Winner
Discovery Communications

One of the first challenges of 2007 for Discovery's internal communications and operations team (ICO) was guiding the company through its CEO transition as outgoing president and CEO Judith McHale stepped down for incoming CEO David Zaslav. After Zaslav took over, the team focused on the new CEO's goals: building strong brands, creating a lean and aggressive organization, and leading in new-media brand extensions.

With a staff of seven, one support staffer, and a limited budget, ICO has consolidated itself as a key partner among colleagues at Discovery. This year, the team has met its goals through a number of initiatives, including "One Discovery Portal," a corporate intranet; Local Newswires; and Executive NewsBlast - outlets that inform staff members of Discovery's latest campaigns, acquisitions, and projects. The ICO also hosts "Discovery Premieres," an internal screening event where staffers get to enjoy Discovery programming before it hits public airwaves.

The ICO team also initiated a number of programs to engage employees in the extension of the Discovery brand. The "Discovery Field Reporters" program enlisted employees from around the globe to contribute stories, videos, and photos. The "Planet Green at Work" program spurred employee action to help support the company's green corporate values.

Some of the highlights from this year's internal communications programs included "Reaching New Heights," the CEO transition initiative whereby the ICO team launched a microsite to serve as a go-to portal for information, as well as an outlet for employee feedback. The team also organized a screening event for the premiere episode of its show Pole to Pole for more than 300 employees. It also included an employee photography contest. The team set up an outdoor "Dive-In Movie" screening at One Discovery Place for employees and family members during the always-popular Shark Week. It also launched another family event for the season opening of Meerkat Manor.

The judges all praised the ICO team's efforts to keep employees and their families engaged with the company. "Excellent internal communications and use of flagship programs to promote internal cohesiveness," said one judge. "Very good sense of how they used strong content to keep employees engaged and excited about the company," said another.

The efforts of the ICO team led to a mention in The Wall Street Journal, when Zaslav credited them with keeping Discovery employees tuned into the C-level transition, thus allowing employees an opportunity for feedback.

Honorable Mention
American Airlines

Continuing to fight back from the 9/11 attacks and the subsequent recession, American Airlines' internal communications team kept encouraging employees to tell the story of the airline's financial recovery. Its main objective was to communicate with customers and staff how the company was investing in their travel experience. These communications efforts led to the development of a number of product, service, and network enhancements for the airline. During 2007, the communications team planned ahead to make sure it was both creative and proactive with its outreach efforts to help convey the airline's progress. Financial updates were promoted through executive conference calls with analysts and the press and, as quarterly numbers began to signify promise, the internal team made executives and media-savvy employees available for interviews. In addition, the team helped promote stories about American's business-class cabin enhancements on the 777 and 767-300 aircrafts, as well as upgrades to the entire fleet of 757s. The judges were impressed. "American has done a better job at managing its image and keeping consistent management," one judge remarked.

Finalists 2008
American Airlines
Discovery Communications
National Instruments
WellPoint Inc.
Whirlpool Corp./Maytag Brand 

The Award
Open to any corporate/company PR department that has more than five professional employees, this award recognizes success in addressing the spectrum of management issues and goals, and in handling corporate communications campaigns and programs, including crises. Judges strongly considered communications management achievements, such as cost-effective use of in-house and external resources, department restructuring programs, and success in integrating other communications functions - including advertising, event management, and Web development - into the PR function

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