out mixed messages to form ‘one truth’

CHALLENGE: There had been various “changes of the guards” for this national retailer and as a result its core strategy existed in multiple forms.

SOLUTION: Rather than independently develop a new strategy to further confuse, Forward Communications worked with the retailer’s internal communications team to design and facilitate a strategy day called the “Story Articulation Day” for the chief executive officer (CEO) and his executive team with the goal of defining common goals. Core communications team members were invited to develop a graphic that best depicted the strategy and these were then voted on.

RESULT: Practical in applications, the day was followed up with the production of a professionally designed graphic communicating the organisation’s core four values, which were then backed up with case studies reflecting how the organisation was reflecting these values. As all stakeholders were involved in the process, we achieved “buy-in”, which allowed the retailer move forward with one truth.

CASE STUDY: Annual report delivered

CHALLENGE: A major government transport authority company needed to produce and manage its Annual Report. Each year, it was a task the company staff seemed to dread, as there was no process in place. The in-house team needed somebody who could get their head around a massive organisation really quickly and write the annual report, but were short of resources.

SOLUTION: Forward Communications worked with the team to put together a process plan and timeline, which dynamically changed and improved as we wrote, produced and distributed the Annual Report.

RESULT: The Report met all statutory compliances, and in subsequent years, the process plan and timeline proved a valuable foundation on which to build. It was a huge peace of mind for the organisation.

CASE STUDY: Grassroots media campaign for sell-out success

CHALLENGE: A busy and highly dynamic in-house corporate affairs team needed someone who they could rely on to run a large-scale rural and regional media campaign who could hit the ground running and deliver results. They didn’t want the complication of hiring someone and the extra work/supervision that would require. They wanted someone they could turn on, off or up as required.

SOLUTION: Forward Communications was hired for 10 hours per week to run a regional and rural program across four states (Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia). The service was ‘turned off’ during non-strategically critical times and ramped up to maximum capacity during peak communication periods. The program involved seeking out strong stories based around shareholders, local franchise owners and regional factories and facilities. These stories were approved with few changes and pitched to local media. Greer was called upon for assistance at all levels, including those of a highly strategic nature – a testament to the trust the client had developed in her.

RESULT: Within the first year of contracting Forward Communications’ services media exposure increased by an astounding 67 per cent. The overarching aim of this campaign was to maximise the perceived value of the business and ultimately its sale price. This culminated in an offer at A$5.65 per share in cash, which was a multiple of 12.8 times fiscal year earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation – a record for a business within this industry.

CASE STUDY: Making newsletters quick and easy

CHALLENGE: This Fast Moving Consumer Good (FMCG) company featured a small and extremely busy corporate affairs team. A hiring freeze meant a desperately needed internal newsletter could not be properly staffed.

SOLUTION: Working to a set budget, we did all the interviewing, copywriting and photo requests and submitted an agreed number of stories on a fortnightly basis, which were then used to produce the e-newsletter. To increase ownership/engagement among staff relating to their roles in advancing the business’ direction, each story was linked to one of the business’ strategic objectives.

RESULT: A potentially time consuming process was made quick and easy. Web insights proved the publication’s success. As a testament to the positive response generated internally from the new publication, the Sales Department then commissioned Forward Communications to produce an informative, insight-filled, customer-focused external newsletter.

CASE STUDY: University with style

CHALLENGE: This busy centre at an Australian university needed a document edited and brought up to a consistent style.

SOLUTION: Forward Communications developed a style guide specifically for this publication and followed this style through. This style guide could then be used as a reference for future issues.

RESULT: The publication was polished and ready to be printed and distributed worldwide.

CASE STUDY: Keeping FMCG social media fresh

CHALLENGE: This Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG) company needed a more interactive and streamlined way in which to interact with its customers.

SOLUTION: Forward Communications set up a Facebook page with a series of pre-prepared interesting ‘how to’ style posts that could be interspersed between new product announcements/other company news. We also collected images wherever we could that to be used to make posts stand out.

RESULT: The Facebook page quickly gained a large following and has helped centralise company inquiries. It’s also a ready-made platform to share testimonials, latest TVCs and helpful hints.

CASE STUDY: Quit reinventing the wheel

CHALLENGE: This franchisor needed to provide franchisees with streamlined communication tools that maintained professional branding.

SOLUTION: We put together a style guide and communications package that was both manageable and affordable for each franchisee to purchase. The package included newsletter options, integrated web strategies and media liaison protocols.

RESULT: The franchisor’s brand is even more valuable because it’s now more solid and widely recognised.