2009 Houston BMA Lantern Awards
Submissions to the Houston BMA Lantern Awards from 2009
2009 Houston Lantern Awards
Excellence Awards given for submissions listed below
Excellence Awards given for submissions listed below
J. Ray NEWS - Magazine - External Audiences - Excellence Award Winner
J. Ray NEWS - Magazine - External Audiences - Excellence Award Winner
Text from the side of the submission
J. Ray News magazine is the flagship publication of J. Ray McDermott’s external marketing material with project-focused news and stories for our customers worldwide.
Now in its third year, changes were made in 2009 to content and layout, guided by results of an extensive reader survey, undertaken by the J. Ray communications team at the end of 2008. The overriding messages were that customers highly value the magazine’s content in keeping them informed about J. Ray activities and strategy, and help- ing them to better understand J. Ray products and services.
The publication has shifted slightly to be even more strategic, focus- ing on the why and how, in addition to what J. Ray does, through key examples of engineering, procurement, construction and installation projects across its worldwide markets in conventional field develop- ment, floating production and subsea infrastructure.
Several regular “department” features receiving low interest scores from customer-readers were discontinued or re-purposed. For exam- ple, community involvement news is now incorporated in the popular “News Pipeline” section instead of as a separate article/section; and employee profiles are blended into larger feature articles rather than appearing as stand-alones.
When used as a recruiting tool, this has the added benefit of helping attract new employees in a competitive market by presenting stories that show careers in action and the projects that shape them.
What hasn’t changed is the magazine’s goal of presenting relevant information about our services and the locations in which we provide them, in an interesting and non-traditional “corporate magazine” way.
Our “special focus” approach, in which we present a number of articles on one topic (project execution and innovation in the issues submit- ted with this entry), for example, helps convey the depth and breadth of J. Ray experience and capabilities. Survey responses indicating that readers highly value this section – usually 1-14 pages of an issue - was a pleasant surprise and welcome validation.
Drawing on our expansive in-house picture library, we continue to populate our full page adverts with stunning project photos, while dedicating the back cover to showcase the company’s latest market- ing message. On the front of the book, rather than featuring a project structure on the cover of each issue, we search for a unique and in- triguing image related to the magazine’s “area focus” that we hope will capture our readers’ curiosity and imagination and encourage them to keep the issue on their coffee table just that bit longer – to share it with colleagues, or to take it home.
Now in its third year, changes were made in 2009 to content and layout, guided by results of an extensive reader survey, undertaken by the J. Ray communications team at the end of 2008. The overriding messages were that customers highly value the magazine’s content in keeping them informed about J. Ray activities and strategy, and help- ing them to better understand J. Ray products and services.
The publication has shifted slightly to be even more strategic, focus- ing on the why and how, in addition to what J. Ray does, through key examples of engineering, procurement, construction and installation projects across its worldwide markets in conventional field develop- ment, floating production and subsea infrastructure.
Several regular “department” features receiving low interest scores from customer-readers were discontinued or re-purposed. For exam- ple, community involvement news is now incorporated in the popular “News Pipeline” section instead of as a separate article/section; and employee profiles are blended into larger feature articles rather than appearing as stand-alones.
When used as a recruiting tool, this has the added benefit of helping attract new employees in a competitive market by presenting stories that show careers in action and the projects that shape them.
What hasn’t changed is the magazine’s goal of presenting relevant information about our services and the locations in which we provide them, in an interesting and non-traditional “corporate magazine” way.
Our “special focus” approach, in which we present a number of articles on one topic (project execution and innovation in the issues submit- ted with this entry), for example, helps convey the depth and breadth of J. Ray experience and capabilities. Survey responses indicating that readers highly value this section – usually 1-14 pages of an issue - was a pleasant surprise and welcome validation.
Drawing on our expansive in-house picture library, we continue to populate our full page adverts with stunning project photos, while dedicating the back cover to showcase the company’s latest market- ing message. On the front of the book, rather than featuring a project structure on the cover of each issue, we search for a unique and in- triguing image related to the magazine’s “area focus” that we hope will capture our readers’ curiosity and imagination and encourage them to keep the issue on their coffee table just that bit longer – to share it with colleagues, or to take it home.
EPIClife - Magazine - Internal Audiences - Excellence Award Winner
Text from the side of the submission
Historically J. Ray McDermott has published an internal employee news magazine for its operations around the world - produced and published regionally by area communications groups. Our Americas region, however, did not have such a publication for several years, until the Corporate Communications team in Houston rebranded and re-designed the international groups’ editions, naming it EPIC life and launching it as a template for all regions to use.
Historically J. Ray McDermott has published an internal employee news magazine for its operations around the world - produced and published regionally by area communications groups. Our Americas region, however, did not have such a publication for several years, until the Corporate Communications team in Houston rebranded and re-designed the international groups’ editions, naming it EPIC life and launching it as a template for all regions to use.
EPIC life is an employee publication that delivers business and people news, recognizes and celebrates successes and reinforces J. Ray values. Published three to four times a year, EPIC life supplements other more frequent internal communication methods and channels, and provides a more in-depth look at the why and how of what is going on across the company.
In light of today’s economic situation and that of industry in general, it is especially important to keep employees informed of the great projects the company executes, achievements of fellow employees, and key busi- ness messages and initiatives from across our operating groups. The aim of the publication is to build pride in being a part of J. Ray and encourage employee involvement. Since its launch in Q1 2009, there has been strong support for the publication.
Due to certain budgetary restraints, the communications group decided to limit the publication to the optimum print size of 16 pages, and dis- tribute it via e-mail to employees directing them to an intranet link, to read on-line. This followed informal research conducted on employees’ preferred method of receiving company information. For craftsmen and crews in the yard and on our vessels across the Americas (Gulf of Mexico and Canada), with limited or no access to company computers, we run a limited print edition on medium grade paper, in an attempt to convey the message that we are using our resources prudently.
What’s in a name? Why EPIC life?
In the offshore engineering and construction industry we use the acro- nym “EPCI” - Engineering, Procurement, Construction and Installation - to describe our services and our overall preferred method of contracting. Verbally, this acronym is generally pronounced “EPIC.”“Life” refers to the energy and dynamic nature of our jobs, abilities and experiences, and al- lows us to learn more about each other, reinforcing our people focus.
To add a human interest to the title and get employees involved in the publication’s launch, the communications team randomly interviewed employees in the Americas region about what “epic” means to them on- the-job and personally. Running the gamut from “Great or impressive,” to “Outstanding, out-of-the-norm,”“Huge, all encompassing, bigger than life,” “Exciting, new, leading edge, ” all these “epic” meanings reflect the inten- sity, fullness and grand scale of our business and value of services that we provide our customers. Using these comments in crafting the cover story of the first issue was a way to invite and engage employees to their new communication medium.
To add a human interest to the title and get employees involved in the publication’s launch, the communications team randomly interviewed employees in the Americas region about what “epic” means to them on- the-job and personally. Running the gamut from “Great or impressive,” to “Outstanding, out-of-the-norm,”“Huge, all encompassing, bigger than life,” “Exciting, new, leading edge, ” all these “epic” meanings reflect the inten- sity, fullness and grand scale of our business and value of services that we provide our customers. Using these comments in crafting the cover story of the first issue was a way to invite and engage employees to their new communication medium.
Promotion Campaign
Prior to the launch of EPIC life, a four-week promotional campaign used posters throughout our regional offices and on our vessels. Each week one or two letters of the EPIC life title was revealed, com-
mencing with “E”. The final launch posters announced that the publication was avail- able “online” for office employees, “onsite” for craftsmen in the yards, and “onboard” for our vessel crews. As a tongue in cheek gimmick, we decided to use the notice holders in- stalled on the inside of all restroom stall doors by our Health & Safety department, designing a dough boy and girl reading hid/her copy of EPIC life while sitting on the commode! As you can imagine there was a mixed reaction to the joke, but it gave us a smile and certainly attracted attention!