AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN PUBLIC RELATIONS 2017

Transcription

1 AWARDS FOR EXCELLENCE IN PUBLIC RELATIONS 2017 PUBLIC RELATIONS INSTITUTE OF IRELAND

2 BEST CORPORATE COMMUNICATION BEST CORPORATE CAMPAIGN CAMPAIGN Building Lidl s corporate reputation in Ireland Rhona Blake, FPRII, PRCA Chairman; Niall Quinn, MPRII, Deputy Managing Director, The Reputations Agency; and Aoife Clarke, MPRII, Head of Communications, Lidl Ireland. DESCRIPTION OF CAMPAIGN The Agency was tasked with developing a reputation building strategy focused on increasing awareness among all stakeholders, including the general public, that Lidl is a significant contributor to the Irish economy and is committed to supporting Irish suppliers and creating and maintaining well paid jobs in communities across Ireland. PUBLIC RELATIONS CONSULTANT The Reputations Agency CLIENT Lidl Ireland BACKGROUND TO THE CAMPAIGN Since Lidl Ireland first opened its doors over 16 years ago, the retailer has become an integral part of Irish life, rooted in communities throughout Ireland. The discount retailer has changed the way many people in Ireland shop by offering high quality produce at the lowest price. Over this period, Lidl has become one of the largest retailers in the country, has opened 150 stores in the Republic of Ireland, employing nearly 4,500 people. Despite a footfall of 1.5 million customers through Lidl stores weekly, many Irish consumers still had misconceptions about the origin of produce in Ireland stores, even though Lidl works with almost 200 Irish suppliers and sources over 500 million of produce from Irish food and drink suppliers. Notwithstanding the fact that Lidl has invested significantly in Ireland since 2000, employs thousands paying market leading rates and supported a significant amount of jobs in the Irish agriculture, food and drink sector through its sourcing of Irish produce, there was still a perception in some quarters that Lidl in Ireland was not as Irish as some of its competitors. 1

3 As part of an overall reputation building strategy in order to counter misconceptions about Lidl it would be important to demonstrate Lidl s value to Ireland and how it supports Irish jobs, both directly and indirectly, as opposed to being merely a foreign-owned company selling to Irish consumers. The Agency devised a strategy that would drive home Lidl s commitment and confidence in Ireland with a series of initiatives over a twelve month period. STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES As part of an overall reputation management building strategy a series of key objectives were set both to improve the reputational ranking and support key business objectives such as improving market share and attracting talent to support ongoing expansion. The key objectives are summarised in five key areas: 1. Challenge misconceptions Address misconceptions about Lidl and demonstrate that Lidl s value to Ireland and how it supports Irish jobs, both directly and indirectly, as opposed to being merely a foreign-owned company selling to Irish consumers. 2. Highlight Lidl s commitment to working with and supporting Irish suppliers Many Irish consumers still had misconceptions about the origin of produce in Irish stores, even though Lidl works with almost 200 Irish suppliers and sources over 500 million of produce from Irish food and drink suppliers. 3. Improve Lidl s reputation among the general public moving from top 20 to top 10 status In 2015 Lidl was ranked 20th in the Ireland RepTrak study of the general public s ranking of the reputations of Ireland s largest and most visible Irish companies. The objective was set to break into the top 10 for the first time. 4. Support sales and market share. 5. Support Lidl s ongoing recruitment drive As Lidl continues to grow its store network, renovate and increase the size of many existing stores along with hiring more staff in distribution and head office support roles, a key objective was to support largescale recruitment campaigns run periodically. 6. Offline driving online engagement With growth in online and social engagement a key objective was to create traditional media coverage in print and broadcast outlets to support building a conversation online and through social channels. PROGRAMME PLANNING AND STRATEGY In order to both counter misconceptions about Lidl and help support building the retailer s reputation in Ireland it would be important to demonstrate Lidl s value to Ireland and how it supports Irish jobs, as opposed to being merely a foreign-owned company selling to Irish consumers. It was important to develop a strong and sustained narrative that would support the building of a stronger, more robust reputation. The Agency devised a strategy that would drive home Lidl s commitment and confidence in Ireland with major high profile initiatives staggered at four to six month intervals (October, March and August) alongside an ongoing, regular supportive narrative. Key elements of the programme included: 1. Drawing attention to Lidl s commitment to Irish suppliers. (ongoing from October 2015 to August 2016) 2. Announcing Lidl being the first major Irish employer to commit to the living wage. (October 2015) 3. Launching an independent Economic Report outlining the economic contribution of Lidl both currently and cumulatively since it arrived in the Irish market in (April 2016) 4. Highlighting role as one of Ireland s largest employers with a major new jobs announcement. (August 2016) PROGRAMME 1. Commitment to Irish Suppliers Lidl had established relationships with 200 Irish suppliers purchasing over 500 million annually and are proud of how they have helped many suppliers grow their businesses by supplying Lidl stores in Ireland, the UK and other European markets. It was recommended that supplier stories be told by the suppliers themselves to ensure greater impact and credibility while also allowing for more avenues to tell the story with multiple suppliers. An additional benefit of the feature-based approach would provide scope for suppliers to highlight Lidl s ethical business practices. The Reputations Agency worked with Lidl to identify suppliers and develop a narrative with them to secure high profile 2

4 features in both print and broadcast media. Highlights included features on RTE Radio One s Saturday morning farming programme for Slaney Meats; full page profile in Sunday Independent for Comerfords foods; RTE s Nationwide for Scullery Foods; RTE s The Business for Rye River Brewing; and Newstalk s Down to Business for Cahill s Cheese. In addition to this a Roundtable panel comprising Lidl, Bord Bia and key suppliers was set up for Sunday Independent. Positive message about Lidl s supplier engagement was clearly communicated in all features. 2. Living Wage announcement As part of its commitment to build a reputation as a leading employer in the Irish retail sector, Lidl became the first major employer in Ireland to champion and the deliver the Living Wage for all its staff from 1st November, The Living Wage announcement campaign achieved: First mover status to champion the Living Wage Positive editorial endorsement Positive traction on social media without paid promotion Opportunity to engage with key stakeholder groups Increased engagement with Government 3. Economic Report The Reputations Agency recommended commissioning DKM Economic Consultants to undertake a study entitled The Economic Impacts of Lidl s Operations in the Republic of Ireland. The report found that Lidl s capital investment programme in Ireland combined with its ongoing operations was and continues to be a major contributor to the Irish economy. The key element of this part of the programme was a high profile launch and briefings with key business and agriculture media with key information from the report provided. A media release detailing the key findings from the DKM report along with photos of Lidl s Managing Director; DKM Economic Consultants; and one of Lidl s 200 suppliers was provided to media communicating findings which included: Support of 11,000 direct and indirect jobs Contribution of 1.5bn to GDP since 2000 Sourcing 539 million from almost 200 Irish food suppliers Running in tandem with the launch of the economic report was select profiling of Lidl s Managing Director, JP Scally, with The Irish Times Interview of the Week secured for launch day. This was followed in June with a 20 minute interview on RTE Radio One s The Business where JP discussed Lidl s growth and investment in the Irish market with the economic report as a key tool. Other leveraging of the economic report was in-store references to Irish suppliers and key messages from the report prominently displayed at Lidl s flagship exhibition area at National Ploughing Championships visited by an estimated 200,000 attendees. 4. Jobs announcement The fourth phase of the campaign was the announcement of recruiting 600 new staff. While there was no grant aid element to the jobs announcement The Reputations Agency recommended partnering with the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation (DJEI) to make the announcement to utilise the opportunity to engage with a senior Minister and her officials to communicate Lidl s story and plans. The announcement to hire an additional 600 staff demonstrated the confidence the business has in the Irish economy and long-term commitment to invest in Ireland. Another key aim of this element was to integrate the economic report findings which provided a fresh opportunity to refresh this message. A closed photocall with the Minister for Jobs, Enterprise and Innovation and Lidl s Director of HR was held before the announcement. An additional benefit of working with the DJEI was that the announcement could be co-ordinated to avoid clashing with other major jobs announcements. A national media release outlining the number and types of jobs along with photography was provided to media on an embargoed basis with a midnight embargo for launch day. This provided for potential coverage in print and early broadcast on launch day. The strategy was successful with front page print coverage (with pictures) achieved in The Irish Times Business supplement, Irish Independent as well as all 3

5 other national daily titles and with hourly news bulletins from 7am with major interviews on key broadcast programmes (Morning Ireland, Newstalk Breakfast, RTE TV Six-One, TV3 News) maintaining message momentum throughout the day. 5. Stakeholder engagement Underpinning all campaign elements was greater stakeholder engagement. A database of 350 key stakeholders was developed to allow for direct engagement with Lidl s key stakeholders at each key phase following media activity to reinforce the messaging. MEASUREMENT IMPROVEMENT IN REPUTATION The objective of improving Lidl s overall objective among the general public from 20th place to a top 10 rank was met and exceeded. The 2016 Ireland RepTrak report, published on 29th April showed Lidl s reputational score improved from 72.9 to 76.1 and moved from 20thto 5th place in the study and remained Ireland s grocery retailer with the highest reputational ranking. MARKET SHARE GAINS Market share improved in periods following execution of key elements of the reputation building programme. Analysis of figures from Kantar, which tracks market share in the Irish grocery sector, shows increased sales and market share for Lidl following key campaigns. For example, in June 2016, saw Kantar report that Lidl had registered the highest percentage (72.4%) of all Irish households shopping with Lidl ever recorded. The period under review was in the quarterly period following publication of the Lidl Economic Report. The Kantar report covering the 12 week period following the jobs announcement showed Lidl increasing its share of the market to 11.6%, with sales growth of 5.1%. The PR campaigns were viewed by Lidl as supportive to sales growth in those periods. LEVERAGING TRADITIONAL MEDIA FOR SOCIAL ENGAGEMENT Campaigns under this programme delivered significant coverage in traditional media which was also available in shareable content which drove online and social engagement. This is best illustrated visually by an analysis of Twitter activity (from Twitter analytics) on the day of the jobs announced showing surges in Twitter activity corresponding to key traditional bursts such as Morning Ireland, Newstalk Breakfast, RTE TV Six-One, TV3 News, RTE TV Nine O Clock etc. The first peak in the graph attached coincides with Morning Ireland coverage. INCREASE TRAFFIC TO LIDL CAREERS WEBSITE FOLLOWING MAJOR JOBS ANNOUNCEMENT IN AUGUST Lidl embarked on a major billboard and social media led advertising and recruitment campaign which was live for two weeks prior to the PR announcement. As a direct consequence of the PR activity on 6th August announcing 600 new jobs traffic to Lidl s careers website grew by 140% within 24 hours with a similar increase in job enquiries. 4

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