Description

A witness to National Grid’s social responsibility

The challenge

In October 2012, Superstorm Sandy struck the East Coast of the United States – one of the worst natural disasters ever to hit the region. In the aftermath, National Grid wanted to commemorate its employees’ incredible commitment to social responsibility during the recovery effort. Therefore, Employee Communications commissioned a unique publication as a reminder of the monumental role played by its teams.

The solution

Unprecedented is a commemorative Apple, Android and Kindle-ready app and coffee table book that shares the employees’ heroic stories in their own words. Drawing on intimate, first-person accounts and in-the-moment reportage photography, this is a unique communications package. The app version of the publication helped to broaden the appeal of the campaign, and included additional features such as extended content, image galleries and video.

A decade on, it remains a vivid and powerful testament to National Grid’s social responsibility commitment, and to the dedication of everyone at National Grid US who was involved.

The results

70% of readers said they would share the app or book with family and friends, and 70% said that they felt prouder about working for National Grid having read it. Unprecedented has also been recognised by industry experts, receiving eight national and international awards, including three Class Winners and the ‘Best of the Best’ Tom Dawson Award at the Institute of Internal Communication Central Awards, as well as an international Gold Quill Excellence Award for Best Publication Design.

What the client says

“The 44 team brought all its great experience to bear in this project – from overall project management, app and book development to photography and editorial. We couldn’t have achieved the successful outcomes we had without 44.”