Internal Communications with Global Reach
As managing director of the Memphis office of MP&F, the state’s top strategic communications firm based in Nashville, I co-led a team that served the Navy Personnel Command and its Fleet and Family Support Centers around the world. The Navy’s Fleet and Family Support Centers offer 18 services from professional counseling and spouse employment assistance to personal financial management and new parent support to more than 350,000 Navy service members and their families worldwide.
The U.S. Navy hired MP&F to market those services, raise awareness, increase utilization and advance the Navy goals of enhanced retention and improved readiness.
Our team conducted comprehensive research, including multiple focus groups of stakeholders on bases foreign and domestic. We analyzed the results and developed a multi-faceted strategic plan to rebrand Fleet and Family Support Centers as The Center at 67 sites worldwide. I drafted much of our strategic communications and marketing plan, which filled a three-ring binder four inches thick. Then we helped Navy personnel put the integrated campaign into action.
A lighthouse logo with the tagline “Meeting Your Needs. At Home. At Sea” gave The Centers a uniform look and unified message that resonated with all target audiences. We provided on-base managers with a robust, customizable marketing toolkit of campaign elements and with marketing training through a series of three separate three-day professional development seminars conducted on-site in Millington, the Memphis suburb which is the HQ for the Navy Personnel Command.
The toolkit included: templates for an electronic newsletter, PowerPoint, a calendar, fact sheet, posters and ads, a milestones piece, community relations guide, talking points, brochure, and video and more. The materials focused on people, such as service members at parenting classes and spouses at resume-writing workshops. In addition, strategies and elements focused on creating content from everyday success stories for distribution through internal and other Navy media channels.
The internal campaign raised awareness and fostered positive perceptions of the programs across the chain of command. As a result, the Navy tracked a 36 percent increase in program utilization over two years. Our contribution to the Navy’s success resulted in an expanded, multi-year relationship.
