Action

First, the CIO’s immediate team and Excerra analyzed and discussed the CIO’s new service restructuring map which accommodated recent acquisitions of services businesses and interviewed 16 of the company’s most senior leaders across product and service businesses. Next, Excerra analyzed the strategic messaging of 14 competitors in various service-related markets and, informed by both internal and external perspectives, drafted a high-level Strategic Communications Blueprint that redefined core communications elements, key themes and principles, and messaging for the $3 billion subsidiary and its primary operating divisions. After the CIO approved the Blueprint, Excerra piloted the new communications strategy to life with an innovative, 18-component sales and marketing campaign that included brochures, case studies, custom graphics and an internal presentation deck.

Impact

The CIO used this Blueprint to educate, inform and inspire other executives – and to champion the need to adhere to more consistent and strategic communications messaging across the enterprise. One of these executives, whose support was critical to this change initiative, called the Blueprint the “highest-quality internal company report” he had reviewed in his career with the company. A year or so later, the CIO was promoted to a new leadership position over a book of business larger than most companies – including five divisions. His head of communications reached out. “Got any bandwidth?” she asked. “We need a Blueprint for each one of these divisions.”