BREWING UP EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
One of the UK’s major brewery and pub chains, Marston’s launched four new videos to engage employees and provide a better onboarding experience for new recruits. Amy Sandys examines the communications strategy
Across the UK, visiting the pub is akin to a religion. Consistently cited as a favourite pastime for the drinking age population, Brits are often never as happy as when drinking a pint of session ale ‘down the local.’ However, without the millions of staff employed by pubs up and down the country to pull pints, serve food and generally maintain an atmosphere of joviality, this enjoyment simply wouldn’t be possible. One of the UK’s largest pub and brewery chains, Marston’s, recognises the integral role played by its employees in keeping the British public happy – indeed, says head of group people communications at Marston’s, Vicky Fletcher, without its 13,500 employees, Marston’s purpose is negated. “Marston’s is all about people,” says Fletcher. “Without them, we wouldn’t have a business. They are the heart and soul.” Yet, with the vast majority of the company’s workforce comprised of young people under the age of 30 and employed on a part-time or shift basis, ensuring staff understand their value and are happy to rally behind the Marston’s community spirit is integral in keeping this heart alive. To communicate this spirit to its large and geographically disparate workforce, Marston’s collaborated with live events and communication specialist, Top Banana. A suite of films, aimed at welcoming new recruits and articulating the key aspects of the brewery’s employer brand to existing staff, were developed. Released across Marston’s internal communications platforms, the films serve as a reminder that working for Marston’s goes beyond beer. Using film, explains Fletcher, was key to ensuring the workforce rallied behind the company’s nationwide ethos; having only values was not enough to effectively engage its many employees. Fletcher says, “It’s important that, where possible, any videos we produce have our people front and centre. Marston’s style and tone is very authentic, honest, straightforward and down to earth, so we use real people in real situations, unscripted, because every day, natural language and phrasing is what our people will understand and connect with.”
Richard Bridge, creative director and founder at Top Banana, agrees. For Bridge, the collaboration has enabled Marston’s to demonstrate its key workplace ethos in a visually stimulating way. “What Marston’s has done is make films that absolutely engage the people. They drive the behaviours and they create the energy and the culture that Marston’s wants for the future,” he says. The various roles and interests across the Marston’s employee structure is matched in its four video suite, all delivered by Top Banana. Ranging from an animated user journey through its new headquarters in Wolverhampton to a documentary-style video describing the company’s waste management process, the format of each film was carefully considered to deliver the optimum result. Chosen to be playful or informative, reassuring or interesting, for Top Banana the choice of output depended largely on the information being broadcast.
Across the UK, visiting the pub is akin to a religion. Consistently cited as a favourite pastime for the drinking age population, Brits are often never as happy as when drinking a pint of session ale ‘down the local.’
However, without the millions of staff employed by pubs up and down the country to pull pints, serve food and generally maintain an atmosphere of joviality, this enjoyment simply wouldn’t be possible. One of the UK’s largest pub and brewery chains, Marston’s, recognises the integral role played by its employees in keeping the British public happy – indeed, says channel marketing manager at Marston’s, Vicky Fletcher, without its 13,500 employees, Marston’s purpose is negated. “Marston’s is all about people,” says Fletcher. “Without them, we wouldn’t have a business. They are the heart and soul.”
Yet, with the vast majority of the company’s workforce comprised of young people under the age of 30 and employed on a part-time or shift basis, ensuring staff understand their value and are happy to rally behind the Marston’s community spirit is integral in keeping this heart alive. To communicate this spirit to its large and geographically disparate workforce, Marston’s collaborated with London-based digital and video content studio, Top Banana. A suite of films, aimed at welcoming new recruits and articulating the key aspects of the brewery’s employer brand to existing staff, were developed.
Released across Marston’s internal communications platforms, the films serve as a reminder that working for Marston’s goes beyond beer. Using film, explains Fletcher, was key to ensuring the workforce rallied behind the company’s nationwide ethos; having only values was not enough to effectively engage its many employees.
Fletcher says, “It’s important that, where possible, any videos we produce have our people front and centre. Marston’s style and tone is very authentic, honest, straightforward and down to earth, so we use real people in real situations, unscripted, because every day, natural language and phrasing is what our people will understand and connect with.” Richard Bridge, client services director at Top Banana, agrees. For Bridge, the collaboration has enabled Marston’s to demonstrate its key workplace ethos in a visually stimulating way. “What Marston’s has done is make films that absolutely engage the people. They drive the behaviours and they create the energy and the culture that Marston’s wants for the future,” he says.
The various roles and interests across the Marston’s employee structure is matched in its four video suite, all delivered by Top Banana. Ranging from an animated user journey through its new headquarters in Wolverhampton to a documentary-style video describing the company’s waste management process, the format of each film was carefully considered to deliver the optimum result. Chosen to be playful or informative, reassuring or interesting, for Top Banana the choice of output depended largely on the information being broadcast.
Creating this diverse suite also enhanced the internal communication process, which Marston’s was looking to strengthen. For Bridge, ensuring Marston’s didn’t just stick to a ‘tried and tested’ real-life format added excitement to the project – for both the agency, and its audience. “Being willing to try a mixture of genres to tell the story means it doesn’t become the same old same old all the time,” says Bridge. “It’s not just about the live action film – it’s about supplying the audience with a little bit more to prevent things becoming a bit vanilla, a bit ‘used to’ communications – rather than surprising and disruptive communications.”
A mixture in the approach and format also encourages greater employee participation, and ensures Marston’s purpose- and value-driven messaging appeals to staff across the entire company. “The aim is to connect the different teams in Marston’s together by developing videos that apply to all employees, no matter where they are or what they do,” says Fletcher.
And, she explains, this approach was developed strategically to create a sense of belonging for employees who may have felt neglected in previous Marston’s engagement strategies. “Our employee survey results told us that our people were unsure of the broader business plan and how they can contribute, so we’re on a journey to bring this to life for them in a simple, accessible way, while demonstrating and celebrating the successes around the business,” says Fletcher.
Marston’s will continue working on this goal through any future communications output. Fletcher says, “Digital definitely plays a major role in the future for Marston’s, it’s how a big proportion of our people communicate outside of work. Video will continue to be important and we’re exploring different ways of using video to keep it fresh, from quality produced films and animations through to in-house produced short videos and user-generated vox-pops. All of them have a place in our communications, it’s just using the right style for the right message and audience.”
However, with 21 pubs shutting their doors each week across the UK, demonstrating the appeal of both working for, and visiting, a Marston’s pub or brewery is paramount. The social, friendly aspects of Marston’s film suite aims to reflect traits inherent to the wider pub industry, all of which is at risk. “Simple, straightforward style is really important with conversational language and tone. We’re a social business, so we keep our comms social, light and fun,” says Fletcher.
A carefully crafted tone of voice has been developed to encourage job applications and promote employee retention in a traditionally transient industry – difficult, particularly given the shift work which makes up 80% of Marston’s workforce. Fletcher adds, “Being featured in one our videos gives a massive sense of pride and is a form of recognition, so picking out areas of best practice and people who we want others to model is important. It also builds awareness for our teammates of the broader business they’re part of, inspiring them to think more broadly and consider other areas of the business.” For Marston’s, then, effective employer brand management is a major part of defining and promoting its internal culture. Demonstrating how the employees of today shape the pub industry of the future is crucial for its continued business success.
“We all know employee engagement happens when people feel they’re listened to with value and communicated to, and that’s part of what these films go out there and deliver,” says Bridge. “Marston’s is going places; the people and the products drive it as a great place to be – that’s fantastic in what is a potential declining market. As with every business in the world it can’t afford to stand still. It’s a great business to be part of.”
