News Room

It’s no secret that the financial and banking sector has taken a beating over the last year. With both the media and the customer struggling to find anything positive to say, damage to company morale was in danger of having far reaching and irreversible consequences. Now, more than ever, banks have had to focus on reassuring and calming both the market place and its employees. When Barclays reached year end with record results and profits it was of the utmost importance that senior management took steps to ensure that this great news was delivered to all employees quickly and effectively.

Rapide provided a communication package designed to have maximum impact. Initially a text message from John Varley, CEO of Barclays, was sent out to all staff mobiles to deliver a teaser message regarding the good news. This was then followed with a voice broadcast recorded by John Varley that detailed the excellent performance of the bank and emphasised the confidence that senior management had in its people and its position. The voice recording was delivered to over 25,000 handsets in just over an hour. The speed and simplicity with which the solution was put together and carried out meant that Barclays were able to pull the entire project forward by 2 weeks!

The effects of the campaign were invaluable. Barclays and John Varley were able to react 2 weeks quicker than had been originally planned – saving valuable time in a period when good news was needed most. The delivery of the voice broadcast to over 25,000 handsets in an hour meant the message was consistent, topical and arrived at a time when almost all other banks were delivering shocking results and bad news all round. For employees to hear message of optimism, calm confidence and thanks meant staff could feel better about themselves and above all feel secure and inspired by a well positioned and strong performing Barclays!