The Administration Center of the Danish Ministry of Culture changed it’s name to The Corporate Governance Agency. Numerous operations within finance and IT was centralized in the State and the future destiny of the Corporate Governance Agency was to focus on strategic development and consulting. Several departments were moved to other State organizations. The Corporate Governance Agency had a new primary objective and a new name. But the organization lacked a clear identity both internally and in it’s external communication.

Mapping of the Authentic Identity
Stagis mapped the strengths that are lived and expressed in the culture of the Corporate Governance Agency. Based on anthropological studies including interviews with employees and managers across the organization, the Authentic Organizational Identity was mapped. The role as ”translator” between the Corporate Governance Agency and the cultural institutions was chosen as the strategic platform for the future design and communication. The employees are the central mediators between the political life on one hand and the everyday practice of the cultural institutions on the other hand, ensuring an effective translation between the two.

Development of the Logo and Visual Identity
The new logo and the visual expression is stringent and sharp while symbolizing the function as the ”translator” in the middle of the underlying dark grey square and the colourful square in front. On the new website the customers and the employees are in focus with stories and pictures that give the competencies a familiar face. The identity has been implementet in letters, signage, identity cards and templates that are integrated with the Electronic Case Management system.

Identity under the skin in 24 hours
When the meaning behind the new logo has to make sense in everyday practice there is need for another loop in the identity process. In collaboration with the management we created a two day staff seminar where the essence of the new authentic identity was presented along with the new logo. The management wanted to avoid the new identity being regarded as just another logo, nice colors and a new website. Because if the identity is to do good for the company, it has to carry strategic meaning that leads to new behaviour.

At the staff seminar the employees were the center of attention. Through exercises and discussions everyone in the organization was working to define how the authentic strengths could be made specific in the everyday of each of the employees and departments.

Translator in Everyday Life
The Corporate Governance Agency has built it’s new strategy around the strengths that management wants to develop and express by working with the organizational culture, communication, logo and the graphic design used by the Agency. The authentic identity got new importance in the meetings with clients as well as in the digital communication in order to create a coherent, positive experience where the Corporate Governance Agency is taking care of the customer.

For a case presentation and discussion of challenges and solutions, contact Nikolaj Stagis at +45 33 23 13 00 or at nikolaj@stagis.com

In just six months Stagis A/S has improved the image of the bus drivers and the entire bus industry through the project ”Bus Drivers with Character”. The project has unified the bus industry of Copenhagen. Before the project started, the bus industry didn’t use the bus driver as an active role in the creation of a better image for the busses or in the development of the passenger experience. The job as a bus driver was not being communicated and the industry didn’t capitalize on it’s own powerful authentic strengths. In order to get more qualified applicants and lift the quality of the service, a part of the goal was to increase the attraction of the bus driver job.

Now, the bus drivers are a more active part of the communication of the industry and more visible in the image of the busses. There is an ongoing developments among the bus drivers. They step into character behind the steering wheel, and they take an active part in creating an atmosphere that reinforces the experience in the bus for the passengers as well as for the drivers themselves. The number of bus drivers who think their job has a good reputation has doubled and the satisfaction with the job has increased to 90 percent. This is an important tool in the future recruitment.

Mapping the image of the customers lead to Movia Academy
The project started with a mapping of the Copenhageners view on the bus industry and the job as a bus driver. These studies showed that the passengers think of the driver as the unique strength of the bus journey. Subsequently Stagis developed a strategic plan and specific initiatives that partly can be solved individually of each bus company, partly in cooperation across in the industry.

Stagis developed and implemented the development forum Movia Academy in cooperation with the industry. At the Academy directors, middle managers and ‘fireballs’ among the bus drivers across the different companies have worked on developing the culture of the industry. The objective is to improve the interpersonal communication, to focus on the positive stories and to appreciate the strengths of the employees rather than focusing on the errors and the negative experiences.

Bus drivers receive the appreciation of the customers
The effort on changing the culture has played together with staging the bus drivers more actively both visually and communicatively. The drivers have appeared in a variety of media, and have represented their profession in a very positive and active way. During the project the bus drivers were presented in the media with a majority of positive stories, which is completely contrary to the media image before the project started.

The positive relation between the bus drivers and the passengers was in focus with a text message campaign, where the passengers had the opportunity of sending text message appraisals to the bus drivers. The text messages were uploaded on www.buschauffor.dk, where the driver and the passengers could read more than 1500 texts about dedicated and skillful bus drivers. 

Visible change and better business
The activities has created a general focus on the bus drivers and has strengthened the management and the professional culture among the bus drivers. On the busses and in the companies the changes are visible. During the project other positive effects showed up, including a lower level of sickness absence, more economical driving and fewer injuries.

The bus industry in Copenhagen has more than 4500 bus drivers and several hundred people distributed on administrative employees, production managers and directors of the companies as well as with the labor unions. The project is expected to last three years.

More information: CEO Nikolaj Stagis, phone: +45 3332 1300 or nikolaj@stagis.com

Novozymes wanted to differentiate from other successful companies in meeting young talents at education- and carreer exhibits. But how do you create a distinct market position in the eyes of the demanding audience of new talents?

Stagis conducted a discovery of Novozymes’ organizational culture and defined Novozymes’ authentic strengths in regard to potential employees. Novozymes has a strong reflective authenticity indicated by the beliefs of sustainability and a distinct energy to act, that the ”Zymers” call ”spark”. Lots of other companies express their concern for the planet. But Novozymes are capable of staging their considerations for the future with a unique degree of integrity. That’s why the contrast between conventional industry, nature and a green future became the framework for the project.

Five different scenarios for the development of Novozymes’ communication with the young talents were sketched up roughly. One of the ideas was a worldwide talent program capable of recruiting the best talents through involvement in specific professional challenges from the very first meeting between the company and each talent. The prize for the best solutions would be an internship in one of the five continents where Novozymes are located.

The design solution that was chosen expresses the corporate brand tag-line ’Rethink Tomorrow’ and the sustainable ambitions for the future. Real green grass breaks through the paved floor and back wall. The high luster polished white furniture elements are all completed in oblique angles, giving a futuristic expression. And a big live tree stretches it’s leaves beyond the space of the stand. Through the project Novozymes has fortified its reflective and expressive authenticity.

The Literature Centre of The Danish Arts Agency promotes Danish literature abroad and needed to stage Danish children’s literature towards an international audience on the worlds largest book fair in Frankfurt. But how do you unite new Danish children’s books with the tale of Hans Christian Andersen and a modern adventurous website for kids?

OKI Printing Solutions in Scandinavia asked os to market their smallest colour laserprinter. But who is OKI? And how is another grey colorprinter going to stand out in a market of grey printers fra big competitors like HP and Canon? Most customers have a hard time seeing the differences in the variety of printers and wind up making their choice based on the emotional brand appeal.

We’ve bought digital projectors for three cinemas,” was the brief message from the directors of Nordisk Film Cinemas. After years of industry discussions on the right timing to invest and introduce high-end digital projection in the movie theaters and use harddrives rather than celluloid the leading Danish chain of movie theaters had taken the first step. But what would they name the new type of film projection? And how should it be presented to the audience?