How we democratised data for Bic

“There was a lot riding on this project, but Mustard came in and exceeded expectations. They showed there’s always a better way to do communications.”
Debra J Mednick, Sr. Manager Market Intelligence & Insights at Bic

When international consumer goods company Bic wanted to create a data platform combining their sources across all markets, the solution was OneView. However, with the data team focused on building OneView and integrating multiple sources into the platform, they had little time to think about communicating the value of the platform and getting their stakeholders engaged.

Our client, Debra Mednick, found out fast that it is not a case of ‘build it and they will come’. The whole point of OneView was to socialise and democratise data and get it into as many people’s hands as possible. But the team needed outside help to make that happen.

COMMUNICATION CHALLENGES

Bic faced several communication challenges when starting this project. The first was awareness – to get and keep the community of users on platform. This community was 400 people but was growing daily. The second was finding ways in which people at Bic could become engaged with the platform to democratise the data and ensure they were confident users.

FOCUSING THE MESSAGE

Together with the team at Bic we went on a journey to make their platform and data famous.

We started with a digital workshop to formulate a creative brief. We wanted to focus on the single, overriding message that the team needed to get across. This focus was vital to get clarity and cut through for the communications.

Once the brief was agreed, we created an internal ‘brand’ for OneView, with a logo and strapline focused on its benefits for users. We designed a distinctive newsletter and banner, using the Bic branding while getting stand-out alongside other internal communication.

Then we worked closely with Bic to launch a communication campaign across thirty countries and in the three categories they operate in. We planned communication efforts to help get people onboard, and regular internal newsletters to drive engagement.

During the initial months, we tracked the progress of the data being integrated with the platform, to ensure that the Bic team all over the world (including senior management) knew they were being included and prioritized.

To encourage engagement, we created testimonials of selected users. We did short interviews with them and wrote up their comments into punchy pieces with their photo. This ‘leading by example’ caused a great deal of interest at Bic and people became keen to be included as a user. This proved to be possibly the most powerful part of the communication, as future users were able to understand first-hand why their colleagues across the world were using and optimising the platform.

HELPING MAKE DATA AND INSIGHTS FAMOUS

At Keen as Mustard, we specialize in communicating data and insights, which is why Debra’s team chose us for this project. Bic needed help from agency that understood market research, that would come up with fresh ideas and that knew how to use data to communicate. By taking care of the communications, we helped Bic keep to their schedule and meet their goals for the platform.

Watch Lucy and Debra ‘s session on data democratisation at Quirk’s New York below: