1. IPRN Ellis Kopel Project of the Year 2012 Redesign of written correspondence for Postovni sporitelna / Era

2. Do you remember ?

3. Prague 1 Festival: a lot of fun …

4. … but very low agency fees!

5. Communication in finance industry Sometimes it is boring  But it is still very well paid

6. Postovni sporitelna/Era –Owned by Belgian KBC Bank NV –Retail banking brand of ČSOB - Ceskoslovenska obchodni banka (No.1 bank in Central Europe according to total asset value – 936 bln CZK e.g. 37.7 bln EUR) –Postovni sporitelna/Era (Czech retail bank No.2), in the phase of re-branding –More than 2 mil. clients in the CR –More than 3.300 branches in the CR Client

7. Premise What yould you do… …if you were a bank… …with 2 080 000 clients… …and found out that… they don´t really understand your letters…!

8. Premise Ignore the problem like most of Czech financial institutions do …

9. or try to solve it ! decision of the Era brand management made in summer 2011 Premise

10. So you have to … Re-write almost 1,000 type letters… Prepare ´how-to-write- correct-letters´ handbook… Train your staff how to do it in the future… Premise

11. And it was even more important because … 99% of all branches are parts of post offices Any sophisticated communication has to be organised via letters Clients are historically of higher age and lower education Specific features of Postovni sporitelna / Era

12. But… who should do it? Someone from consultancy firms (Big Four) ? –OK (let´s try how expensive they are?) Skills training agency –They can teach you how to deal with it (but will they do the job itself?). How to determine the partner

13. PR agency could be the option … But… –We need ´how-to-write- letters´ manual first, in less than 60 days –Then organise the training of relevant staff –Re-writing (or copywriting) of letters (500+ pcs) Good luck. How to determine the partner

14. To increase comprehensibility of letters to customers To unify both design and content of the letters (language, vocabulary, specific terms, names of the products and services etc.) To set sustainability of these positive changes for the future: –Written handbook –Training of the staff Objectives / needs of the Client

15. Redesign of correspondence of No. 2 Czech retail bank Era“ (more than 2.000.000 customers). Agency prepared: –´how-to-write-letters-correctly´ handbook for relevant staff including also rules for e-mails and sms communication –trained more than 60 people in letter copywriting (including e-mails and sms) –created new texts of more than 500 letters Tasks for the 1 st phase

16. Legal department Corporate culture Marketing In house copywriters ---------------------------- xIT department Resistence ?

17. The best (possible) team ! Team leader: - Tomas Hecko, Crest Communications (Account Director) –Jiri Zavozda: professor of journalism @ Charles university / long term editor- in-chief of the prestigeous national daily paper/ member of the Czech TV Council –Jiri Podzimek: Experienced TV scriptwriter and professional book editor …. plus copywriter and office support Winning strategy ?

18. Starting data: –Qualitative research regarding mailing correspondence –300 respondents/clients of the bank –100 respondents/clients of competitors –Men and women, 18+ –All regions of Czech Republic 1st step: Evaluation

19. Close cooperation with all relevant departements from the very beggining: –Marketing deptartment –Sales departement –Product design dept. –Legal department –Internal audit department 2nd step: Cooperation

20. Never-done-before project Timing vs. Scope of work Number of employees / departements involved Similar project in sister company (ran by one of the Big Four consultancies) Challenges

21. Activities / Timing1/2 Signing the contract = D Day D+9 days: meetings with all relevant (5) departements D+20 days: the first version of handbook, the first 20 letters D+20 – D+44 days: internal commnications of the project (e-mailing, intranet) D+41 days: final version of handbook (content) D+48 days: printed version of handbook delivered

22. Activities / Timing2/2 D+54 days – D+70 days: training of relevant staff (60+ people) D+70 days – D+120 days: helpline for relevant staff (e-mail, answers within 24 hours) D+120 days – D+ 400 days: rewriting (or copywriting) of app. 500 letters

23. Handbook („How to write correct Era letters “)

24. Final results Based on the CEO´s direction all written communication of the bank follows our rules from January 1st, 2012. 150 new letters in use now Further 350 type letters planned in 2012 80 employees already trained (heads of relevant departments, key managers of telemarketing dept., client service centers, backoffice) Company´s ombudsman involved in the project -------------------------------------------- Important change in the company´s culture!

25. Client´s management –„We´ve tried to do something like this twice before. Never succeeded.“ –„There is a consultancy firm from Big Four doing the same project in our sister company. They are still at the beginning after 6 months of work and you make it in three months!“ –„Pity you don´t speak French. Our mother company is interested.“ Crest Communications internal evaluation –Excellent case study –Letter of recommendation Testimonials / Evaluation

26. New product with real added value Unique expertise of PR agency –project management –customer service –excellent copywriting/language skills Potential clients are financially strong –retail finance (banks, insurance houses) –energy suppliers (electricity, gas, water) –telco (mobile operators) Opportunity for all IPRN agencies

27. www.erasvet.cz Thank you for listening. Redesign of Era correspondence