Meerlanden is one of those organizations. A company that does (and achieves!) many times more than most people know. They don’t just collect our garbage; they believe in waste as a new source. On their way to a sustainable living, they take meaningful steps every day, with the ultimate goal of a circular society in 2030. How they achieve that goal, they share since the beginning of this year in informative and inspiring news broadcasts: the Meerlanden Newsreels.
In our role as Meerlanden’s strategic and executive agency, we regularly work on new issues, but this Meerlanden Newsreel was a proactive idea which we subsequently fleshed out together with the Meerlanden communications team. It organically combined some of the bullets on our joint wish list and provides a lot of guidance for communicating with the many different stakeholders (employees, several municipalities and their residents, business partners, companies, etc.). But if this had been a question, it would probably have been: in what catchy way can we include all our various stakeholders in everything Meerlanden does, undertakes and achieves for a circular society and a sustainable living environment, today and tomorrow?
In this case there was no problem to solve, but the fact that after just three issues, the Meerlanden Newsreel is already an added value in the communication resource mix is a fact. Each edition has five separate, topical news items that form the recurring pillars in a fixed concept format. The infrastructure for the News is fixed (created once only) and each edition we fill the news spots with new content. That can be a video, an animation, podcast, figures, interview, vox pop vlogs … Any form that lends itself to a snappy, appealing, and rich newsreel can be used. Both within the broadcast and per news edition we vary so that the content remains fresh. The content is edited as a broadcast with 5 items, but is also the source for teasers, snippets (on social media or the internal platform), separate items that can be communicated to specific stakeholders and at the end of the year an impressive summing up of everything that has been done and achieved in that year. It can even serve as a dynamic annual report.
An informative and inspiring Meerlanden Newsreel that is shared with many people every time. Internally and externally. Via multiple communication channels. It gives a good picture of Meerlanden’s ambition, goals, approach, and results. And shows how attractive it is to work for an organization like Meerlanden, because the enthusiastic employees themselves are also regularly in the picture. After all, your own people are always your best ambassadors. And there’s a lot to tell. Some of them have been working there since the beginning, 25 years ago now. 2022 is an anniversary year. It’s no coincidence that the Meerlanden Newsreel was launched on January 17th, the official anniversary of the company.
Bas Boone, senior communications advisor and responsible for the communications team: “We regularly hear that Meerlanden is taking such good, concrete steps towards a sustainable region. And that we should show a bit more of that. It’s probably our nature: do it first. At the same time, we know that there are great stories to be told in our organization. That’s why we’re so enthusiastic about our Meerlanden Newsreel. Also, because we were able to seize the momentum to launch it on our 25th anniversary. With the content from Meerlanden and SowiesoHelder’s experience in making it all fit together in no time and tightly managing it, we ensure that we convert those stories into attractive information, insights, or inspiration for our entire audience. And so, we give our content strategy much better shape. And yes, it also puts pressure on our team and colleagues. But the enthusiasm and energy it generates is many times higher. And the outcome is already that colleagues reach out to us with their stories. A good step towards building a media platform with lots of interesting items about greener and more sustainable living.”
Those who have ambition, have goals. Those who set goals, want to achieve them. And share them along the way in communication with different target groups to make concrete what your organization/brand does and achieves. Interested in so called ‘proof content’ yourself? A recurring newsreel like the one we create for Meerlanden can bring you a lot, but there are of course several ways to give ‘proof’ exposure. Interesting? Give us a call!
