Situation
EMC Insurance Companies is one of the largest property and casualty companies in the country with more than 2,100 employees and assets of nearly $3 billion. EMC knows the most important market is the internal audience. After all, if employees don’t buy into your marketing messages how do you expect your customers to? That was the basic philosophy behind a campaign developed to launch the COUNT ON EMC brand to employees months before it was exposed to the public.
Solution
Elements of the internal program included The Brand Implementation Group (BIG) Thinkers — a cross-functional group of EMC employees representing each major department within the organization. Facilitated by the agency, this group met on a weekly basis to discuss the COUNT ON EMC position and suggest ways in which people in their areas could internalize the brand. The BIG Thinkers also developed metrics to monitor changes in employee behavior and attitudes as it related to the brand.
The program also included a teaser campaign, all employee meeting, a “Count On EMC billboard signed by all the employees, promotional materials for all employees and a phone message contest.
Results
The development of the COUNT ON EMC brand was an important milestone for a company that had done little internal or consumer-focused marketing at the time.
Although the company credits the COUNT ON EMC campaign for increasing awareness and building stronger relationships with agents, it was the internal campaign that really made the world of difference in spreading a message that is a relevant and believable for all stakeholders, including employees.