Nordic strategic kick-off event 2008: Box becomes Bring Express
Bring Express, formerly Box Delivery, is the Nordic region’s leading provider of courier and express logistics services. Box Delivery has been committed to establishing a strong brand throughout the Nordic region. The corporate culture is based on strong core values stemming from a local entrepreneurial spirit. Its owner, Posten Norge, decided in 2007/2008 that Box should change name to Bring Express and at the same time introduce a stronger business focus in the areas of cooperation between companies in the Box Group. To counter the risk of Box employees losing the drive and entrepreneurial spirit that set them apart, a kick-off event was planned that would explain the name and the forward strategy. What was most important was to get the employees to feel that the new name was a natural step in Box’s evolution.
Knowledge about the employees, their attitudes to change and to Box formed the starting point for the kick-off event that Unify arranged for all the Nordic employees. It was synced with the launch of the new name – Bring – and logo that took place the day before. The event itself presented the history of Box through to the present day, explaining how the changes are a response to greater customer demands and the natural next step in Box’s evolution into Bring Express.
We coordinated the messages, chose the format, theme, structure, speakers and moderator. We designed case studies and team-building activities, arranged networking and evening activities, provided speaker training and wrote storyboards. We conducted the entire event and concluded it with an evaluation. To strengthen the messages before and after the event, we also produced a number of tools to involve the target group. All the Nordic employees were divided into groups and at the event presented their local best practices. The most generally useful and applicable cases won prizes. We also produced a “cafe-style” magazine (text, editing, photos, layout and print) that contained in-depth articles on the topics raised at the kick-off event as well as lighter articles. It was published in Norwegian, Danish, Finnish and Swedish so that it could be distributed to customers and new employees. Bring Express drivers are not employed by Bring but they play an extremely important role in how customers perceive Bring. We produced a special information pack for them, which the local managers throughout the Nordic region could present to them soon after the kick-off event.
GOAL ACHIEVEMENT
Two questions and answers from the post-event evaluation
Question: Has the kick-off event helped you to better understand why we changed names?
Average answer=4.2
(Scale: 1=No; 5=Yes)
Question: Has the kick-off event given you a better understanding of our strategy?
Average answer =4.0
(Scale: 1=No; 5=Yes)
