It was a veritable valentine: a poem, sent to The Clinton Daily
Democrat by Clintonite Rita Barbee, praising Hilton Hotels Corp.
employees for helping to refurbish Artesian Park, a 118-year-old
recreational area in Clinton, Missouri (population, 10,000). The
restoration, which started in April 2002 and was finished three
months later, included the building of a memorial plaque for eight
local citizens killed in an explosive accident in Clinton in 1972
and the construction of a new, 250-seat amphitheater. The poem,
sent July 5, one day after work was completed, could warm the
hearts of PR execs hoping to enhance employee relations and, by
extension, the company's overall reputation. A sampling:
Some projects that could be enjoyed by all
With everyone working the order was tall
Then volunteers joined in, they all got together
And worked hours on end in unfavorable weather
Now, it's so neat to look around town and see
What Hilton and Clinton's partnership can be
Clinton locals were so inspired by the program they started a
citywide initiative under the same name.
Another reply, one a bit closer to home for Hilton workers,
should also resonate with communications executives who can
appreciate how much employee relations programs can make a
difference within the four walls. "We're receiving amazing support
and response from the field on this," said Bob Dirks, senior
VP/brand management and marketing, Hilton Hotels, who spoke at the
dedication ceremony in Clinton and was referring to other Hilton
employees who, taking their lead from the RAOS program, started to
perform random acts of assistance throughout the country. "This is
the kind of campaign I wanted."
The $500,000 restoration of Artesian Park was the centerpiece of
a Hilton employee relations program called Random Acts of Service
(RAOS). The genesis of RAOS dates back to summer of 2001, when
Jeanne Datz, director of brand communications at Hilton, was
looking to land what she called a "one-two punch" to enhance
employee relations. She wanted a program that would both plug
volunteerism throughout the country and get Hilton employees stoked
at the same time. "We wanted to reach out to communities and
showcase our team members," she says.
Following the September 11 terrorist attacks, Hilton staffers
were hungry to help make their communities better places. Many of
them were already in the field helping out their communities, but
their efforts were going unnoticed. Others Hilton employees wanted
to help but didn't know how. That's when Hilton's PR agency, Cohn
& Wolfe (Los Angeles) stepped in to create the RAOS program.
The program, designed to inspire Hilton employees to continue -- or
start -- to volunteer, was largely inspired by President Bush's
call during his 2002 State of the Union address for Americans to
volunteer more often.
The RAOS announcement was timed to coincide with the president's
speech. Following an initial press release announcing the launch of
the program, C&W targeted a national morning show to give the
plan some legs.
Hilton wanted to get its message out about the importance of
volunteering in a fun, yet emotional fashion. Hilton and C&W
execs thought of an unusual twist, to plug RAOS, that producers of
the nationally syndicated "Rosie O'Donnell show" -- which O'Donnell
herself cancelled in June 2002 -- couldn't resist. (See
sidebar.)
Around 250 Hilton employees from neighboring St. Louis, as well
as from Memphis, TN. flew into Clinton, Mo. to work on the
restoration of Artesian Park. During the restoration process
newspapers, radio stations and network affiliates in both St. Louis
and Kansas City ran feature stories on the RAOS program, including
the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and Kansas City Star.
Organizers were so confident of the program's initial success in
Missouri that C&W, in Spring 2002, contacted the Office of
Strategic Initiatives at the White House to alert President Bush
about the merits of RAOS. VP-level Hilton executives were, in turn,
invited to the White House to participate in a panel discussion
with other major corporations that had supported the president's
call-to-action volunteerism.
Hilton headquarter in Beverly Hills, Ca., has been "deluged" in
the last couple of years with e-mails from employees, brand vice
presidents and Hilton hotel general managers expressing their
commitment to enhancing the RAOS program.
The rebuilding gave Hilton employees "a renewed sense of team
and gave them an avenue to express themselves," says Jeremy Baka,
senior VP at C&W, who helped create the RAOS campaign. "We set
a new standard [for Hilton employees] that's resonating in other
internal/external Hilton campaigns that can get publicized
internally" as well as in local media. Indeed, since its inception
nearly two years ago the RAOS program has inspired many other
Hilton hotel employees, as well as workers from Hilton sister
brands Embassy Suites and Hampton Hotels, to get on the "random
acts" train, ranging from volunteering at a local YMCA or lending a
hand to food banks.
Baka says the RAOS program can serve as a model for other
companies that want to partner with communities and think of
innovative (but simple) ways to improve employee relations. "A
random act of service can be anything," he says, "like helping a
old lady across the street or going the extra mile on a building
project."
Contacts: Jeremy Baka, 310.967.2951, [email protected];
Jeanne Datz, 310.205.4545, [email protected]
Calculated Campaign. Random Acts
When it was discovered that a large part of President Bush's
2002 State of the Union Address would focus on volunteerism, Cohn
& Wolfe decided to create the Random Acts of Service (RAOS) for
Hilton Hotels Corp to coincide with the president's speech.
After the initial release, C&W targeted a national morning
show launch for the program. When C&W created a stunt with a
news hook that was both creative and had an emotional component,
"The Rosie O'Donnell Show" couldn't pass it up. The basic premise
included:
- Displaying a 6' x 4' world map on the show
- Rosie takes the dart and throws it randomly anywhere on the
map - Wherever the dart lands, Hilton promises to designate time and
man-hours to help that city with whatever random act they need
accomplished
On March 7th, with the throw of a dart, Rosie launched Hilton's
RAOS program on national TV. With a direct hit on Clinton,
Missouri, Hilton staff members went to work. One- half million
dollars and 500,000 man-hours later, Clinton's 118 year-old
Artesian Park has been completely restored, including an entire
amphitheatre.
C&W used the success of "The Rosie O'Donnell Show" as a
spark for the employee launch in April 2002. The show provided the
necessary exposure and validity for the RAOS program, which secured
internal buy-in and generated employee excitement. In April, Hilton
distributed the Rosie tape, a property toolkit and tracking
materials to every hotel property within the U.S., reaching more
than 50,000 employees. Internal property toolkits and tracking
materials included:
- Description sheets team members fill out upon committing a
random act of service - Punch cards (similar to a coffee card) to be "punched" by team
members' supervisors upon completing a random act - Ribbons to reward team members who complete 20-plus good deeds
and posters to raise internal awareness
Source: Hilton Hotels Corp.