Internal Communications Content Strategy

01 — The Situation

COVID had shut down the world. Cognizant’s teams — demonstrating the entrepreneurial spirit that made us a top technology provider — were finding creative solutions to keep our clients’ businesses running while navigating the impact of a global lockdown on their personal lives. The clients were emailing us their heartfelt appreciation.

Our Chief Marketing Officer asked me to turn these emails into internal stories that would energize employees.

And he wanted one every day.

02 — The Strategy & Process

I wrote the sample below for this campaign, which I owned from start to finish. Strategically, I saw that while the tech solution was important, the real-world impact, employee teamwork and client appreciation were most important, and I focused the storytelling there. 

I built a simple intake form and a story template so our overtaxed, overtired client partners could easily give me valuable details that I could quickly turn into engaging, easy-to-digest stories. I recruited colleagues to write and edit while building an assembly line production process so we could easily ensure accurate, clean content in line with Cognizant’s voice and client confidentiality.

I also partnered with our web team to create a visually attractive “client quote wall” intranet page to drive additional engagement.

03 — The Results

The content surpassed our performance benchmarks because it highlighted the real-world outcomes of our work and advanced our overall narrative.

Most satisfying of all, social media, web and sales teams used the stories as case studies to further strengthen brand awareness and the sales pipeline. 

Plus, we hit our CMO’s goal of a story a day for nearly a month.

04 — The Story Example

Headline: “Where Did We Park the Airplane?”

Body copy with subheads:

“Okay, everybody, remember where we parked!”

Airport parking can be a nightmare. What if, instead of your car, you need to know where hundreds of aircraft were parked and where there was available space? You can’t exactly circle the lot until you find a spot!

With COVID-19 bringing a halt to many flights, our client, a major U.S. airline, had to park hundreds of airplanes, and they needed to keep track of where they put each one. That’s when our team stepped in, building a parking app for the client in just a few days.

“Where are the planes?”

Under normal circumstances, the hangar or gate where a plane is located is reported when it is parked. With our client grounding most of their fleet as a result of the pandemic, however, planes were being parked wherever they could find space, often in places that were not registered in the system. Our client needed to be able to identify and track parking spots in an area next to the runways without designated spaces.

We were able to design, develop and release an app in just five days to help our client track its planes. Leveraging a map view, the app has reduced the time it takes to locate planes and available spaces and increased the accuracy of overnight station reports. It also enables the client to sync the data with central systems in real time.

“We had to use our imagination”

With very little information to go on, no opportunity to train users, and only days to deliver a solution, our development team had to use their imaginations to design something that was self-explanatory and easy to use. They were further challenged by the fact that the app had to be accessible on mobile devices without introducing any new technology.

Our client’s team members made themselves available around the clock, often participating in late-night calls. Having everyone come together like that, at all hours of the day and night, inspired our team to persevere and go the extra mile.

“A friend in need is a friend indeed”

<Paragraph of the project leader celebrating the employees involved in the project, by name and contribution, removed for confidentiality.>

He added: "Always follow the proverb, 'A friend in need is a friend indeed.' Support each other and our clients as much as you can and go the extra mile. It builds trust, and it’s a win-win situation."