TBWA Case Study

Movable Type Connects 258 Worldwide TBWA Offices

A leading advertising agency adopts Movable Type to foster collaboration, and open new lines of communication among its 9,700 employees.

Customer Profile

TBWA is a global advertising network that provides brand management, communications, and marketing solutions. The company is a recognized leader in the industry, winning countless awards for its innovative work. Named Global Agency of the Year 2006 by ADWEEK, TBWA's clients include Absolut, Adidas, Apple, Mars, McDonald's, Michelin, and Nissan.

The Challenge

"Compared to the intranet that we had before, Movable Type has given us a better solution in a fraction of the time, and we already have a 20-fold increase in participation."

- Laurie Coots, Chief Marketing Officer Worldwide, TBWA

With 258 offices in 77 countries, TBWA continually strives to grasp its collective knowledge, and encourage collaboration among its employees. They are searching for a way to easily connect thousands of employees worldwide, to help increase collaboration and bridge communication silos. "We want working at our 9,700-person company to feel like working at a 25-person company, with the same level of intimacy and connection," says Coots.

Until adopting Movable Type, TBWA communicated internally in a way similar to that of many large organizations today: with a lot of duplicative publishing. Employees spent hours compiling work data and thought leadership articles, which were then copied and distributed to peers around the world.

To conduct coordinated employee meetings, the company shipped DVDs and talking points to every one of the agency's 258 offices, at a very high cost. "It felt very one-way," says Coots. "Plus it didn't allow us to tap into the pool of talent we have in our company."

The Solution

"Thanks to Movable Type, we'll save several hundreds of thousands of dollars in this first year alone on the physical publishing we didn't have to do, and the meetings we didn't have to have." - Laurie Coots

To shift the company's internal communication paradigm, TBWA selected Movable Type to create a new online communication portal. Movable Type's authentication controls are popular with the project's administrators. The robust permission tools make it easy for large companies to identify different types of users and groups and provide them with selective access to the channels. Just four months after adopting Movable Type, TBWA launched its new internal communication hub with 27 channels and several hundred post on each one - almost 5,000 pages of information.

The Change

Movable Type's easy-to-use interface has provided a format that employees really like to use and it has resulted in participation numbers that far exceed TBWA's expectations. "Our CIO, Ted Colgate, has a very strict rule, and that is, 'Any technology solution we introduce must simplify and amplify the use of what we already offer.' Movable Type has achieved this," says Coots.

Movable Type has significantly reduced TBWA's communication costs. The worldwide choreographed meetings carried a high price tag. Coots says, "Thanks to Movable Type, we'll save several hundreds of thousands of dollars in this first year on the physical publishing we didn't have to do, and the meetings we didn't have to have."

Finally, TBWA has achieved a new level community engagement among its employees. Movable Type now provides the structure for the "virtual hallway" that TBWA employees pass through every morning. "Everyone experiences the portal everyday," says Coots. "They come in, get their coffee, log in, and access all the tools they need. What was once a myriad of bookmarks and applications is now a unified experience and destination."