Ingersoll Rand - Best Corporate Communications Campaign

Company: Ingersoll Rand, Charlotte, NC
Entry Submitted By: Clairemont Communications
Company Description: Ingersoll Rand Inc. (NYSE:IR), driven by an entrepreneurial spirit and ownership mindset, is committed to helping make life better. We provide innovative and mission-critical industrial, energy, medical and specialty vehicle products and services across 40+ respected brands designed to excel in even the most complex and harsh conditions where downtime is especially costly.
Nomination Category: Corporate Communications, Investor Relations, & Public Relations Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Communications or PR Campaign of the Year - Corporate Communications

Nomination Title: Owning the Future: Ingersoll Rand’s Equity Grant

Specify the date on which this campaign or program was launched:

Ingersoll Rand awarded a $150 million equity grant to its employees on September 21, 2020, making all employees owners in the company. Planning for this event started in January 2020 and continued through the end of September of 2020.

In March 2020, Gardner Denver, Inc. merged with the Ingersoll Rand Industrials segment to form the new Ingersoll Rand (IR), a global provider of mission-critical flow creation and industrial solutions. Since the new company launched the same month the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a global pandemic, Ingersoll Rand faced the hefty challenge of uniting 16,000 employees across 70 countries during the isolation and disruption brought by coronavirus.

Within its first six months as a new company, Ingersoll Rand designed an initiative to endow employees with a sense of ownership and unite them behind its purpose: “Lean on us to help you make life better.” Executive leadership knew that a causal positive relationship exists between employee ownership and company performance; positive results will occur when employees are granted “skin in the game” and opportunity to participate in growth, fueling IR’s goal to double company revenue within five years. In addition, building and maintaining trust with 16,000 employees of a newly formed organization is centered on following through with commitments, despite the unforeseen global pandemic.

In September of 2020, Ingersoll Rand awarded a $150 million equity grant to all employees, embodying one of the company’s core values that employees should “Think and Act Like Owners.” The comprehensive communications program aimed to forge a celebratory spirit of inclusion, excitement and potential among employees, while conveying a bold statement of growth and commitment to partners, investors and customers as one of the largest grants of its kind in history.

Since IR was using communications and HR channels that hadn’t been fully integrated, clarity and cohesion became critical in this two-pronged plan.

Internal: The communications team designed a multi-channel strategy to equip and prepare employees at every level with the goal to increase employee engagement by at least two points on internal employee surveys. Local HR leaders received courses to facilitate logistics and guide employees’ 101 equity trainings, and employees received “bite-sized,” cadenced communications via weekly emails from the CEO, intranet fact sheets/articles translated in 15 languages, posters and even graphics displayed on factory floor monitors. Through Purpose & Values training sessions, employees personally connected their own values to those of the company. The team spotlighted the long-term benefits and significance of company ownership, as well as planned a global virtual celebration to foster excitement.

External: Research revealed a partnership with the New York Stock Exchange boosted visibility with top-tier financial media outlets. Additionally, due to the company’s stock being traded on the New York Stock Exchange, a bell-ringing ceremony was the perfect way to kickoff this historic, company celebration. The communications team set a goal to secure coverage in three top tier financial outlets, one financial broadcast and an article five specific U.S. markets, as well as international coverage in EMEIA and AP. It also aimed to increase shareholder value through a 10% increase in the value of an employee equity grant in first 45 days.

Equipped with a “party in the box,” 300 Ingersoll Rand sites hosted celebrations together or at home. The town hall featured interviews with teams from Simmern, Germany to Wujiang, China, sharing reactions to allow employees to celebrate with their global teammates in real time, and each employee received a personalized, framed equity grant certificate with letter from the CEO.

Externally, the bell-ringing event at the New York Stock Exchange broadcasted Ingersoll Rand’s strong financial position and growth strategies across the globe. IR’s full-scale media campaign targeted local and national outlets – from the Philadelphia Business Journal to CNBC – with pitches that spotlighted this historical milestone, its economic impact, case studies on leadership development and even milestones in diversity. Proactive pitching secured lead coverage in Ingersoll Rand’s five top national markets, top-tier visibility in outlets like Fortune, Bloomberg and Marketwatch, and coverage in EMEIA, India and APAC. Coordinated social media messages targeted more than 160,000 followers on LinkedIn alone.

Ingersoll Rand’s equity grant changed the company’s trajectory. Ingersoll Rand witnessed a significant uptick in employee engagement, such as a five-point increased with indicator “I feel connected to Ingersoll Rand.” Each business unit achieved or surpassed quarterly goals despite a pandemic environment, enabling IR to acquire Leading Peristaltic Pump Manufacturer, Albin Pump SAS, and Tuthill Vacuum and Blower Systems. IR achieved twice the target increase in equity grant value with 20% versus the original 10% goal in fewer than 45 days after grant event.

The equity grant corporate communications strategy stands as a hallmark of innovative problem-solving in the midst of COVID, meticulous planning and real-time execution that yielded immediate and long-term results. Supporting materials demonstrate the strategic planning beginning with the insights and analysis section, which includes studies on equity grants and company performance, research on the New York Stock Exchange, a media strategy, pre-equity employee surveys and pre-event Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). The planning section of the supporting documents contains the detailed strategy, including communications and HR plans, calendars, an employee training, media pitch strategy, social media strategy and minute-by-minute run of shows.

Creative elements and detailed touches ensured that the implementation for this campaign communicated clear information with a celebratory spirit. Implementation materials include a news release, pitch strategy and media brief documents, intranet article examples for employees, the equity grant infographic showcased digitally, the equity grant letter and certificate, and photos from the global webcast and town hall. The execution section demonstrates the high efficacy of the campaign through the hefty news exposure in the coverage report, the increased scores in the employee surveys and the shining financial growth reflected in the full-year earnings news release.

No stone was left unturned to deliver a streamlined, comprehensive message that welcomed employees as owners of the company, celebrated the bold growth as a company and positioned Ingersoll Rand externally as a stronger, more viable partner.