The Royal Bank of Scotland Group appoint Forth Communication for CommunityForce 2011 initiative

Forth Communication were appointed in April 2011 to work with The Royal Bank of Scotland Group (RBS) on their CommunityForce initiative, part of the RBS and National Westminster Bank Plc (NatWest) Customer Charter - a set of specific service commitments based on customer feedback.CommunityForce was devised as a way to engage and support local communities.  The initiative provided a platform for local charities and community groups to raise awareness of their work, increase volunteering through leveraging skills and expertise from RBS employees and the wider public.  £3 million of financial support was available in the form of £6,000 cash awards, if projects were successful at the local public voting stage.2011 saw 6,882 successful applications (5,813 in England and Wales and a further 1,069 in Scotland). Each project was profiled on the CommunityForce websites, and supporters were given the opportunity to vote for their favourite charities/projects. The CommunityForce campaign was promoted through strategic local radio partnerships, press advertising, direct email campaigns to customers, in RBS/NatWest branches and via social networking.  Once voting closed, over 530,000 votes were counted and 470 charities and the winning projects received a financial reward of £6,000. Winners were selected from across Scotland, England and Wales with a wide variety of charities and groups receiving awards, ranging from animal sanctuaries to youth groups and sports clubs.  One such group was Chilterns MS Centre, providing opportunity for people with multiple sclerosis to get help.So, what role did Forth Communication play in the delivery of CommunityForce 2011?Forth Communication was responsible for a wide variety of tasks relating to this project and worked closely with RBS and NatWest staff to ensure a seamless process.  Namely: Checking charity and project applications against the entry criteria and assisting uploading entries to the CommunityForce websites Dealing with problems and irregularities with applications and working to resolve these Providing the telephone and email helpdesk Copywriting and broadcasting of charity and customer emails Screening and verifying picture and video content as it was uploaded by charities and projects onto the CommunityForce websites Managing the on and off line collation of votes Auditing results of voting against strict guidelines laid down by RBS Group Communicating with applicants on the progress of their application and what to do next Managing the collation and reporting of the award verification and payment process Providing a regular and comprehensive suite of reports Steve Lampshire, Senior Marketing Manager, Community Engagement, at RBS commented:“Forth Communication were integral to the success of this year’s CommunityForce.  We really have found Forth to be superb.  Their highly innovative 'can do' attitude, coupled with their robust delivery, reliability and professionalism has been first class.  Though Forth are first and foremost an agency specialising in customer communications, direct mail, data management and software development, it's fair to say that the breadth and depth of their knowledge has enabled them to problem solve and deliver innovative solutions for challenges outside the scope of their primary business specialism during the life of the CommunityForce project.  The volume of votes increased substantially from last year, and due to Forth’s commitment to the project we were able to deal with this. Key to the success of our relationship with Forth was down to good communication, through regular meetings, and up to date and informed reporting.  We are extremely pleased with the outcomes of the initiative.  We now have informed feedback for the next iteration of the initiative, which will further improve it.  Forth have been a delight to work with from start to finish.”Gordon Drysdale, Business Development Director at Forth Communication, Commented:“This is a new project for Forth and we have thoroughly enjoyed working with the team at RBS on a very worthwhile initiative.  Our expertise and skills in data capture, problem solving and data analysis were very much central to the work of the project.  This combined with good project management, regular communication with RBS and a can do attitude was the foundation on which we base this and all our projects on.    We are delighted that RBS are happy with the service we provided, and that they recognise our contribution to the success of the project.  We are grateful for such an opportunity and hope to work closely with RBS on CommunityForce 2012.”For further details on CommunityForce visit: http://communityforce.natwest.com/ and http://communityforce.rbs.co.uk/ RBS case study.pdf (505.70 kb)