EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT AND CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS

CELEBRATE THEIR NAMES

When COVID hit, thousands of Land O’Lakes employees in plants, mills, driving trucks and working in remote locations were defined as “essential workers.” Without their frontline efforts, we wouldn’t have butter or cheese to market, and critically—core elements of our national food supply chain would be left dormant. How could we recognize their sacrifice, their resilient efforts?

They can’t be asked to gather together. They don’t want food gifts. Many of these workers don’t have corporate email.

We turned to the local-est of local media, and ran full page newspaper ads thanking each worker by name.

The best result was the sheer volume of gratitude that came forward in Facebook comments. Daughters thanking moms. Neighbors tagging friends. Coworkers giving each other shout outs. A few people even thanked Land O’ Lakes directly, although that was never the point.

I developed the initial idea, then served as strategist and creative director—leading design and production of all content, in partnership with Land O’Lakes’ in-house media operation. The effort included dozens of geo-targeted Facebook videos and newspaper ads in publications closest to our largest employee populations.