The Jockey Club required a publication that would be distributed throughout the company. Its content was to include personnel news, course property developments etc whilst also providing insights into different departments, features and articles from senior management. Montpellier designed and put together Track Record, fulfilling every requirement. The Jockey Club never looked back.
The art of communicating with your employees is something which Jockeyclub Racecourses Group places a great deal of emphasis on. With just over 500 people working in its headquarters in London and at 14 different racecourses up and down the UK, keeping people in touch with news from across the group is of great importance. Every quarter, Jockey Club Racecourses works with Montpellier Marketing Communications to produce Track Record, the internal staff magazine. This is a front-line tool in internal communication and has proved especially vital during a recent restructuring process which saw a number of redundancies across the group. The latest edition was aimed at rallying the troops and re-engaging them in the brand to make them feel valued and assured of their job security.
• To maintain continual communication with staff members across the Jockey Club
Racecourses group.
• To reach out to those members of staff who do not have access to the internal staff
intranet or email communication.
• To provide updates on personnel news, course property developments etc while
also providing insights into different departments and features and articles from
senior management.
Montpellier Marketing Communications is responsible for all aspects of this publication from page planning to copy sourcing to design. The consultancy’s ethos is to take pressure off in-house staff members and ensure the publication is delivered on time and to budget.
The process begins every time with the drawing up of a time plan and work schedule which gives both the client and the account manager an idea of time scales. After an intensive brainstorm with the client, Montpellier then proceeds to draw up a detailed page plan which is circulated to all parties.
There are key features which always appear in each edition. These include a piece from the MD, a ‘Day in the Life of’ feature, Property Focus, forthcoming diary news plus Group personnel appointments. On top of the regular pieces, Montpellier is also responsible for coming up with novel ideas which will keep readers captivated and excited by the publication.
Track Record continues to be a popular quarterly magazine which is enjoyed by approximately 500 staff who work within the Jockey Club Racecourses Group. It is distributed via post to the staff member’s home address so family members can also enjoy the read. The beauty of Track Record however is that it reaches out to staff who do not have access to email or the company intranet. This is particularly relevant to catering staff and ground staff.
Since its launch nearly two years ago, the publication has gone from strength to strength with members of staff regularly suggesting items for inclusion.
The past six months has been a critical period for Jockey Club Racecourses and its approach to staff communication. A redundancy programme has been implemented with a number of staff losing their jobs. The latest edition of Track Record was vital in instilling a sense of job security and pride back into the firm. Track Record has played an important part in this and has complimented other communication avenues such as the company intranet and email communications. At the suggestion of Montpellier, the latest edition featured pieces from key management figures who spelt out their visions for the future.