ITALGAS
A new communications approach to support business strategy
#content & stories
#content strategy
#internal engagement & training
#understanding trends
Brief
Following an IPO and the arrival of a new management team, Italgas has emerged as an independent utility after many years as a subsidiary of Eni and Snam. This created a need for to assert its own identity (and 180 years of history) and convey its business strategy by better presenting its role in the natural gas value chain and reaching out to the millions of consumers its serves.
We were asked to support Italgas in defining the key components of its identity and a new content strategy, which guided the re-launch of Italgas’s web estate. On this project, we were asked to work with the web agency to meet the company’s objectives.
In a second phase, we were asked to support Italgas in developing a storytelling strategy in order to showcase the company’s activities in a variety of areas. The goal was to help humanize the company and convey how Italgas operates “behind the scenes.”
Our work
STEP 1: DEFINE A NEW COMMUNICATIONS STRATEGY
The main objective of our work was to help Italgas define its purpose, messages and communication goals. We assessed the company’s communication assets, interviewed members of the management team and analysed international peers to understand how they communicate their role and identity. We presented our findings and content strategy to the CEO, providing the guidelines for the development of a new online presence.
STEP 2: CONTENT FOCUSED ON USERS
We defined an entirely new content architecture and developed all content for the new corporate website. By focusing on the sections for consumers (“Services for you”), we overhauled the content architecture and language so as to speak directly to the utility’s users. We also developed “Why gas”, a new section aimed at presenting the role of gas.
STEP 3: MAKING SENSE OF ITALGAS THROUGH STORYTELLING
We held a further round of tailored interviews with top management to understand key trends and topics that helped guide our ideas for a storytelling strategy, together with an in-depth benchmark of best practice examples. The storytelling strategy we came up with, focused on topics that make business sense for Italgas, included an editorial plan to ensure the steady production of articles. Subsequently, we partnered with Italgas’s copywriting agency to guide them in the first couple of stories for the new storytelling section.
Result
The new website, produced according to a tight timeframe, was launched in time for the presentation of the new business plan in June 2018. A new storytelling section launched in August 2019 with a look behind the scenes at Italgas’s new Digital Factory, and showcasing the company in a new, more engaging, light.
