Celebrating outstanding achievements, with a touch of gold
Chairman’s Awards, BAE Systems’ global recognition program, play a vital role by inspiring people to go above and beyond. To support the company’s business transformation, the program needed to stimulate new levels of excellence, efficiency, and innovation. But in 2022, after the pandemic prevented celebrations for two years, nomination numbers fell.
Brand research found that a large portion of the company’s important manufacturing population felt the awards were outdated and exclusive – it was clear that the program needed to transform to engage new audiences. We conducted a complete overhaul, starting with new nomination categories in technology, customer service, operational excellence, and sustainability, that gave more kinds of achievements a chance to be recognised. Updated messaging to be more inclusive, we created and ran the annual internal brand campaign for two years, building excitement and engagement across the organisation.
As the legacy awards program came to an end, we created a high-profile Gold winners event with a bespoke, keepsake brochure to accompany. Through our ‘touch of gold’ concept, we created a complete set of event branding assets, including a glossy 30-page booklet – each spread crafted around a symbolic object representing the nomination story coloured in gold, and a stunning bifold design to celebrate the nominees who could not attend during covid. The event provided an immersive brand experience and a powerful reminder of the importance of recognising inspiring work, generating a significant upturn in engagement to usher in the new awards program.
