Dell Inc.
Internal "Customer Experience" Branding Campaign

Situation
Dell Inc. is a trusted and diversified information-technology supplier and partner, and sells a comprehensive portfolio of products and services directly to customers worldwide.

At the commencement of this "Customer Experience" initiative, there were several issues regarding employee communications and customer satisfaction at Dell.

• Customer dissatisfaction was high and the cost of customer dissatisfaction to the bottom line was undesirable.
• There were multiple employee communications initiatives cropping up throughout different company divisions leading to inconsistent messages, confusion and lack of buy-in.
• Employees were not being effectively educated on customer service issues and resolution.
• Although customer issue containment was better there were still issues occurring (not being prevented).
• There was no consistent way to reward/recognize employees who deliver a superior customer experience.
• There were too many measurements/metrics in place that caused confusion and were tough to evaluate.

The ultimate objective of this campaign was to improve customer satisfaction by delivering a superior customer experience thereby increasing customer loyalty and retention. Dell wanted a single worldwide initiative with a global visual identity and unified objectives – packaged in an easy-to-understand, fun, compelling campaign

Solution
The "Be The Reason" campaign was designed to reach all Dell employees worldwide, both customer-facing and non-customer facing, including those from a wide variety of functions, geographic locations, level, languages, etc. It was important that the campaign be flexible enough and "production-friendly" enough to allow for different divisions within different parts of the world to create their own materials – realizing cost efficiencies as well as localized messaging and translations.

Messaging
We worked with Dell to establish the central core message "Be the Reason" that serves as an anchor for secondary messages such as, "Be the Reason Customers Choose Dell," "Be the Reason Customer's Keep Coming Back," etc.

Identity
It was important to design a visual identity that any Dell employee could relate to. We designed the logo with 2 female and 1 male silhouette so that any Dell employee could envision him/herself as "the reason" customers choose Dell. Using the Dell blue as the core color, a lively color palette was chosen to allow for flexibility and customization.

We also created graphic standards and templates to be launched worldwide so that individual divisions could create their own secondary messages and goals as well as produce and print materials consistent with the corporate BTR campaign in their own regions.

Tactics
We partnered with Dell to develop tactics that stood out and featured actual employees embracing the central message including a Web cast with frequently asked questions, e-mails from top executives, interactive flash pieces, monitor stickers, building banners, departmental posters featuring local employees, "teaser" and ongoing splash screens, and a traveling banner for employees to pledge their commitment.

Results
Since campaign launch in January 2005, the customer satisfaction improvement rate is up 20% Worldwide. Customer experience rallies have attracted over 2,500 employees and over 4,000 employees in the U.S. and EMEA viewed the introductory Web cast alone. Anecdotal evidence suggests enthusiastic, positive feedback from employees as well as a grass-root interest and adoption across all lines of the business.

Anonymous Employee Comments
"I really like the BTR campaign as an overall campaign for Dell. Positive both in terms of reducing the clutter of messages (replacing one unifying message) – and in putting things in terms that are more personal/emotional rather than just generic. Taps into employees' sense of pride and importance in what they do."

"My career at Dell began not to long ago and my trainers did a good job at effectively communicating the theory behind the BE THE REASON campaign. I have always shared these feelings and am glad that I’ve found a company that shares my feelings on the issue. It was still nice to hear it being communicated by those in authority and, I’m sure, will help to strengthen our resolve to BE THE REASON."

"I’m lucky to have joined Dell in the middle of this "push" for customer satisfaction. And I'm happy to see a reminder that it’s not just the direct customer interaction employees that make a difference – but everyone, for instance: policy and procedure can have a widespread effect on this by changing the way we interact with the customers. Packaging and quality control affect what the customer gets to see and feel, etc. Keep it up!" 

"Good content. Nice to feel that every employee is a part of the team, and that each one of us makes a difference."

"Great to be at Dell. I am the reason, customers choose Dell."