Accreditation Portfolio Statement of Objectives, Sample #1
Closure of Batawa Manufacturing Plant
Bata Industries Limited
Organization and Communication Function
Bob Cohn and Norman Wolfe opened the original Cohn & Wolfe office in 1971 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA. The first Canadian office of the firm was opened in Toronto in November 1989. The Toronto office has a staff of 35 seasoned professionals who work in partnership with clients to develop innovative programs and creative executions that are measurable against business objectives. Cohn & Wolfe provides a wide range of public relations services for clients in four key areas expertise: consumer marketing, corporate communication and public affairs, high technology, and health care. We specialize in
corporate profile building, new products/service introductions, issues management/crisis communication, special events and sponsorships.
Cohn & Wolfe is the public relations agency-of-record for Bata Limited and works with the
Director of International Communications and Public Affairs, Graeme Spicer. The Batawa project was championed by Practice Manager (formerly Senior Counselor), myself (C&W) with the support of corporate and public affairs Vice President, David Gordon. My role encompassed overseeing program development and execution. This included providing strategic counsel on issues management, hands-on management of the communication plan, researching and writing comprehensive communication materials, spokesperson identification and briefing, coordination of announcement activities and timeline, media relations support and ongoing liaison with client to ensure all program elements were in place. David Gordon lent assistance with on-site support for the employee announcement, coordinated plant spokesperson briefing, developed communications to government officials and provided strategic support.
C&W was responsible for the following aspects of the communication program:
- Providing strategic counsel to senior management on the recommended approach for the communication around the announcement
- Scriptwriting for Bata Limited spokespeople
- Coordinating development of a communications binder of key resource information and
data for use by spokespeople
- Media relations: news releases, backgrounders, etc.
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Identifying the Problem or Opportunity
In October 1999, Bata Limited asked Cohn & Wolfe to develop and manage a communication program announcing the closure of Bata’s manufacturing facility located in Batawa, a small community in eastern Ontario, Canada.
The plant was established in Batawa in 1939, at the beginning of the Second World War, when Thomas G. Bata brought 80 pioneers from his family’s shoe empire in Zlin, Czechoslovakia to Canada. Together they built houses and the plant to form the company town named Batawa, a blend of the company founder’s surname and Ottawa, Canada’s capital. In its prime, the Batawa manufacturing plant was the economic engine of the region, with many of the plant’s workers living in company homes rented from their employer. They actively participated in Bata baseball, soccer and gymnastics teams and had their own ski hill and bowling alley. The company also operated a grocery and shoe store in the village.
The manufacture of footwear at the Batawa plant had been unprofitable for many years, losing its dominance as a key economic driver in the area. Despite the unrelenting efforts of the employees, the union and management to increase productivity and stem the tide of losses, Bata lost more than CDN$32 million during the 1990s.
Following an extensive review of the global footwear and an analysis of its North American manufacturing operations, Bata Industries Limited made the decision to reorganize its North American operations and invest in its Canadian retail operations as part of a strategic move to improve its competitive position and grow its North American business. The decision involved the closure of the Batawa plant, affecting 209 employees, and the consolidation of operations with Bata’s only remaining North American manufacturing facility, located in Belcamp, Maryland.
The target audiences included:
- Bata employees:
- Batawa employees who were being restructured
- Belcamp employees who would be affected by the announcement
- Norimco employees
- Other Bata employees throughout the Bata shoe organization
- Union representatives
- Bata Customers/Suppliers
- Local, provincial and federal government officials
- Media, as a conduit: Business and retail media at daily newspapers and broadcast outlets throughout English Canada and Maryland, Virginia, USA.
- Community agencies: Local community support and counseling agencies in the Batawa area
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Developing the solution or plan
Given the long association and emotional ties between the Bata family, the employees and the Batawa community over the past 60 years, the decision was a tremendously difficult one. The company’s willingness to sustain heavy losses over the previous 10-plus years demonstrated its reticence to close the Batawa plant. This decision was even more difficult after the recent sixtieth anniversary celebrations coordinated by Batawa plant employees in the local community in August, at which time Bata had not completed the analysis of its North American operations. C&W recommended Bata establish a community investment program in recognition of the contributions to its Batawa operations over the years. In addition, C&W recommended briefing local dignitaries, including those that attended the recent festivities, and providing them with a “heads up” of the announcement immediately prior to the employee notification. C&W also developed appropriate responses for questions relating to the closure following the sixtieth anniversary celebration.
Prior to development of the communication materials, C&W met with human resources officials and legal counsel to discuss employee compensation packages, establish average employee tenure, obtain union contacts and other pertinent information. Efforts were undertaken to identify an appropriate location to notify Batawa plant employees. The final site for the announcement, the plant floor, was ultimately predetermined due to the only other alternate venue being unavailable. C&W researched industry statistics and found that 25 years ago, domestically manufactured product accounted for more than 50 percent of total footwear sales in Canada while in 1999, it was less than 10 percent, making Batawa a part of the global trend in the industry.
Working closely with Graeme Spicer at Bata, C&W established the following program goals and objectives:
- Inform Bata employees and union representatives, in a sensitive manner, of the closure of the Batawa plant without incident
- Inform business and retail partners to ensure any potential concerns are addressed
- Inform local dignitaries, support agencies and the community at large of the announcement and the establishment of the community investment program
- Ensure Bata’s corporate point of view is clearly communicated through key messages to target audiences
- Communicate Bata’s decision as a reluctant one following an extensive analysis of its North American operations and in the face of global shift in the footwear industry
Following the Board’s approval of the decision to close the plant the weekend of 8 – 10 October 1999, senior management wanted to ensure employees were notified in a timely and considerate manner. The average employee tenure was 22 years, and many employees were second- and third-generation. This combined with historic relationship with the Batawa community and recent sixtieth anniversary celebration, reinforced the need to communicate with employees with respect and dignity. C&W met with Bata’s senior management team on Thursday, 14 October 1999 to discuss the impending announcement. The discussions lasted most of the day, during which time the following strategy was developed and recommended by C&W:
- Bata establishes a community investment program in recognition of the significant contributions of Batawa employees, Bata's relationships with local enterprises and in the knowledge that the local community lacked the economic infrastructure to secure employment for displaced workers
- Face-to-face employee communication, supplemented by internal communication
vehicles, targeted external communication and media relations, form the basis of announcement activities
- Identify spokespeople who could effectively and sensitively relay the announcement to employees with the dignity and respect they deserved
- Coordinate the announcement to employees in a timely, sensitive and responsible manner
- Develop informative materials to clearly communicate the key messages to intended audiences in simple, easy-to-understand language
Budget:
Given the short lead time for the announcement, the priority for Bata was to do what was needed to do the job well. C&W established budget parameters between CDN$12,000 and CDN$15,000, plus out-of-pocket expenses. The final costs amounted to CDN$14,772.15, inclusive of agency time and expenses.
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Selling the plan to management or the client
C&W consulted with Bata’s management extensively during meetings on 14 October, at which time Bata engaged the services of C&W to manage the announcement of the plant closure. C&W’s recommendations were articulated throughout the course of the day with an explanation of the reasoning behind each tactic and how it would work. Mr. Pantelidis and Mr. Spicer have prior experience with closures at other organizations and, while Bata was a new client of C&W, there was confidence and trust in C&W’s ability to effectively manage the project. While we were not in a position to guarantee no media coverage, we did indicate we were confident that resulting coverage, at least for the most part, would communicate messages in a sensitive fashion.
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Implementing the plan
- Timing:
C&W recommended the announcement be timed to coincide with the morning and afternoon shift changes at the Batawa plant, scheduled at 3:30 p.m. on Monday, 18 October 1999. In addition, C&W recommended that employees at the Batawa plant be given their next shift off upon receiving the news. The objective was to demonstrate empathy, giving employees time to digest the information while also protecting them from potential injury due to distraction if they continued to work their shifts immediately after the announcement. This would also avoid a potential labour situation as any “hot headed” employee would have the opportunity to “cool off” rather than do anything rash. Finally, this strategy also ensured no employees would be immediately available to media for comment. Communications with other Bata employees were timed to occur simultaneously with the plant announcement, while external announcements were distributed at 4 p.m. (Work Sample #1)
- Spokesperson Identification and Training:
C&W recommended Rino Rizzo, President of the Bata Shoe Organization, as the primary spokesperson for the internal announcement to employees because of his tenure of more than 20 years with Bata and personal familiarity with many Batawa employees. Jim Pantelidis, Chairman and CEO, was selected to act as the public voice for Bata with external audiences in his first major public initiative since joining the company some six months prior. Mr. Pantelidis informed government officials and responded to key media requests while Graeme Spicer, Director of International Communications and Public Affairs, acted as secondary spokesperson for media inquiries. Divisional managers and the Belcamp plant manager were provided with scripts to communicate the announcement to their regional employees. C&W developed key messages around the announcement and potential media questions and answers (Work Sample #2). One-on-one sessions were conducted with the spokespeople to ensure their comfort level in responding to questions and their ability to deliver key messages.
- Employee Announcements:
David Gordon accompanied Mr. Rizzo to Batawa with a professional driver and vehicle. In consideration of the announcement, appropriate security measures were undertaken by C&W. Bata arranged for an employment counselor to be at the plant for the announcement. The local union representative was also present. C&W developed scripts for each of the face-to-face employee announcements in Batawa (Work Sample #3), Markham (Work Sample #4) and Belcamp (Work Sample #5), in addition to an internal communiqué to employees throughout Bata’s Canadian and global operations (Work Sample #6).
- External Announcements:
Recognizing the potential embarrassment of local government officials who participated in Batawa’s recent 60th anniversary celebrations, C&W coordinated phone conferences between Mr. Pantelidis and Mr. Bata with the local mayor, MP and MPP. These conversations were scheduled immediately prior to the employee announcement and were followed up with a personalized letter from Mr. Pantelidis confirming the details (Work Sample #7). In addition, letters were distributed to plant customers (Work Sample #8) and suppliers (Work Sample #9) via fax providing details of the announcement and followed up with personal phone calls from the divisional manager to allay any concerns about potential implications to these relationships.
- Media Announcement:
The media information consisted of a media release for the Canadian marketplace (Work Sample #10) and a slightly modified version for the U.S. (Work Sample #11). The releases were distributed to business and news editors via newswire at 4 p.m. following the announcement to employees.
- Communication Binder:
The communication materials developed and produced by C&W were integrated into a binder together with corporate and employee data, industry statistics and other facts relating to the consolidation of Bata’s operations. The binder was distributed to all Bata spokespeople for easy access to information.
- Media Relations:
Bata’s switchboard operators were briefed on the procedure for handling media calls shortly prior to the announcement and directed media inquiries to Graeme Spicer for coordination with the support of C&W. All national media interviews were assigned to Mr. Pantelidis, with regional media inquiries being handled by Mr. Spicer.
Limitations and Challenges:
Company founder Thomas J. Bata, who had retired from the company several years prior but still sat on the Board in an honorary capacity, presented a challenge. It was decided Mr. Pantelidis should meet with Mr. Bata on the Sunday—Mr. Bata was returning from Europe on the Saturday—to brief him on the approach Bata was taking to inform and support its employees. The objective was to minimize the risk of Mr. Bata making any statements to the media that may be contrary to those being communicated by the company. While he was not a designated media spokesperson, the possibility existed that media may contact Mr. Bata directly.
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Measurement/Evaluation
The program was evaluated using quantitative and qualitative measures. Attention was paid to qualitative evaluation including employee feedback and employee comments featured in resulting coverage, effective delivery of key messages. The following represents some of the highlights of the program results:
- The plant announcement in Batawa was well received and proceeded without incident. As expected, many employees were upset by the news but expressed their gratitude at being given their next shift off. Even during this dark hour, some employees turned their thoughts to the Bata family. This was best exemplified by an employee’s comment to Mr. Rizzo: “Tell Mr. Bata we’re sorry we let him down.”
- The conference calls to government officials were well received, with each expressing their appreciation of Bata providing advance notification of the announcement.
- The Mayor of Quinte West proceeded as far as distributing his own media release (WS#12) reinforcing several of the key messages and welcomed the invitation to preside on the committee for the community investment program.
- Extensive media coverage was also received surrounding the announcement in Canada and in the U.S., which centred around Bata’s historical contribution to the Canadian economy and global shifts in the footwear manufacturing sector. Quantitatively, the announcement delivered more than 75 hits in print and broadcast media across Canada and qualitative analysis shows that the overall tone of the coverage was favourable (WS#13).
- C&W was also commended for its efforts in handling this communication around the plant closure in a letter from Mr. Pantelidis (WS#14).
- Bata Limited management, having witnessed the successful execution of the Batawa campaign, has subsequently engaged C&W to support several other major announcements.
- Cohn & Wolfe’s management of the program was recognized with an IABC/Toronto Ovation Award, CPRS ACE Award and IABC Silver Leaf Award in 2000.
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List of work samples
The candidate included the following work samples:
- Schedule of Activities
- Key Messages / Q&A Document
- Batawa Plant Script
- Markham Plant Script
- Belcamp Plant Script
- Bata Internal Communiqué
- Letter to Politicians
- Letter to Customers
- Letter to Factory Suppliers
- Canadian Media Release
- U.S. Media Release
- Mayor of Quinte West Media Release
- Media Coverage Summary and Clippings
- Letter from Jim Pantelidis, Chairman and CEO, Bata Limited
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