The Project: Lafarge’s cement plant in Kingston, Ontario, understood that their operations were a significant and often misunderstood presence in the community. They also understood that clear communication and open dialogue were critical to a good relationship with the community. Lafarge spoke to the public with quarterly newsletters and published project specific materials for new initiatives.

Lafarge had been making these materials in house for years but were dissatisfied with the results. The newsletter topics had grown stale and the company did not feel they were doing their best to engage and involve the community. They also were unhappy with the level of community awareness about successful efforts to reduce the plant’s environmental footprint, efforts which had garnered the plant many awards.

Additionally, Lafarge’s materials strayed from corporate guidelines and were not the best representation of Lafarge’s brand. They needed some consistency and someone to get them back on track.

“Although we are very accomplished operationally, we also realized that we did not possess the skills to make our home grown materials up to Lafarge’s professional standards” said Environment and Public Affairs Manager, Robert Cumming “we needed a fresh start and materials that would present our information in a clear, simple manner.”

Along with the newsletters, Lafarge was working on an initiative to find a renewable fuel source for the plant. This project required buy in from the community in order to get ministry approval. “We wanted materials which would clearly communicate the initiative to the public” said Rob “we knew that being straightforward was the best way to gain support.”

The Challenge: The biggest challenge was communicating complex ideas in a way that could be understood by the community, most of whom were not engineers. Because the employees at Lafarge were technically minded, they often found this difficult. “We are great technical writers” said Rob “but putting together concepts in a clear, graphical manner for non-technical audiences was outside of our skill set. This is where we knew we would partner well with BmDodo.”

This was especially important for the environmental initiative materials. Even though a renewable fuel source would benefit the community in Kingston, it was imperative that they understood how the project impacted their lives. “Everything had to be translated out of jargon into something credible that would inform the public” said Rob “whatever their level of understanding they needed to walk away with a clear picture.”

Lafarge’s materials also needed to be more engaging and invite participation from the community. They needed to find a way to connect.

The Solution: BmDodo worked with a professional writer to address the main communication challenges. For the quarterly newsletters, they developed an informative series about concrete. “We wanted to make the newsletters more interesting” said Brian Dodo, Principal and Strategic Designer at BmDodo “the series was called ‘Why Concrete’ and it actually informed the community about concrete and how it affects their lives.” BmDodo knew that people were less likely to read about operations at the plant unless it had a direct connection to their lives.

Woven into the series was information about the measures Lafarge was taking to correct the impact of the plant on the environment. “Lafarge was trying as hard as possible to make the plant cleaner and we wanted people to know this” added Brian.  

In terms of visual impact, BmDodo created newsletters that adhered to Lafarge identity guidelines and helped the plant get back on track with their materials. “Our past newsletters had not been reflective of the Lafarge brand” said Robert. “Brian and Jen dug into all our corporate standards, ones we didn’t even know existed” added Emma Buckley, an Environmental Analyst with Lafarge.

BmDodo also worked with the writer to develop the environmental initiative materials. “We took the technical writing and made it more accessible and easy to explain” said Brian “Lafarge wanted as much understanding as possible from the community.”

To enhance their environmental initiative materials and encourage two-way dialogues, Lafarge hosted a community meeting where members could talk about the initiative. BmDodo created a newsletter specifically for this event and made other promotional materials including banners and posters.

To further support Lafarge’s environmental initiative, BmDodo used production methods with low environmental impact. “We used recycled materials and made sure that everything we created could be reused” said Brian. “We also produced the materials on demand so we would only use what was required.”

The Results: “Everyone has been impressed with the new materials” said Robert “everything was well received with the public and our own communications people are pleased to see such professional materials.”

The results were most visible in the feedback about the environmental initiative. Lafarge had a record turnout at their community meeting “they were expecting around 50 people” said Brian “but over 140 people actually attended.” Lafarge was able to get information to the community in the most effective way possible and support was nearly unaminous. “Lots of good came from doing a newsletter and promotional materials specifically for the initiative” said Brian.
 
“Companies working as partners on the initiative were also impressed with the new, accessible information they asked to borrow the materials for their own presentations” said Robert.

The new, properly branded materials created a good foundation for success and will be instrumental in future communications with the community. “Everything was simple, thorough and effective. The materials will keep us in line with corporate standards and connected to all aspects of company” said Emma. “Not only were the results wonderful, the whole process was enjoyable” said Robert “Brian and Jen were a pleasure to work with.” For Robert, regular communications are no longer a chore “they turned something I struggled with into something into something simple and pleasant.”