A PUBLIC RELATIONS PROPOSAL
Prepared By:
Ashley N. Peterson West Virginia University
IMC 618 July 20, 2015
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Executive Summary 3
Company Background 6
Situation Analysis 30
Core Problem Statement 33
Campaign Key Publics 34
Primary Messages
Secondary Messages
Campaign Goal & Objectives 44
Campaign Strategies & Tactics 50
Calendar of PR Activities & Budget 62
Evaluation Plan 76
References 86
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
“Synchrony Financial is Recognized as a Top Employer Amongst College
Students, Survey Reveals”… While this may not be a headline that Synchrony
Financial, the former GE Capital Retail Finance, is expecting to see right away, it
is one that the company will want to see within the next 5-7 years as they
successfully become a standalone company and develop the Business
Leadership Program (BLP) brand amongst students, undergraduate and
graduate, around the world. Built on GE heritage, Synchrony Financial followed
in the footsteps of current parent General Electric to create a rotation-based
leadership development program as a way to create a pipeline for strong talent to
become future leaders of the company. The first obstacle the company must face
relative to universities, outside of increasing knowledge about the company and
its brand as a whole, is for students to become aware of the existence of the
program in the sea of opportunities presented to them from other companies.
Without the widely known General Electric logo attached to the name of the
company or its leadership program, it is important for Synchrony Financial to
build and leverage key relationships with new and existing stakeholders to drive
the company to reach the following goal: Establish Synchrony Financial as a
top employer choice amongst undergraduate and graduate students.
To establish itself as a top employer amongst college job seekers, Synchrony
Financial must first look to its employees as its #1 team of brand ambassadors.
Because they are living the Synchrony experience every day, the company must
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ensure that their employees are happy and satisfied with their role within the
company and its journey, understand the upcoming changes, and are aware of
the many job opportunities that have become available as part of the new
company, including BLP.
Moving forward from developing brand ambassadors internally comes leveraging
university-level connections to develop new partnerships with campus faculty
and their students eligible for the program. While volunteer recruiters will be
important to identifying and developing the faculty-level relationships, current and
past rotational program members will be key to driving student interaction both
in-person and virtually as today’s students become increasingly connected in
both personal and professional interactions. By engaging faculty and students
before, during, and after recruiting seasons through on-campus and virtual
information sessions, career fair attendance, leadership symposiums, and social
media dedicated to sharing the BLP story, Synchrony Financial can expand the
amount of campuses that willingly interact with the company to introduce
recruiters to top talent, assist in hosting special events, and ensuring that
students keep the company top of mind throughout the year.
Relative to the increasingly connected student is the ways in which they find out
about career opportunities, making online searches a key channel for which
students learn about companies and potential jobs. While influence from friends,
faculty, and family is still important to today’s student, making sure you are
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accessible at their fingertips has become a priority if a company wants to be
seen. To ensure that Synchrony is showing up in online searches, this plan
proposes leveraging media relationships, existing and new, to share
information and news about the Business Leadership Program leveraging BLP-
and company-created press releases, stories, videos, as well as other media to
gain attention of publications that cover career-specific topics to drive awareness
around potential employers.
By adopting the proposed plan of action, Synchrony Financial can continue to
reach for the goal of becoming a top employer choice amongst college students
leveraging a budget of $643,000 across the year 2016 to increase employee
retention, develop new faculty-level campus partnerships, impart the brand on
more students, create additional news for the media to cover, and, ultimately,
hire incremental amounts of Business Leadership Program members who
understand and internalize the value of the opportunity in comparison to others.
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COMPANY BACKGROUND
As General Electric began to strategically become less dependent on its
financing arm, GE Capital, the company made the decision that it was going to
spin off a major segment of this division. With this strategy to shed assets outside
of the core industrial and healthcare segments of the greater GE Company,
Synchrony Financial was born. As the largest provider of store-branded credit
cards, the former GE Capital Retail Finance embarked on its separation from GE,
most notably with the largest initial public offering of the year to date of $2.9
billion on July 31, 2014 (De La Merced, 2014).
Source: Synchrony Financial Q1'15 Financial Results
The External Environment
As a financial services company, Synchrony Financial is undoubtedly at
the mercy of any changes in the economy and how it affects current and future
habits of the American consumer. To maximize success from year to year, the
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company must be aware of how shifts in the economy will affect the success of
their partners within retail and healthcare, as consumer confidence in the state of
the union will serve as a deciding factor in what purchases they decide to make,
or hold off on, and whether a credit product as offered by Synchrony Financial
provides actual value to them.
State of the Economy
In a review of the country’s economic standing over the past few years, it
is clear that recovery is accelerating as of the beginning of this year. The budget
deficit was at its smallest since 2007, with spending and revenue not being
extraordinarily high, gas prices were going down, and the unemployment rate
was steadily decreasing. Unfortunately, while jobs are being added, they are not
high-wage jobs, resulting in lowering household income, a factor that would affect
consumers looking to acquire credit (Zumbrun & Nasaw, 2015).
Looking into the first half of the year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics has
shown that key labor statistics continue to recover through 2015. Beginning at
5.7%, the unemployment rate is now at 5.3%. The change in number of jobs
went from 201,000 in January to 223,000 in June. The average hourly earning
has also increased from $24.76 to $24.95. The Consumer Price Index,the
change in the prices paid by urban consumers for a representative basket of
goods and services, went from declining by -0.7 at the beginning of the year to
increasing by 0.3 by the end of June (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2015). All in all,
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these statistics show that the economy is relatively improving and consumers are
beginning to spend a bit more, but not much more.
Consumer Spending Habits
In 2015, economists have noticed that Americans have become a saving
population, spending less and less as the year goes on. Even though gas prices
are lower and jobs are being added, the first part of the year saw very little
change in the economy given that people were saving more than they were
spending. Moving into the spring, economists hoped to see an increase in
spending but, because consumers still were not confident about the future of the
economy, they were holding on to their disposable income that had increased
due to these new jobs and lower gas prices (CNN Money, 2015).
This cost-cutting behavior that arose during The Great Recession is
continuing as observed in the following consumer saving habits as shared by
Lesonsky (2015) from the 2014 McKinsey US Consumer Sentiment Survey:
• Shopping based on price
• Using coupons or discount codes
• Comparison-shopping for good deals
• Buying products in bulk
• Shopping online more often
• Trading down to less expensive brands or private label products
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These behaviors are driven by nearly four in ten consumer being fearful of losing
their jobs and the same amount living paycheck to paycheck. With decreasing
household income, 40% of families bringing in less than $75,000 are cutting
spending or delaying major purchases to get by in comparison to just 22%
bringing in over $150,000. But, no matter the level of income, positivity about the
future is very low, with only 23% feeling optimistic, compared to 29% in 2009.
Overall, nearly 40% of consumers say that they will never return to their pre-
recession spending and those who want to return are waiting until they can pay
down debt, save money, or return to their past income levels (Lesonsky, 2015).
With this outlook on the economy and consumer spending, companies like
Synchrony Financial and their retail partners must be aware of how to best
communicate and deliver on the value of the credit product as a way for
consumers to make purchases of goods that they want and need while still being
able stretch disposable income across monthly payments. If this value is truly
understood by consumers, Synchrony and its partners can work to drive them
into their many locations no matter their level of confidence for the future.
The Industry
Synchrony Financial operates in the financial services sector, specifically
the credit services industry. The largest area of growth in this industry is the
creation of multichannel customer experiences, which include physical branches,
digital branch activity, and call center support. Companies operating in this space
must be prepared to act quickly as consumers change their behaviors when
interacting with banks. As found by Nielsen, the channel in which consumers
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interact with their bank is highly dependent on the specific banking activity, as
illustrated below (Heggestuen, 2014).
Source: Business Insider
Coming out of 2014 where the focus of the banking industry was “to better
acclimate to regulatory pressure by investing in compliance infrastructure and
enhancing risk governance”, 2015 brings a new set of opportunities and
challenges for financial institutions (Deloitte, 2015). In the past year, financial
services industries have been focused around regulatory controls to ensure
compliance with regulators including the Federal Reserve Board, the Office of the
Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
(FDIC), and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), where applicable.
As the industry is looking forward to now focus on boosting profitability in the
coming year, Deloitte (2015) has identified seven focus areas for these
institutions:
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1. Balance sheet efficiency – Customer relationship programs, cross-selling,
and new product line investments with strong portfolio management
2. Mergers & Acquisitions – Seeking M&A targets based on growth & scale
factors such as efficiencies, growth prospects, funding profile, technology,
and compliance
3. Growth – Using customer analytics, digital technologies, sensible
underwriting strategies, and cross-industry best practices to drive
innovation and competitive edge
4. Payments transformation – Greater focus on how to remain “top of wallet”
in a growing contactless banking atmosphere
5. Compliance and risk management – Exceeding regulatory expectations by
integrating risk management, compliance, and ethics into company culture
6. Data management – Leverage data analytics to take a proactive stance in
everyday banking operations
7. Cybersecurity - Adoption of new and improved methods to enhance
security, vigilance, and resilience of current cybersecurity models
The Client
Synchrony Financial, formerly known as GE Capital Retail Finance, has
roots in consumer financing back to 1932, and is currently the largest provider of
private label credit cards in the nation based on purchase volume and
receivables. With three core platforms – Retail Card, Payment Solutions, and
CareCredit, to be explained in coming sections – Synchrony operates based on
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the definition of its name, “a state in which things happen or move at the same
time,” through its philosophy of Engagement (“Synchrony Financial Q1'15
Financial Results”, 2015). This philosophy creates a culture beyond just building
partnerships, but “sharing [their] partners’ visions, treating their goals as [its] own
and investing in their success” (“Synchrony Financial Q1'15 Financial Results”,
2015).
Synchrony Financial has established itself as the “diverse community” of
over 11,000 employees across its multiple client-facing and operational functions.
About 1,000 of these employees are partner dedicated, with most of this subset
being co-located with retail partners, bringing Synchrony’s expertise to their front
door to effectively function side-by-side. Synchrony is a true believer that every
single employee has an impact on business and leverages training programs,
diversity networks, and volunteer programs to provide employees with
opportunities to thrive and excel within the company and their communities
(“Synchrony Financial Q1'15 Financial Results”, 2015).
Synchrony Financial bases their everyday activities with partners and
customers on their partner- and customer-centric value proposition as shown
below.
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Source: Synchrony Financial Q1'15 Financial Results
In the midst of its journey, Synchrony Financial has been recognized
within the industry with awards including re-certification as a 2015 Customer
Service Center of Excellence by BenchmarkPortal and a 2015 CIO 100 Award
Winner by CIO Magazine (“Newsroom”, 2015). Coming up on a year since its
IPO, Synchrony Financial has overall trended upward in stock price from its start
at $23, as illustrated below.
Source: Google Finance
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Moving forward, Synchrony Financial (2015) has identified the following goals
for “Building Tomorrow’s Opportunities”:
• Grow Core Business Across Our Platforms
• Grow Synchrony Bank
• Complete the Standalone Transformation
• Maintain a Strong Balance Sheet and Financial Profile
• Invest is Talent and Strengthen Our Culture
With continued focus on driving these key goals, Synchrony Financial has the
potential to successfully continue this upward journey as they move to become a
standalone company.
The Product, Service or Issue
As a provider of consumer credit across a wide variety of partners,
Synchrony Financial operates under three core platforms: Retail Card, Payment
Solutions, and CareCredit. The Retail Card platform is a leading provider of
private label credit cards, Dual Cards, and business credit products for small- to
medium-sized organizations. One or more of these products are offered through
19 national and regional retailers including Amazon, Gap, Lowe’s, Sam’s Club,
and Wal-Mart. Each retailer enjoys a customized credit and loyalty program that
allows their customers to remain engaged with them in-store, online, or via
mobile (“Synchrony Financial Q1'15 Financial Results”, 2015).
The Payment Solutions platform offers promotional financing for
consumers to make major purchases through private label credit cards and
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installment loans. With approximately 63,000 partner locations across a variety of
industries including automotive, furniture, jewelry, and consumer electronics, this
platform brings big-ticket financing solutions to national and regional retailers,
manufacturers, buying groups, and industry associations (“Synchrony Financial
Q1'15 Financial Results”, 2015).
The CareCredit platform provides promotional financing for healthcare
procedures and services including dental, veterinary, cosmetic, vision, and
audiology. The CareCredit private label credit card gives cardholders access to
approximately 186,000 healthcare partner locations, including mostly individual
and small groups of providers, as well as national and regional providers. Below
is an overview of the amount of partner locations, active accounts, and loan
receivables for each of the three platforms, providing insight into the reach that
Synchrony has through its partners (“Synchrony Financial Q1'15 Financial
Results”, 2015).
Source: Synchrony Financial Q1'15 Financial Results
In addition to these platforms, Synchrony Bank, Synchrony Financial’s
subsidiary, has recently launched Optimizer+plus, a consumer deposits product,
which is supported with a single physical branch and online and mobile
capabilities. Consumers have the ability to use Synchrony Bank for CDs, Money
Market Accounts, Savings Accounts, and IRAs, with a loyalty rewards program
called Perks (Synchrony Bank, 2015).
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Promotions
Following it’s initial public offering in July 2014, Synchrony Financial
launched a nationwide brand campaign. At the center of the campaign was the
company’s tagline “Engage with us”, confirming the company’s view that “every
interaction with its partners and customers represents an opportunity for
Synchrony Financial to engage with partners and help grow their business”
(Marketwatch, 2014). With the help of Interbrand to develop the new branding
and Ogilvy & Mather to create the campaign, Synchrony launched cross-channel
advertising including print ads in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and
trade publications; TV commercials, such as the screenshot of one shown below
symbolizing partnership and “synchrony”; airport advertising; and digital ads
(MarketWatch, 2014).
Source: www.ispot.tv
With the Synchrony Financial IPO being such a major one in 2015, also
supported by a breakout advertising campaign, the company has developed
great relationships with the media to gain coverage moving forward since its big
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IPO day in July 2014. As early as October, Bloomberg and Yahoo were covering
the story of the company’s CEO Margaret Keane, The New Yorker featured the
company’s thoughts on Millennial consumers, and PYMTS.com shared how the
company’s CIO Carol Juel and her peers in the industry were leveraging new
developments. In addition to these early stories, Fortune, Forbes, Wall Street
Journal, as well as local media partners have covered their new partnerships,
culture, innovation, and volunteerism of Synchrony Financial, putting the
company in the news multiple times each month (“Newsroom”, 2015).
From a social media perspective, Synchrony Financial is currently limited
in their online presence. The public is able to connect with the company on
Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube. On Twitter, @SYFNews in an extension of the
website’s newsroom, providing up to date information on the company while
@AskSynchrony serves as a customer service handle to deliver relevant
information for cardholders and account support. On LinkedIn, the company
focuses primarily on providing a job board for interested applicants. On YouTube,
the company provides quick videos about its products, career-focused videos
featuring current employees, and testimonial videos featuring current
cardholders.
The Synchrony Financial Newsroom and Investor Relations pages serve
as the center of owned media for the company. The Newsroom, in addition to
compiling news coverage as explained above, shares the many press releases
and videos created by the company. The investor relations page provides
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investors as well as the general public with details around upcoming events and
recordings of past presentations.
To support the growth of their partners’ credit programs, Synchrony
Financial uses its sales teams and extensive marketing experience in the
financial services space to drive increased usage of credit programs among
partners and increased purchases among cardholders. Dedicated marketing
centers of excellence and on-site teams work directly with partners to develop
marketing strategies to best fit their goals and objectives through direct and
digital marketing through such channels as Synchrony websites, retailer
websites, and mobile (“Synchrony Financial Q1'15 Financial Results”, 2015).
Market Share
While there is not a clear outlook into the exact market share of Synchrony
Financial in comparison to its competitors and industry according to its annual
report, it can be assumed that, as the largest private label credit card provider by
purchase volume and receivables, it has a large percentage of the credit services
industry.
Competition
Competing in the ever-growing financial services industry, Synchrony
Financial’s primary competitors are other major financial institutions including
Alliance Data, American Express, Capital One, Chase, Citibank, TD Bank, and
Wells Fargo, as well as its partners’ in-house financing programs. Synchrony
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Financial’s key to success operating alongside these competitors is their ability to
attract new and retain existing partners and cardholders. Many of these
institutions are substantially larger with a greater amount of resources and offer a
broader range of products and services, forcing Synchrony to compete amid the
following factors:
• Financial Terms
• Underwriting standards
• Marketing expertise
• Service levels
• Product/service offerings
• Technological capabilities and integration
• Brand and reputation
Each of these factors play a big part in Synchrony Financial’s partnerships with
retailers and healthcare providers, and their ability to acquire and retain loyal
cardholders. Continuously striving to be best in class in as many of these areas
as possible will give Synchrony the competitive edge needed to maintain its spot
as a leading private label credit card provider.
In looking at three of its top competitors, Alliance Data, Citi, and Wells
Fargo, it is important for Synchrony Financial to understand what these
companies may be bringing to their key publics of employees, cardholders, and
partners.
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Alliance Data
Alliance Data Retail Services, which has been in business for over 25
years, describes itself as the “leading provider of tailored marketing and loyalty
solutions, building relationships through branded credit programs” with private
label, co-brand, and commercial credit products (“Who We Are”, 2015). With over
40 million active cardmembers, Alliance Data Retail Services operates under
three lines of business - Card Services, Epsilon, and LoyaltyOne - with retail
clients including J.Crew, HSN, and Pier 1 Imports for which they manage the
customer lifecycle to drive sales and serve as a strategic marketing partner
(“Who We Are”, 2015).
Alliance Data Retail Services operates on a culture driven by the following
values: Work together. Build trust. Communicate openly. Innovate and create.
Teach and learn. Give back. Have fun! The company’s social responsibility
efforts focus around supporting the well-being of children, improving education,
and increasing access to healthy food for the hungry. From a career perspective,
Alliance Data opens its doors to undergraduates and recent graduates through
internships and the Initial Career Experience (ICE) 6-month rotational program as
well as a wide array of functional roles for experienced job seekers (“Who We
Are”, 2015).
Alliance Data mostly leverages online media to share its story with its
website, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook, YouTube, and blog in addition
to press releases. Each of the online channels seems to focus around Alliance
Data’s company culture and outcomes of various research studies that the
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company conducts. Earned coverage of the company shows that they have
been recognized in industry publications for being a top employer and received
industry awards for customer service (“Home”, 2015).
Citi
Citi Retail Services describes itself as “a full-service collaborator focused
on growing retailers’ sales and building customer loyalty” by “empowering [their]
partners with the latest and most effective retail and payment strategies” (“Our
company”, 2014). As a part of Citigroup, Retail Services brings 200+ years of
financial experience, including 30 years as an industry leader, to support retail
partnerships that last an average of 15 years with 90 million open cardmember
accounts and 600+ million transactions each year. Some of its retail partners
include The Home Depot, Macy’s Best Buy, Brooks Brothers, Office Depot, and
Goodyear (“Our company”, 2014).
As a part of the larger Citigroup, Citi Retail Services operates with the
mission of serving as a “trusted partner to our clients by responsibly providing
financial services that enable growth and economic progress” (Citigroup, Inc.,
2015). Outside of functional opportunities for experienced job seekers,
undergraduate- and graduate-level job seekers can look to start a career with the
company through summer associate and analyst roles and development
programs (“Our opportunities”, 2015).
Similar to Alliance Data, Citi shares its story through Citigroup’s online
media channels including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, Google+ and
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Instagram and press releases specific to Retail Services. Each of these channels
generally focus on the company culture and careers around the world, news
stories, and research outcomes. Earned coverage of the company comes from
features in industry publications about their leadership team and awards
recognizing their excellence in various areas.
Wells Fargo
Wells Fargo Retail Services has a focus to “satisfy all of [their] customers'
financial needs and help them succeed financially” by providing strength and
stability, signature service, and innovative solutions (Wells Fargo Retail Services,
2015). Retail Services manages the financing programs for a host of national
chains such as Dillard’s as well as many small businesses (Wells Fargo Retail
Services, 2015).
Wells Fargo operates under the values of People as a competitive
advantage, Ethics, What’s right for customers, Diversity and inclusion, and
Leadership. With a culture based on the “One Wells Fargo” philosophy, setting
the standard that the company should always imagine themselves as their
customers, Wells Fargo team members believe that their success is dependent
on how much they care for each other, their customers, their communities, and
stockholders (“The Vision & Values”, 2015). In addition to the various functional
employment opportunities for experienced job seekers, Wells Fargo also offers
development programs for undergraduates and MBAs, including both internships
and full-time opportunities (“MBAs and Undergraduates”, 2015).
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While Retail Services does not have its own social media presence, news
about this division is shared through its parent’s, Wells Fargo Financial National
Bank, accounts on Facebook, Google+, Instagram, Pinterest, LinkedIn, YouTube,
Twitter, and corporate-owned blog. These channels focus on a variety of topics
relevant to Wells Fargo’s various stakeholders by including information about
corporate culture, banking product Q&As, contests, and posts about current
events. Unique to the competitors covered, Wells Fargo’s Pinterest page
currently shares photos specific to its brand such as stagecoaches and ponies,
contests, inspirational quotes, community service initiatives, links to industry
articles, and a focus on college care package ideas, a dedication to a subset of
its accountholder base. Overall, the Wells Fargo presence online with the help of
their press releases seems to provide a relatively comprehensive view of the
business to solidify the brand, even though the Retail Services information is
included in the broader company news.
Resources
With approximately 11,0000 employees across the nation and overseas,
Synchrony Financial is headquartered out of Stamford, Connecticut and
Synchrony Bank out of Draper, UT. The employees are spread across 11
customer service centers, 10 support centers, and one retail bank branch.
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SWOT Analysis
STRENGTHS WEAKNESSES
• 80+ years in industry
• Strong partnerships
• Wholly-owned subsidiary bank
• Partner & Customer-focused Value Proposition
• Strong company culture
• Strong brand introduction/campaign
• New brand in the market
• Majority-owned by GE
• Currently establishing framework to become a standalone
• Current low online presence beyond website
OPPORTUNITIES THREATS
• Technological Innovation
• New Partner Acquisition
• New Products and Services
• Talent Acquisition
• Stronger social media presence
• Competitors with established brands
• Competitors with lower pricing for partners
• Market risk
• Regulatory Risks
Even though Synchrony Financial is a brand new name in the financial
services industry, their deeply rooted experience and strong partnerships with
retailers and healthcare providers have set them apart from being just any new
company in the industry. By owning its subsidiary bank, Synchrony Bank, the
company ensures that all key business operations are handled internally by its
thousands of employees across the nation and in international markets.
With strong company culture, defined by the values of honesty, passion,
drive, caring, responsibility and boldness, Synchrony has created a strong
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internal brand to ensure partners and cardholders of their dedication to delivering
a value proposition focused on them, their success and their well being.
Operating in a fickle economy, Synchrony Financial must be aware of economic
and regulatory outlooks to drive internal practices that mitigate risks to their best
ability.
Because Synchrony is a new name in its space, with just a year under its
belt, it must still work its way to being a top of wallet name for cardholders and
number one partner choice for retailers and other partners compared to its long-
established competitors who may bring stronger offerings to the table. To combat
the competition, Synchrony is dedicated to continue to attract and retain their
partners, acquiring and developing their talent, and leveraging a collaborative
mindset to utilize technology and innovation to drive new products and services
for their partners and cardholders in the future.
By re-launching an existing company under a new name, it was very
important for Synchrony Financial to ensure that the public was aware of who the
company was on the day of its IPO. By introducing this brand to the market with
a strong branding campaign as explained earlier, Synchrony was able to put their
name at the forefront in conjunction with opening their company up to public
trading. In comparison to its main competitors that do not advertise on a national
scale, this campaign had the potential to put the company top of mind for the
general public and, most importantly, potential partners as a reminder that this
financing partner option was in the market. While this campaign is not meant to
be constantly running, it will be of great importance for Synchrony to focus on
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their social media presence next given that its competitors have a solid presence
on the main channels and are utilizing these channels to provide a unique look at
their companies.
Public Profiles
As a company that has, within the past year, gone through immense
changes as they make their way to become a standalone from General Electric
Company, Synchrony Financial has a handful of publics to keep in mind that are
truly invested in the success of the journey.
Retail & Healthcare Locations
As mentioned earlier, each of the three Synchrony Financial platforms
support a wide range of retail and healthcare partners including national chains
like Wal-Mart down to local small businesses and healthcare providers. While
Synchrony Financial is the leading provider of private label credit cards, they still
have the opportunity to gain additional cardholders, allowing this public to
increase their profitability through credit and financing programs.
Current Relationship: Current partners depend on their relationship Synchrony
Financial to give their customers greater buying power and to drive repeat sales
and loyalty using private label credit cards. Potential partners may be shopping
around for price, or need to better understand the value that Synchrony Financial
brings to the table to give them their business, which could possibly cause them
to move their business from one of Synchrony’s competitors.
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Influentials: Key decision makers, peers, customers, competitors
Self-interests: Profitability, Value for Cost, Seamless partnership
Cardholders
Synchrony Financial cardholders utilize their cards to purchase things that
they want or need without having to tap their checking accounts or other credit
cards. These cardholders look to Synchrony for optimal customer service
throughout their relationship. This group consists of current cardholders who
actively use their cards as well as those that have gone inactive after opening
their account or have yet to open an account.
Current Relationship: Current cardholders have applied for and been approved
for a private label credit card or Dual Card through one of Synchrony Financial’s
retail or healthcare partner locations. Active cardholders have a running balance
that they are paying off based on their card’s specific terms and conditions, while
inactive cardholders have an open credit line that can be used at their respective
retailer or healthcare partner’s locations. Potential cardholders have been
exposed to the opportunity to apply in various interactions with retailers and
healthcare providers but have not yet moved forward to do so.
Influentials: Retailers, Family, and Employer
Self-interests: Manageable debt, Exceptional customer service
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Employees
Majority of employees of Synchrony Financial were first hired by General
Electric under the GE Capital Retail Finance business and have since been on
the journey to standalone with the company. For continued talent growth, it is
important for Synchrony to leverage employees as brand ambassadors to attract
new talent and maintain a best-in-class work environment to retain and promote
current talent.
Current Relationship: Employees of Synchrony Financial work across the
multiple Synchrony or retail partner locations to support the everyday activity of
the company across its many functions.
Influentials: Peers, Family, and Management
Self-interests: Workplace happiness, Positive career outlook, Work/Life
Balance, Making a living, Supporting self/families
Shareholders
Beginning with the July 31, 2014 initial public offering, stock in Synchrony
Financial became available to the general public. Shareholders who have
invested their money into this company are looking to see continued growth and
success moving forward.
Current Relationship: Shareholders have purchased Synchrony Financial stock
options, which are traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
Influentials: Synchrony Board of Directors/Management, Peers/Other
Shareholders
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Self-interests: Continued company success, Dividend income
Community Partners
Across its footprint, Synchrony Financial partners with local communities
to execute on various volunteer programs including Habitat for Humanity, Junior
Achievement, and Every Woman Works among others to foster economic self-
sufficiency, deliver financial education, and support the communities through
charitable giving and health and improvement programs.
Current Relationship: Local communities and volunteer organizations have
developed partnerships with Synchrony Financial, providing employees of the
company the ability to volunteer in support of various causes.
Influentials: Community peers, Volunteers, Local businesses
Self-interests: Achieving goals, Establishing long-standing corporate
partnerships
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SITUATION ANALYSIS
Since the initial communication of GE Capital Retail Finance’s new name
in June 2014, Synchrony Financial has had a lot of work to do on the branding
front. Even though it is a company that has been in business for close to a
century with key successful partnerships and historic ties to General Electric, the
name Synchrony does not instantly ring a bell in the ears of the general public as
the consumer finance company that they may have known for years. This new
name has caused the company to start “fresh”, despite standing strong in the
industry with a solid partner and customer base. The following goal and
objectives, driven by an analysis of Synchrony Financial’s current situation and
identified core problem, will help to ensure that the proposed public relations
campaign will assist the company in achieving their overall business goals
moving into the future as a standalone company.
Throughout over 80 years of being in business, the company now known
as Synchrony Financial has undergone constant changes, mostly by expanding
their reach with new partnerships and offering new products and services to
partners and their customers. The infographic below shows a timeline of where
this consumer finance company has been since its early start as the business
segment that allowed General Electric customers to finance their appliance
purchases. Throughout this timeline, one thing has stayed the same until 2014:
The company’s name began with “General Electric”, or the sixth best global
brand as identified by Interbrand (2014).
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Source: Synchrony Financial Newsroom
With the connection to General Electric came a strong brand identity
instantly recognized by current and potential stakeholders. Most important in this
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group were potential clients, customers, and employees who want to do business
with or work for a company that is established in its industry. Now operating
under a new name, Synchrony Financial has the unique opportunity to leverage
its history, as can be seen in current marketing campaigns, while also focusing
on creating their own separate value proposition and culture to attract and retain
new partners and employees as they work to maintain existing ones.
At the center of the day-to-day success of Synchrony Financial, aside from
the success of its retail and healthcare partners, are its employees. Margaret
Keane, President and CEO of Synchrony Financial, was asked the question of
how Synchrony Financial will make up for the leadership gap as Baby Boomers
within companies begin to retire. In response, Keane stated, “One thing that gets
me excited about launching a new company is that we can attract young talent
who want to help build it up from the ground floor. Young people today are
motivated by an entrepreneurial drive, to be part of something bigger than
themselves, and to be a part of their communities” (Schawbel, 2015). While the
focus on bringing in young talent is a vision of Synchrony Financial, the company
must ensure that this young talent is fully aware of the attractive opportunities
being developed at the company. To make sure this group becomes aware of the
opportunities, Synchrony Financial needs to ensure that they become a employer
worth seeking, which starts with increasing their brand awareness amongst the
general public, and more importantly, the job-seeking population.
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CORE PROBLEM STATEMENT
“No matter how successful you are, you will not stay that way if you do not
have the best employees…” (Vereker, 2013). To achieve each of its business
goals, Synchrony Financial must ensure that they are not only retaining and
developing their employees, but also bringing in top talent to support their growth
as a standalone. As mentioned earlier, without the General Electric preceding its
name, the company must now heavily depend on the story of its 80 years as an
organization to prove its place in its industry.
While current partners and employees and industry experts are well aware
of the change and understand the journey that the company is on, Synchrony is a
new brand name amongst competitors American Express, Citibank, and Wells
Fargo, for example, which are established household names. These well-known
names can easily overshadow Synchrony’s in the eyes of job seekers who are
not in tune with the IPO and story behind who Synchrony is and has been in the
industry. For that reason, Synchrony Financial is struck with the following
problem: While Synchrony Financial as a business has been around for
over 80 years, its new name, now stripped of the General Electric brand, is
no longer immediately perceived as a top employer amongst job seekers.
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CAMPAIGN KEY PUBLICS
Key Public #1: Current Employees
Demographic & Psychographic Profile:
This diverse group of over 11,000 employees works across various
locations in the United States, India, and the Philippines in functions including
Finance, IT, Risk, HR, Sales, Marketing as well as in customer service and
collections call centers. Each function and call center team can either be
dedicated to a specific retail client or work internally to support the various
functions in their everyday interactions with the clients (“Careers”, 2015). As a
Synchrony Financial employee, each individual commits to the company’s
dedication to the following purpose of engagement: “We pioneer the future of
financing, improving the success of every business we serve and the quality of
each life we touch”, which is supported by the company’s values of Honesty,
Responsible, Passion, Caring, Driven, and Bold (“Annual Report 2014”, 2015).
While the employee base is highly diverse, sharing commitment to this singular
purpose in conjunction with the campaign to be detailed in the following sections,
it is important that this public be treated as one to help drive the overarching
employer brand.
Synchrony Financial employees currently have an average tenure of 7
years, higher than the US average of 4.6 years, and the company is maintaining
a 90% retention rate. While majority of the employees were hired into the
company prior to the IPO, over 1,000 employees have joined the company since
(“Annual Report 2014”, 2015). With the attraction of new talent paired with high
35
retention and tenure, it can be expected that the overall workplace satisfaction of
employees is positive. In an environment of high employee satisfaction, 98% of
employees identify more strongly with company culture when they are happy with
the job and are 186% more likely to promote their company and reach out during
networking opportunities (Gravitate Design, n.d.). Consequently, employees can
serve as brand ambassadors for Synchrony Financial, either in official or
unofficial recruiting opportunities where they can share their first-hand
experiences with the company, assisting to achieve the goal of the campaign to
be defined in the next section. This public may or not may be aware of the
Business Leadership Program and other entry-level jobs based on their
experiences with the company, but can be educated on these positions to assist
in their role as potential brand ambassadors.
Self-Interests: Workplace happiness, Job security, Positive career outlook,
Work/Life Balance, Making a living, Supporting self/families
Current Relationship: Overall, the current employees have a positive
relationship with Synchrony Financial and are aware of and confident about the
constant changes going on with the company as it moves closer to becoming a
standalone.
Influentials: Peers, Family, and Leadership
Contribution to objectives:
This public will help to achieve the following general campaign objectives:
• Increasing overall brand awareness
• Developing college/university relationships
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• Increasing employee retention
Primary Message: As employees, you are our greatest assets.
Secondary Messages:
• As an employee of Synchrony Financial, you are in the unique position to
sit in the driver’s seat as the company takes its journey to standalone with
an increased focus on engagement, innovation, as well as diversity of
thought, perspective and life experience.
• With a dedicated focus on providing foundations for personal and
professional development including diversity networks and community
service opportunities, you have the great ability to grow and build your
network within the company to drive your career further.
• The Synchrony intranet creates a one-stop shop for all internal resources
including Margaret Keane’s video blog, site-level information, human
resources and benefits tools, company brand, culture and news, learning
modules, and a host of other resources relevant to those within the
organization.
• Site-level calendars and communications provide insight into opportunities
to get involved with company initiatives and upcoming events to attend.
Key Public #2: Student-Facing Personnel at Colleges & Universities
Demographic & Psychographic Profile:
This public encompasses the various members of the campus community
who are in direct contact with and help to influence and advise students. This
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group also includes those who serve to develop and maintain relationships with
potential employers for their students. This public includes Career Services,
Deans, Advisors, and Professors who are speaking with students on a daily basis
in different capacities (i.e. office hours, career development activities, advising
sessions, etc.), understand the interests and goals of students, and can help
direct students to potential employers that they are aware of that may be a good
fit.
For the purpose of this campaign, Synchrony Financial will focus on
colleges and universities in the United States. By leveraging the connections of
the current employee public, the company can gain an understanding of other
campuses not on their radar currently, with which they can establish additional
relationships.
Self-Interests: Student success, monetary support, corporate world knowledge
for educated conversations with students
Current Relationship: This key public may or may not be aware of who
Synchrony Financial is as a company. Similar to the general public, their
relationship with the company may be through knowledge of General Electric,
which is also a major recruiter, or as a cardholder through one of Synchrony’s
retail clients. Outside of these possible transactional relationships, this public
may not be fully aware of the employment options that they could recommend to
their students.
Influentials: College/University Leadership, Peers, Students
Contribution to objectives:
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This public will help to achieve the following general campaign objectives:
• Developing college/university relationships
• Increasing brand awareness amongst students
• Hiring new talent
Primary Message: By partnering with Synchrony Financial, you can help make
your students aware of fresh, unique employment opportunities with one of the
premier consumer financial services companies in the United States.
Secondary Messages:
• Developing a new partnership provides you with a greater opportunity to
get your students placed in internships and full-time jobs.
• Students see you as a trusted advisor. When asked who was the
strongest influence on job search and career decisions, students named
faculty as third only behind parents and significant others. In addition to
being key influencers, faculty, advisors, and department staff was
identified as one of the top three sources of career opportunity information
(Suzuno, 2014).
Key Public #3: Corporate-Focused Media
Demographic & Psychographic Profile:
This public consists of any local, national, or international newspaper,
radio, television, or magazine, both online and offline, and blogs that can help
contribute to the sharing of the Synchrony Financial story. While inbound
requests to cover the company's story can be generated via its media relations
39
team, this public is also an avenue for Synchrony to reach out and request
coverage of special events or news to help increase awareness of the efforts of
the company. Ideally, this public includes media outlets that are dedicated to
sharing the stories about larger corporations given that they would understand
how to properly cover and publicize stories of this nature to reach the desired
audiences.
On a local level, media outlets can include newspapers, radio, and
television in Synchrony Financial’s key footprints, which include Stamford, CT
where the company is headquartered, Dayton, OH, St. Paul, MN, Costa Mesa,
CA, as well as the many client sites in which employees may sit. On a national
and international level, media outlets include CNN, Forbes, Fortune, Bloomberg,
and Business Insider, to name a few. Lastly, this public also includes corporate-
or college-focused publications and blogs that may or may not funnel into the
other outlets. Due to its many retail clients across the nation, this public may also
include any outlets that its partners may utilize.
Self-Interests: Maintaining a Positive Reputation, Creating appealing stories for
audience
Current Relationship: More than likely, this public is aware of Synchrony
Financial as a corporation but may or may not know of the potential employment
opportunities across the business. This public also may or may not have had the
chance to cover this company in some capacity since the IPO.
Influentials: Media peers, Leadership, Corporations (Corporate partners)
Contribution to objectives:
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This public will help to achieve the following general campaign objectives:
• Increasing overall brand awareness
• Increasing brand awareness amongst students
Primary Message: As a company just a year post-IPO, Synchrony Financial
provides constant unique opportunities that will generate interest among your
audience concerning general awareness of the company and employment
opportunities at a “new yet established” company.
Secondary Messages:
• As Synchrony Financial focuses on investing in new talent and
strengthening corporate culture in 2015 and beyond, the company can be
looked to as a case study for businesses looking to revamp their culture to
drive new and maintain current employees.
• Synchrony Financial engages to make a difference in the communities in
which its employees live and work, providing new stories with every
service activity, which, in 2014, included the help of 3,000 employees
across 17,000 hours (“Annual Report 2014”, 2015).
Key Public #4: Undergraduate & Graduate Students
Demographic & Psychographic Profile:
This public consists of students in U.S. undergraduate and graduate level
programs that are eligible for internships and full-time positions in the Business
Leadership Program. Based on the available tracks in the program, these
students must show interest and have the applicable background for a position in
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Sales, Marketing, HR, Risk, Finance, Information Technology, Operations, Data
Analytics, and Internal Audit. In general, most of the tracks require students to be
pursuing or graduating with a Bachelor’s degree in a related field with a 3.0 GPA.
As the exception, the Marketing and HR tracks require an MBA or Master’s
degree with the same 3.0 GPA (“Business Leadership Program”, 2015). These
basic qualifications for the program define the target students in this public.
Self-Interests: Graduation, Post-Graduation Job Placement, Career Path
Outlook, Development Opportunities
Current Relationship: Depending on their knowledge of General Electric
Company as a whole and its most recent business decisions or their credit card
status, students on the undergraduate or graduate level may or may not be
aware of who Synchrony Financial is. As a major brand and recruiter on many
campuses across the world, General Electric is one of the companies that may
have overshadowed Synchrony Financial in the eyes of students. In its first year,
Synchrony Financial chose select schools where it would attend career fairs and,
to help in brand awareness, any campuses where GE and Synchrony were
present, the respective recruiting teams banded together to ensure students
spoke to one or the other based on their interests and experience. On these
campuses, awareness may be a little higher given students ability to connect the
dots between the two companies.
Graduate students, most of whom have spent time working before or
during their program, possibly know the story from general awareness of
companies, while others may not. In general, any Synchrony Financial
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cardholders would be aware of the story of the change due to the various brand
awareness marketing strategies to cardholders and the general public.
Influentials: Peers/Friends, Parents, Significant others, Faculty/Teachers
Contribution to objectives:
This public will help to achieve the following general campaign objectives:
• Developing college/university relationships
• Increasing brand awareness amongst students
• Hiring new talent
Primary Message: By considering Synchrony Financial’s Business Leadership
Program, you are giving yourself the unique opportunity to embark on an
entrepreneurial career booster that will focus on your development as a leader in
the workplace and your community.
Secondary Messages:
• The Business Leadership Program provides you with a one-of-a-kind
rotational experience that embraces the values of professional
development, cross-functional knowledge, and community service.
• Many of the current or emerging leaders within the company launched
their careers as a member of similar leadership development programs.
• Current rotational program members an graduates are spread amongst
the various sites and serve as “buddies” to incoming program members.
• Rotational projects are developed based on identified business needs,
driving high levels of exposure to various functions and senior leaders.
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• Formal and on-the-job training provides members with skills needed to
execute on projects and excel in the company.
• Synchrony Financial and its employees are dedicated to “making things
happen”, whether with partners, customers, or in the community and we
want you to help with that as a new employee with new ideas to share.
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CAMPAIGN GOAL & OBJECTIVES
Following its IPO, Synchrony Financial outlined five key strategic goals to
drive future growth in 2015 and beyond. While four of the five focus on business-
related successes, the fifth - Invest in Talent and Strengthen Our Culture –
focuses on the people aspect of the company (“Annual Report 2014”, 2015). In
its 2014 Annual Report, Synchrony Financial (2015) recognizes that, “to meet the
evolving needs of our partners and customers, we must attract, retain and
develop the leadership potential of a great team. In growing our team, we strive
for diversity of thought, perspective and life experience, as we believe this
enhances our ability to reflect the marketplace, increases innovation and
improves group performance”.
To achieve this goal of investing in talent to drive performance-driven
goals, Synchrony Financial must ensure that, even without the General Electric
brand being attached to their company, job seekers see the company as a top
employer due to its legacy and GE heritage. Synchrony Financial, as explained
earlier in the description of its many publics, is creating local partnerships to drive
social responsibility efforts and brand awareness, which also drives connections
to the general job-seeking population. Within colleges and universities, on the
other hand, they still compete with the well-known General Electric rotational
programs, among other highly recognized employers. For the purpose of this
campaign, Synchrony Financial must focus on attracting new talent through their
Business Leadership Program. Consequently, the goal of this campaign is:
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Establish Synchrony Financial as a top employer choice amongst
undergraduate and graduate students.
Campaign Objectives
With a focus on establishing employer brand awareness amongst colleges
and universities, the proposed public relations campaign will focus on achieving
the following objectives:
Objective #1: Increase overall brand awareness amongst identified external key
publics by 25% by Q1 2016.
Rationale: Before focusing specifically on college job seekers, Synchrony must
continue to drive increased brand awareness amongst the general public and,
most importantly its key publics as identified in the previous section. With a goal
of enhancing the job seeking public’s perception of Synchrony as a top employer,
overall brand awareness will assist in driving the many influences that college
students have when selecting their post-degree employer.
Objective #2: Hire 70 qualified candidates into the Business Leadership
Program following Fall 2015 recruiting season.
Rationale: The Business Leadership Program (BLP) is a two-year rotational
program designed to provide recent graduates with real-world experience
working alongside experienced professionals in a fast-paced work environment.
The program includes formal study, sponsorship in a month-long community
service project, followed by the opportunity to embark on a career with
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Synchrony at the end of the two years. BLP, which also has a corresponding
summer internship program, currently focuses on hiring 60 candidates for its
class starting in 2015 across functional tracks including Sales, Marketing, HR,
Risk, Finance, Information Technology, Operations, Data Analytics, and Internal
Audit (“Business Leadership Program”, 2015). This program was built based on
the historical General Electric rotational programs, which helped drive GE to be
the #2 Best Company for Leaders, in which the consumer finance segment of
company has offered rotations in Sales, Marketing, Risk, and Finance (Donlon,
2013). This objective requires an increase in target hiring, which requires
increased interest among eligible talent to meet the target.
Objective #3: Develop working partnerships with an additional 15 colleges and
universities by Fall 2016.
Rationale: By developing relationships with various colleges and universities
across the nation, Synchrony Financial can work directly with administrators and
faculty to drive a strategy that works for their specific student body. While tactics
supporting other objectives can serve to drive awareness amongst the top two
sources of influence shown below, knowing how to best approach on-campus
strategies with the help of those that interact with students on a daily basis will
serve to ensure Synchrony is at the top of its game to ultimately drive the hiring
of new talent. After targeting 32 campuses during its first recruiting season in the
2014-2015 academic year, there is room for the company to increase this
coverage moving into the next recruiting season to not only be exposed to
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additional talent, but also get additional insight into how to make a name for
themselves on campus.
Source: Harvard Business Review
Objective #4: Increase awareness of Synchrony Financial as a top employer
amongst students in majors eligible for placement in the BLP tracks by 60% by
Fall 2016.
Rationale: Using survey results like the chart below, Synchrony can utilize pre-
campaign surveys to measure what students know about their brand currently
and leverage this campaign to drive awareness around what they offer as an
employer to allow them to stand tall against competitors.
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Source: Harvard Business Review
As brand awareness increases, especially around the journey that Synchrony
Financial has been on in the past 80 years, and the company overcomes the
obstacle of name recognition, they can move forward to expand on what makes
them a top choice as an employer.
Objective #5: Increase employee retention by 4% by the Q1 2016.
Rationale: Being recognized and perceived as a top employer requires a
positive perception amongst current employees. Synchrony Financial, in
conjunction with its university-focused tactics that will communicate what it is like
to work for the company, must also ensure that these values are also recognized
internally. By delivering on an increase in employee retention in the next year
through various tactics, Synchrony Financial can exemplify workplace
satisfaction amongst those who are already working there, spreading a positive
reputation for potential employees.
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The goal and objectives outlined above have the core focus of
strengthening Synchrony Financial’s employer brand given its “new yet old”
position in its industry. To do this, Synchrony must continue to differentiate itself
from competitors to attract the best talent, focus on increasing brand awareness
across the general public, make current employees into brand ambassadors, and
retain committed employees (Vereker, 2013). With these objectives in mind,
tactics will be created to ensure that Synchrony meets, and strives to exceed, the
expectations of job seekers and those who influence them.
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CAMPAIGN STRATEGIES & TACTICS
In keeping to the overall goal of establishing Synchrony Financial as a top
employer choice amongst undergraduate and graduate students, the company
must leverage its knowledge of the identified key publics in conjunction with the
defined objectives to develop a set of strategies and related tactics to achieve the
various objectives amongst each public. The following strategies and tactics as
proposed will provide ways in which Synchrony Financial can use existing and
new resources to effectively reach and communicate with current employees, on-
campus personnel, undergraduate- and graduate-level students, and the media
who will provide additional publicity around its many efforts.
Current Employees
Strategies & Tactics
Strategy #1: Express gratitude for employee dedication throughout the
ongoing journey to become a standalone company through internal
recognition events and communications.
Tactics:
• Recognize employees through bi-annual site-level “Thank You” lunches
featuring a senior leader as keynote speaker
• Hold quarterly “Walk With Us” webinars with Q&A led by senior leadership
to keep all employees abreast of current and upcoming changes
• Implement function-level “Employee of the Quarter” nomination system
through current Rewards & Recognition website
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Strategy #2: Reinforce the unique benefits that all employees are exposed
to by working at Synchrony Financial through internal events and
communications.
Tactics:
• Bi-monthly “Know Your SYF” virtual sessions focused on different
employee benefits (Compensation, Health, Diversity Networks, Education,
etc.) led by members of the respective team
• Monthly “Know Your SYF” newsletters focused on various benefits
containing quick facts and links to resources for more information
Strategy #3: Educate current employees on the Business Leadership
Program through internal communications and events.
Tactics:
• Use the Synchrony intranet to post monthly “Meet The BLPs” articles to
introduce program and program members by function
• BLP members, supported by site leadership, to organize “Meet The BLPs”
in-person networking events at their respective sites during their 8-month
rotations
Even though this public is unique because it is an audience that Synchrony
Financial is currently in constant contact with, there still lies a lot of opportunity to
ensure that employees are aware of everything that is going on within the
company beyond their day job. The first strategy outlined gives Synchrony
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leadership the chance to recognize the current employee group as a whole for
their continued work, as well as patience, as the company undergoes changes in
its journey to become a standalone company, and ensure that they are aware of
how they are an integral part of the journey as much as the next person. With the
name “Walk with us”, senior leaders can drive an inclusive environment for
sharing information utilizing a phrase similar to the recognized “Engage with us”
tagline of the company. In addition to this new call rhythm, traditional recognition
tactics such as the lunch and nomination for employee of the quarter help to
drive a continued culture of inclusiveness and appreciation.
During this journey, not only will the company itself change, but aspects of the
company that matter most to its employees will as well, such as benefits. In a
recent study it was found that 71% of employees that are most loyal to their
employer are those that are satisfied with their benefits (Scorza, 2011). As the
company moves from under the General Electric umbrella, benefits will change.
While they may stay the same or even change for the better, ensuring that
employees are fully aware of what changed and how it will affect them will help to
maintain and build increased loyalty amongst the company’s current employees.
By providing multiple touch points in which employees can be made aware of this
information, Synchrony Financial is providing flexible options for employees to
learn about, internalize, and ask questions about what matters most to them.
Lastly, because Synchrony Financial will want to utilize current employees as
brand ambassadors, it is important that they understand what the Business
Leadership Program is in the case that they are in a place to recommend it to an
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interested candidate. BLP, while modeled off of long-standing General Electric
rotational programs, has a very unique value proposition that is important to
today’s potential candidates. As shown below, BLP members have three 7-month
rotations with two one-month cross-functional opportunities and one one-month
community service opportunity built in to their two-year commitment (“Business
Leadership Program”, 2015).
Going to market with this structure has been an important differentiator for
Synchrony from its predecessor and other companies. If employees are speaking
on behalf of the company in hopes to introduce new talent to their employer, it is
important that they know how to explain the opportunity and, at the least, speak
to how the program is working in the company currently. By providing proactive
opportunities to read about and meet with current program members, current
employees can speak intelligently on the topic to pique the interest of potential
candidates. With the help of these three strategies, Synchrony Financial can
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focus on increasing employee retention while building internal awareness around
the new, unique Business Leadership Program.
Student-Facing Personnel at Colleges & Universities
Strategies & Tactics
Strategy #1: Leverage internal recruiting volunteers to develop
relationships with on-campus personnel through personal communications
and face-to-face interactions.
Tactics:
• College/university alumni within Synchrony Financial to send standard
email about company and BLP to personal contacts at alma mater to
gauge interest in relationship
• Local alumni or Synchrony employees to utilize drop-off collateral to
Career Services offices
• Identify and meet with key faculty members to develop working
partnerships with to conduct class visits and guest speaking events
• Identify opportunities to partner with on-campus student organizations and
meet with organization advisors and executive boards to brainstorm plans
of action
Strategy #2: Interact with on-campus personnel throughout the academic
year using collateral and personal contact.
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Tactics:
• Leverage “Meet The BLPs” and other BLP-related communications to
send to contacts throughout the year for continued awareness
• Resource senior leaders as well as current and past BLP members to visit
schools for face-to-face discussions with key personnel to develop
recruiting strategy
Similar to how the first set of strategies leverage current employees, reaching
out for new on-campus partnerships will be successful through the utilization of
current employees as well, especially those who have connections at their alma
mater or local campuses. In the first strategy, this plan is proposing that
employees who are familiar with colleges and universities and, more specifically,
key personnel, either through attending or being in the local area become key
contacts to assist in establishing recruiting relationships. One of the top four
reasons people open emails is because they are familiar with and/or trust the
sender (Winter, 2015). By having a Synchrony employee state that they are an
alumnus or are knowledgeable of the school, there is added familiarity between
them and the person or office that they are contacting to drive them to open the
email and potentially respond. Also, by providing collateral in-person that can
work one step further to initiate face-to-face interaction, Synchrony can allow its
employees to foster more meaningful discussions while on campus.
With the second strategy, Synchrony Financial can ensure that there is a
plan in place for volunteer recruiters to foster an ongoing relationship beyond
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recruiting season. Wright (2008) identified three lessons for companies who are
looking to get the most from university relationships: “(1) the relationships moved
beyond short-term vendor relationships and became lasting partnerships that
built new capabilities for the company; (2) senior management was highly
involved; and (3) the companies involved the university in their strategy and not
merely in a technical task or isolated problem in their business.” By providing
recruiters with standard media to share with their contacts and opening the
possibility for current and past members of the program and senior leaders to
speak directly with interested students, Synchrony can use this strategy as a part
of their broader recruiting strategy to build long-lasting relationships with
personnel that can help to drive top talent to the company.
Undergraduate & Graduate Students
Strategies & Tactics
Strategy #1: Educate the potential candidate population on the Business
Leadership Program through Synchrony-sponsored online and offline
communications and events.
Tactics:
• Create BLP-specific social media on Facebook (Synchrony BLP), Twitter
(@SYFCareersBLP), Instagram (@SYFCareersBLP), and Snapchat
(SYFBLP) for BLP-only news, updates, and conversations
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o Facebook & Twitter: Day-to-day updates on BLP including posts
about rotations/projects, community service, event announcements,
and Q&A
o Instagram: Share photos and videos from BLP training, community
service events, networking events, recruiting coverage, and general
company events (i.e. Diversity network, Town Halls, etc.) attended
by BLPs
o Snapchat: BLP member takeovers for “Day In The Life” look into
the program and major recruiting event coverage
• BLP members to host “Social Media Takeovers” across all channels
during recruiting season
• Diversity Networks to host the “Synchrony Financial Symposium for Future
Diverse Leaders” to be attended by recommended talent/potential hires
• Hold in-person information sessions for interested students
Strategy #2: Engage potential candidates throughout and beyond the
recruiting season via online channels to drive understanding around what
a career will be like with Synchrony Financial through the Business
Leadership Program.
Tactics:
• Create a “Business Leadership Program” playlist on the existing
Synchrony Financial YouTube channel to feature monthly “Day In The Life
of a BLP” videos
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• Develop the Synchrony Financial BLP Blog to feature posts from current
and past rotational interns and full-time employees throughout the year
• Host two online BLP Q&As, one for undergraduate-level and one for
graduate-level students, featuring a roundtable of current and past interns
and full-time employees prior to and following key recruiting season dates
The key purpose of the strategies listed above are reaching current students
where they are, whether on campus or online. To successfully execute on these
strategies and tactics, Synchrony Financial will require high levels of dedication
from their recruiting volunteers and digital teams to ensure that students are
effectively exposed to the opportunities of the Business Leadership Program
before, during, and after recruiting season. By establishing BLP-specific social
media pages and blog, Synchrony recruiters can direct interested candidates to
information that is relevant to their job search instead of them having to scour
other corporate pages or be limited to the University website. In addition to
regular posting activities, having current BLPs partake in page takeovers allows
for real-time interaction that is valuable to potential candidates as they have a
chance to directly interact with employees who are where they want to be in the
future. Social media takeovers work for brands because they drive engagement,
foster authenticity, and connect companies with their audience while expanding
their network (Pearson, 2013). This highly targeted and relevant interaction is
mirrored with the proposed information sessions and Q&As to be led by
recruiters and current or past members.
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In line with its values of Honesty, Responsible, Passion, Caring, Driven,
and Bold, Synchrony Financial’s Diversity Networks serve as a core piece of its
cultural puzzle. As shared by CEO Margaret Keane, “Our BLP new hires will be
linked to our affinity groups in their first week on the job, whether the Women’s
Network, Hispanic Forum, African American Forum or any of our other affinity
networks, to help make the important connections new team members need to
start building their own support networks” (Schawbel, 2015). By having these
networks host a symposium for top talent, the company is showing this
dedication to diversity before students apply to drive home an important part of
the Synchrony Financial culture, while also allowing them to improve their
leadership skills and build new peer and professional networks as they learn
more about the company as a potential employer.
Corporate-Focused Media
Strategies & Tactics
Strategy #1: Solicit media coverage of BLP news and events in local and
national in print and online channels using outbound requests.
Tactics:
• BLPs to engage in outreach to local media using approved press releases
communicating upcoming events and service projects
• Promote leadership support of program through posts and photo sharing
on externally-facing corporate social media pages
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• Create professional videos to be shared via email to local and national
media for coverage in future stories
• Establish foundation of brand influencer partnership with BuzzFeed to
initiate internally-created posts on major online channels
In the past, rotational program members within General Electric programs
have had the chance to impact how their program is viewed both internally and
externally through the creation of committees focusing on a wide variety of
special extracurricular projects. For example, while one committee focused on
developing an educational internal newsletter, another focused on revamping the
public-facing website to ensure it communicated the program as it stands today.
This media-focused strategy will provide BLP members with an added unique
opportunity to control the destiny of their program by working both internally and
externally to drive awareness and interest around the program. As all of the
tactics above require outbound communications to media outlets on local,
national, and potentially international levels, not only will the members of the
program develop through their day-to-day roles, but also through added projects
that allow them to “share the wealth” of their experience given that it is a new
program in the market.
Unique to this strategy is the tactic of working to establish a partnership
with BuzzFeed, well-known content-driven websites. BuzzFeed (2015) “provides
the most shareable breaking news, original reporting, entertainment, and video
across the social web to its global audience of more than 200M”. BuzzFeed has
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business-focused categories and content and allow for brands to partner with
them to create and distribute editorial content on their pages. With their reader
audience being similar to the population that Synchrony is targeting for the
program, this partnership would allow for Synchrony to gain visibility on content
created internally but also be given the ability to be shared broadly outside of the
company through the popular website.
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CAMPAIGN CALENDAR & BUDGET
In this portion of the plan, supported by the illustrated calendar and budget
for the aforementioned strategies and tactics, additional insight will be provided
into why and when the proposed tactics should be executed. As Synchrony
Financial moves forward, trial and error is necessary to find their niche, but they
will want to make sure that their test executions do not break the budget. By
2016 being just their second full year post-IPO, potential first full year post-
separation, and the first year of full-on recruiting for BLP with current members in
place, utilizing as many existing resources as possible to minimize costs will
remain a priority. Whether it is reaching internal audiences, campus audiences,
or the media, leveraging the help of corporate communications and BLP
members gives additional development opportunities for its employees while
working to reach the overall goal of this plan. On the following two pages are the
PR activities calendar and campaign budget, followed by further detail around
why the calendar and budget were developed as proposed.
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Detail Per Item Cost Quantity Total ProjectedKey Public Current EmployeesStrategy Gratitude/RecognitionTactics Bi-Annual Thank You Lunch Available to all employees at all sites $11.00 22000 $242,000.00
Quarterly "Walk With Us" Calls Led virtually by internal leaders $0.00 0 $0.00Employee of the Quarter Rewards 1 employee per 8 functions $250.00 32 $8,000.00
Strategy Subtotal $250,000.00
Strategy Benefits ReinforcementTactics Know Your SYF Webinars Led virtually by internal leaders $0.00 6 $0.00
Know Your SYF Newsletter Developed by current employees for electronic delivery $0.00 52 $0.00Strategy Subtotal $0.00
Strategy Internal BLP EducationTactics Meet The BLP Articles Developed by BLPs for electronic delivery $0.00 12 $0.00
Site/Happy Hour Events One per 8-month rotation per 12 sites (Off-site events for larger sites) $500.00 24 $12,000.00Strategy Subtotal $12,000.00
Public Subtotal $262,000.00
Key Public Campus PersonnelStrategy Relationship BuildingTactics Outbound Emails Developed by recruiters $0.00 $0.00
Collateral Dropoff Provided by corporate recruiting teamcollateral warehouse $0.00 $0.00Strategy Subtotal $0.00
Strategy Academic Year EngagementTactics Outbound Emails Developed by recruiters $0.00 $0.00
Recruiting Team Travel & Lodging Airfare, hotel, rental car for 15 teams of 5 people $5,000.00 15 $75,000.00Senior Leader Travel & Lodging Airfare, hotel, rental car for 10 leaders $1,000.00 10 $10,000.00
Strategy Subtotal $85,000.00Public Subtotal $85,000.00
Key Public StudentsStrategy BLP EducationTactics Social Media Channels Managed by SYF social media team $0.00 $0.00
Social Media Takeovers Managed by SYF BLPs & social media team $0.00 $0.00Leadership Symposium Invite 15 symposium attendees $2,000.00 15 $50,000.00Information Sessions Virtually led by BLPs and recruiters $0.00 $0.00
Strategy Subtotal $50,000.00
Strategy Academic Year EngagementTactics Professional Video Creation Leverage team that creates current YouTube videos $0.00 $0.00
SYF BLP Blog Managed by BLPs as part of University Website $0.00 $0.00Virtual Q&As Virtually led by BLPs and recruiters $0.00 $0.00
Strategy Subtotal $100,000.00Public Subtotal $150,000.00
Key Public MediaStrategy Media Coverage SolictationTactics Press Releases Created by BLPs, reviewed by internal teams $0.00 $0.00
Leadership Social Media Leverage current leaders' and SYF channels $0.00 $0.00Career Video Dissemintation Delivered electronically to media contacts $0.00 $0.00BuzzFeed Partnership Partnership including 4-5 articles $100,000.00 1 $100,000.00
Strategy Subtotal $100,000.00Public Subtotal $100,000.00
Sprout Social Team Subcscription Year-long subscription with one-month free trial $500.00 12 $6,000.00Public Opinion Polls Conduct two national surveys of about 800 respondents $20,000.00 2 $40,000.00
Measurment & Evaluation Total $46,000.00CAMPAIGN TOTAL $643,000.00
Measurement & Evaluation
Synchrony Financial 2016 Public Relations Campaign
BUDGET
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Key Public #1: Current Employees
Gratitude/Recognition:
• Thank You Lunch: By providing each employee a meal ticket for two
lunches per year in the spring and summer, SYF is being given a chance
to not only show gratitude for their employees’ contribution to the
company, but also offer the opportunity to mingle with other employees
and site leaders and hear a keynote from a select leadership team
member. With the average lunch costing about $11, this tactic does
become the most expensive out of all that are proposed, but recent
surveys show that unexpected non-monetary appreciation is something
that employees seek from their employers (Han, 2014). Glassdoor (2013)
found that, while appreciation from their manager and a paycheck are the
top two most common motivators of employees, unexpected treats and
rewards comes in third before public recognition, career opportunities, and
feeling involved in the decision-making process. Based on this
information, if SYF were to surprise employees with these lunches and,
potentially in years following switch up the times and frequency in which
they hold these lunches, it can continue to be a pleasant surprise as
desired.
• Quarterly “Walk With Us” Calls: At a time when the company is going
through many changes and constant internal communications flood emails
informing employees of what is coming up, it cannot be expected that
employees actually internalize what they are reading, if they read it at all,
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until it effects them personally. McKinsey (2012) shared that 28% of the
average workweek is spent reading and answering emails and 19%
searching and gathering information. It can be assumed that, depending
on individual employees’ roles, not everyone is taking heed to what is
being shared, so having dedicated webinars that employees can listen in
on live or at their leisure for the topics that are most important to them will
ensure that, even if they are not ignoring the emails, that they can spend
one hour truly internalizing what matters to them and saving the time to
backtrack or ask others later.
• Functional Employee of the Quarter: A recent Globoforce Workforce Mood
Tracker shared that job seekers’ number two reason for leaving their
previous employer is for lack of recognition (48.3%), specifically value-
based recognition. The report shares that 79% of employees say that
recognition tied to core values gave them a stronger sense of company
goals and objectives (Irvine, 2012). As SYF continues to embark on its
journey to separation with a new set of values, tying this specific tactic to
company values, along with routine recognition throughout the company,
gives leadership a chance to give employees the feeling of being a part of
the bigger picture, which is important for the company’s current situation.
Overall, given that 65% of employees that can name their values have a strong
grasp on company objectives and 88% that know the values are engaged, timely
recognition based on core values reduces turnover, increases productivity due to
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added understanding of an organization’s commitment to company objectives,
and added employee engagement (Irvine, 2012). With these important tactics
promoting recognition and understanding of the company, the timely execution of
each of these will, as the Globoforce study revealed, positively affect the
employee metrics that drive greater ROI.
Benefits Reinforcement: The “Know Your SYF” series will provide employees
key information about their benefits at no cost to Synchrony Financial aside from
the time needed to prepare and hold the virtual sessions and distribute the
corresponding monthly emails. Because the respective departments with the
knowledge of the information being shared organize the series, the sessions and
emails can be created and delivered in a way that is succinct but comprehensible
by all employees. Similar to the “Know Your SYF” calls, the virtual sessions will
give different departments a chance to provide a refresher of what may have
come through in the emails prior to. By scheduling two emails before each
webinar, the respective departments can share a one-hour call, delivering their
information for 30 minutes each, allowing employees to better manage their time
depending on what benefits are important to them. This series, once again,
contributes to employees being “in the know” and fully aware of what is available
to them, further adding to employee engagement and satisfaction.
Internal BLP Education: Currently, Synchrony Financial leverages its new
intranet to share various articles about what is going on in and around the
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company. For example, relevant to the Business Leadership Program, a recent
article covered the start of the first class of BLP interns in June. With “Meet The
BLPs” articles created by the BLPs themselves and segmented by function, there
are multiple benefits: (1) BLP awareness is increased internally (2) The BLPs get
an early chance to share their story and gain exposure throughout the company;
and (3) Current employees become acquainted with the new faces that they may
see around their area and, due to the functional breakdown, can ensure to
connect with them or be aware that they may hear from them while they are on
rotation trying to complete their projects. The networking events add to these
benefits but with BLP being a leadership-driven initiative, allows for networking
for the BLPs, other current employees, and overall exposure for all in attendance.
These networking opportunities give employees a scheduled chance to interact
with the BLPs while they are in their rotations for only 8 months to learn about
what they are doing, how it may help their day-to-day and offer a helping hand.
As stated earlier in this plan, current employees serve as brand ambassadors for
Synchrony Financial and its opportunities based on their first-hand experience.
While earlier tactics provide them with information that is pertinent to their role,
personal or professional development, or general understanding of the company,
these events serve to ensure that, as employees share with others, that they are
sharing correct information about the rotational program as a job opportunity.
Key Public #2: Campus Personnel
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Relationship Building: To ensure that universities are on-board for SYF to join
in recruiting activities during their Fall semester, the main interviewing and hiring
season, recruiters want to leverage the Spring semester as a way to focus on
gauging interest and beginning to build the relationship, especially as a new
name on campus. By using alumni or employees local to the area who are
knowledgeable about the school and/or specific contacts, there is already a
foundation set ready to be built upon with further contact and information sharing.
The stronger the relationship built earlier in the calendar year, it is recruiters’
hopes to have a more successful recruiting season by getting additional
opportunities to get in front of students and faculty as a way to identify the
university’s top talent. By dropping off collateral to contacts, this brand
awareness is increased and provides additional ability for students to be put in
front of the company and its opportunities before they attend their campuses’
next big career fair to start interviewing for their next summer internship or full-
time position. As a key example, while the Spring semester often brings
interactions with students who may have already committed to a summer
internship, exposing them to the BLP early allows them to compare their
upcoming experience with the potential experience at SYF as they “shop around”
for employers prior to graduation with the help of their trusted faculty.
Academic Year Engagement: As a follow-up to the relationship building piece
of this public’s strategy, it is important for the recruiting teams to keep contact
with their respective universities year-round, not only to drive awareness of the
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company, but mainly to ensure that they are dedicated to providing the best for
the university’s students. Hopefully, by the end of the Spring semester, recruiters
have identified engaged faculty members to assist in recruiting strategy
development prior to recruiting season that can help provide feedback on SYF’s
approach based on their specific student base. Also, the outbound emails
become more productive given the relationship that has now been created. By
attending both Spring and Fall career fairs, where applicable, followed by
leveraging student organizations or other avenues to hold Synchrony-branded
guest speaking events later in the semester, the brand is on campus enough
without over-saturating, giving faculty and, of course, students multiple times to
interact with Synchrony employees to better understand the company over time.
Key Public #3: Students
BLP Education:
• Social Media Channels & BLP Takeovers: With current social media
presence on Twitter, LinkedIn, and YouTube, and opportunity to expand to
additional channels to reach the key public of students, Synchrony
Financial can utilize its current social media team and BLPs to create
content to raise awareness about and generate interest in the rotational
program. To help share unique experiences within the program, BLPs and
recruiters can help the social media team share content year-round on the
Careers accounts to keep them active. To further the understanding of the
true day-to-day of the program, having BLPs share “Day in the Life”
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content through the established channels will provide followers with
valuable insights into the potential opportunity at no cost to Synchrony due
to sharing on existing channels.
• Leadership Symposium: By inviting identified top talent from across the
country to interact with the company during a collegiate leadership
symposium, Synchrony Financial has the chance to build relationships,
share the brand, identify potential hires, and create brand ambassadors.
While this is a costly tactic, directly exposing collegiate job seekers to the
company, its people, and its culture provides an instant potential pipeline
for the rotational program. By holding the symposium in April, this tactic
falls in line with the other relationship building tactics at the faculty level,
creating the foundation for hiring in the next recruiting season.
• Information Sessions: The in-person information sessions will be in
conjunction with the career fairs, providing recruiters with a place to direct
students while they are still on campus and able to interact one on one.
Because the recruiters are already on their respective campuses for the
career fair activities, there is no incremental cost to hold these in-person
sessions. As Cornell University (2015) shares with companies preparing to
come to campus, “Employer information sessions and presentations can
greatly enhance your on-campus recruitment effort. Sessions early in the
semester raise student awareness about your organization, thereby
increasing the number of resumes submitted for an interview”.
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Academic Year Engagement: The proposed ways in which Synchrony Financial
can keep in touch with prospective BLPs throughout the school year will leverage
existing resources to keep the relationship moving at no cost to the company in
hopes to generate additional interest to help with future hiring. BLPs can utilize
internal or contracted production teams to develop the monthly Day In The Life
videos for YouTube that, similar to the social media content and takeover days,
provide added insight into the daily life of a BLP across various functions and
segments within the business. Additionally, the BLP blog not only gives the BLPs
a chance to work together to organize their own blog from month to month to
share their experiences, it gives prospective BLPs the chance to read the unique
experiences in addition to reading the social media posts. With a host of BLPs
around the business, these alternatives diversify the ways in which BLPs can
share their story. The virtual Q&A sessions will be scheduled before and after the
career fairs in line with the social media takeovers, which then become a
promotion avenue for the Q&As, giving students the chance to learn more about
the program before meeting with recruiters, while also providing recruiters a
place to direct interested candidates for more information as they may be
evaluating their options once the recruiters leave campus, or for those who did
not have a Synchrony representative on their campus.
Key Public #4: Media
Media Coverage Solicitation:
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• Outbound Sharing: Similar to many of the tactics in this plan, Synchrony
Financial will want to leverage existing resources to grab the attention of
the corporate-focused media. By sharing the links to the new YouTube
videos released to different sets of media contacts each month, to
minimize oversaturation, and ensuring that some of the social media
content throughout the year focuses around leadership support of the
program (i.e. quotes, interviews, etc.), BLPs can gain new skills with the
help of corporate communications to share their experience beyond
internal audiences and college audiences. With each quarter, the BLPs
can identify a key theme that is relevant to their experience and, with the
help of corporate communications, identify which media outlets quarterly
press releases should be distributed to.
• BuzzFeed: Because BuzzFeed is a popular media outlet for the students
that Synchrony is targeting for BLP hiring, creating a partnership would
allow for them to pay for guaranteed placement that is sure to reach their
desired audience. The BuzzFeed “partner” designation is defined as those
posts or thumbnails that are brought from external advertising
partnerships. This partnership requires the advertising company to pay
about $100,000 in exchange for the ability to develop 4-5 posts on the site
(Sternberg, 2013). To test this partnership, Synchrony can develop this
partnership for one year and provide BLPs the chance to develop
additional content that is more relaxed and fun. Developing quarterly
posts, specially in advance of on-campus recruiting efforts, will allow the
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posts to build buzz around the company before recruiters make their way
to campus to execute on the student-facing tactics.
Measurement & Evaluation
Because a lot of the proposed evaluation methods to be explained in the
next section require the sponsoring team for internal events and Synchrony
representatives in off-campus settings to tabulate engagement levels in real-time
or utilize electronic communications to distribute surveys, for example, a small
amount of the budget for this campaign will go towards measuring the
effectiveness of the proposed tactics. By leveraging a survey agency to conduct
the national public opinion polls and ensuring the social media team has a
running Sprout Social subscription to manage and analyze the additional social
media efforts, the company can ensure that the major evaluation methods are
covered. Because the social media monitoring must be done on a continuous
basis, Synchrony must produce funding to keep the subscription ongoing while
the public opinion poll will occur twice – once in January before the campaign is
in full swing and once in December as the year-long campaign is closing out.
Specific to internal tactic execution, Synchrony will want to take an official
count of new hires when they join the company, and get their feedback via in-
depth interviews in August before their rotations go into full swing and
interviewers can get a “fresh” external view that is not too influenced yet by the
culture. Employee engagement in various events will want to be measured year-
round to see how different events may get employees more involved than others
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while post-event surveys will take a snapshot in time around specific employee-
focused events such as the recognition lunches, Know Your SYF webinars and
Walk With Us leadership calls. To measure and evaluate its employee-focused
tactics, the company can measure the 2015 retention rate at the start of 2016,
conduct employee focus groups about halfway through the campaign to see how
much the proposed tactics have been engaging and helpful so far and end the
year with the all-employee survey to get insight on how the overall campaign was
helpful to employees understanding the company and its journey more than the
current day.
From a university perspective, the company will want to count the number
of new partnerships developed at the time of career fairs, given that attending
and having a booth at a career fair serves as a stepping stone to creating a
working partnership with engaged faculty and students. On-campus engagement
will be measured hand-in-hand with student engagement levels and post-event
surveys as they will all be indicative of the support received by students and
faculty as well as provide an avenue for feedback moving into the next event or
next recruiting season. Overall, the timing for measuring and evaluating the
proposed tactics will be parallel to the timing of the events in which the proposed
method is tied to as a way to ensure that the company and its various teams
involved are getting real-time feedback to adjust for future planning and
execution.
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EVALUATION METHODS
Based on the earlier defined objectives, it is recommended that Synchrony
Financial use the following evaluation methods to determine the success of the
proposed strategies and tactics that will help them in achieving the individual
objectives and overall goal of this campaign. For the purpose of timing of the pre-
and post-campaign evaluation methods, the campaign will run through 2016,
allowing for the inclusion of an entire recruiting and hiring season.
Objective 1
Increase overall brand awareness amongst identified external key publics by
25% by Q1 2016.
Criteria
A 25% lift in overall brand awareness amongst university personnel,
undergraduate- and graduate-level students, and corporate-focused media by Q1
2016 is achieved.
Tools
Pre-Campaign Public Opinion Poll: To understand where its key publics
currently stand in relation to their awareness of Synchrony Financial, including
who the company is, what they do, their background, and career opportunities,
this public opinion poll will be distributed amongst samples in its key external
publics’ populations. Specifically, this sample will be the most effective by
including personnel and students from campuses that Synchrony currently has a
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relationship as well as those that it does not and representatives from print, TV,
radio, and online media. Some questions that this poll may include are:
• Do you know what Synchrony Financial is?
• Do you know how they came to be a company, through a buyout or
spinoff?
• Have you seen this company name on TV, newspaper, or online, or at
retailers that you visit?
• Are you aware of the opportunities available for college graduates at the
company?
Post-Campaign Public Opinion Poll: This post-campaign version of the above-
mentioned poll will give Synchrony Financial an idea of where the level of
awareness stands amongst its key external publics following the execution of the
proposed tactics.
Social Media Engagement: By leveraging Facebook, Twitter, Instagram,
YouTube, Snapchat, and a blog as a way to reach campuses and bring overall
awareness to the career opportunities at Synchrony Financial, the company will
want to keep track of metrics such as followers, views, shares, likes, and
retweets before, during, and after the campaign. This will allow Synchrony to see
not only how successful the channels have been in reaching the campaign’s key
publics, but also what content within those channels have achieved the best
traction for planning future content.
When looking at each individual social channel, the following metrics will
be measured with the support of Sprout Social for additional analytics. Sprout’s
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service provides a “collaborative platform [that] ensures smarter, faster and more
efficient social communications” (“Home”, 2015). By providing the ability to
identify opportunities to engage with followers, publish messages to multiple
social accounts, and measure performance and analyze social activity, Sprout
Social will allow Synchrony Financial’s social media/PR team to manage current
social media efforts while taking on the new BLP-focused accounts and posts to
measure effectiveness of the efforts. With a Sprout Social Team subscription,
three members on the team have the ability to manage these accounts
seamlessly as the content volume increases (“Home”, 2015).
• Facebook – Utilize Facebook Insights for business pages, which looks at
Page Likes, Post Reach, and Engagement (Clicks, Likes, Comments, &
Shares). Also, as events occur and hashtags are developed to generate
conversation, a look at the level of usage of those hashtags will provide
insight into engagement (“All of the Social Media”, 2015).
• Twitter – Utilize Twitter Analytics for metrics around tweets, tweet
impressions, profile visits, mentions, followers, and tweets linking to the
respective account. In addition to these metrics, Twitter allows users to
look into Engagement Rate (Clicks, Retweets, Favorites, and Replies by
impression), Link Clicks, Retweets, Favorites, and Replies for the past 28
days. Also, as events occur and hashtags are developed to generate
conversation, a look at the level of usage of those hashtags will provide
insight into engagement (“All of the Social Media”, 2015).
• Instagram – Followers, Tags, Hashtag usage
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• YouTube – Views, Comments, Likes/Dislikes, Favorites, Shares
• Snapchat – Private Snaps: Snaps Received, Chat messages sent,
Chat messages Received; Stories: Views, Average Views/Snap,
Estimated Time Viewed
• Blog – Views, Comments, Likes, Shares
Media Content Analysis: As Synchrony Financial gains additional media
attention through its overall company dealings and this campaign’s efforts, the
company will want to utilize media content analysis to understand who, what,
when, where, why, and how of news that is being shared in corporate-focused
media as well as how effective it is in increasing brand awareness across its
external publics. This media would include the proposed internally created and
proactively solicited coverage, inbound requests, and outputs of their potential
brand influencer partnerships.
Objective 2
Hire 70 qualified candidates into the Business Leadership Program following Fall
2015 recruiting season.
Criteria
Seventy Business Leadership Program employees are hired into Synchrony
Financial in the summer of 2016.
Tools
Count of New Hires for Class of 2018: New hires into the Business Leadership
Program will begin in July of every year. The number of program members hired
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to begin in their respective functional tracks in July of 2016, set to complete the
program by July of 2018, will determine the success of this objective.
Objective 3
Develop working partnerships with 15 additional colleges and universities by Fall
2016.
Criteria
Fifteen incremental university partnerships are developed leading into primary
recruiting season in Fall 2016.
Tools
Count of New Campus Partnerships: The simple count of new partnerships
that Synchrony recruiters have developed will evaluate the core success of this
objective.
On-Campus Engagement Levels: The proposed tactics require Synchrony
Financial recruiters to interact with personnel via email and face-to-face
interactions to help build campus relationships. To measure success of this
objective and its related tactics, the company will want to track how many
schools provided responses to recruiters in comparison to the total schools
contacted, the average number of contacts per campus, and how many face-to-
face meetings were held. Having a count of these interactions as a foundation
aside from a simple count of new partnerships developed, Synchrony will have
an idea of the effort needed moving forward to continue the increase.
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Objective 4
Increase awareness of Synchrony Financial as a top employer amongst students
by 60% by Fall 2016.
Criteria
Awareness of Synchrony Financial as a top employer amongst students has
increased by 60% leading into the Fall 2016 recruiting season.
Tools
Current BLP In-Depth Interviews: By interviewing current members of the
program, Synchrony Financial can get an idea of what drew them to apply, why
they accepted their offer, and get their thoughts on how to reach students given
their close proximity in age and experience. This can be done annually moving
forward to ensure that opportunities to develop and make adjustments to the
recruiting approach can be identified. Questions asked of current BLPs may
include:
• What made you apply for the Business Leadership Program?
• What types of interaction did you have with the company/representatives
before you applied?
• If you had more than one offer, what made you want to accept your offer
with Synchrony?
• What do you feel is the best way to reach students on campus today?
Student Event Engagement: Synchrony Financial will be interacting with
students using both in-person and virtual events to help spread the Synchrony
story and attract talent to the Business Leadership Program. The company will
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need recruiters to track the number of students that attend their respective
information sessions and Q&As. For both types of events, representatives will
want to document attendees’ name, classification, major, and email as a way to
interact further with students via post-event surveys (detailed below) and other
follow-ups throughout the recruiting relationship.
Post-Event E-mail Surveys for Undergraduate & Graduate Students on
Selected Campuses: From the first time out on campuses in Fall 2014,
Synchrony Financial is aware that overall awareness of the company was low. By
recruiting side-by-side with General Electric teams, recruiters were able to tie the
story together for students but still had to overcome the obstacle of being a
lesser-known company trying to establish its presence. Because the proposed
events will help to increase awareness, Synchrony will want to evaluate what
students think of the events that they attended and give them a chance to
provide feedback for an improved experience as job seekers. With recruiters
collecting emails for follow-ups, the initial follow-up communication to the
students can include a link to a survey opening up that feedback loop, giving
them a chance to provide insight into their experience with the event and
perception of the company. This survey will take a rating scale approach, asking
some of the following questions with an area for open-ended
comments/feedback:
• What is your level of understanding of Synchrony and its business model?
• What is your likelihood of applying for the BLP full-time program or
internship?
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• How helpful was this event as a part of your job search?
• Please rate the level of interaction with Synchrony representatives
• Please rate the helpfulness of Synchrony representatives.
• Please provide feedback around how we can improve this event in the
future.
Objective 5
Increase employee retention by 4% by the Q1 2016.
Criteria
A 94% employee retention rate is achieved by Q1 2016.
Tools
Employee Retention Rate for 2015 as compared to 2014: According to the
Society for Human Resource Management (2012), retention rate is “the
percentage of employees who were employed at the beginning of a period, and
remain with the company at the end of the period”, not including employees that
were hired and may have left during that period. The company must revisit the
exact definition used by human resources to develop the retention rate that is
displayed on their careers website to duplicate for evaluation of this objective.
Cross-Functional Employee Focus Groups: At each of the Synchrony
Financial sites, there is a wide range of functions represented, all with different
levels of insight into what is going on with the company depending on their
specific roles and responsibilities. By bringing representatives of all functions into
one room for a focus group, the company can gain feedback around where the
84
knowledge gaps lie, why there are gaps present, and what these employees
believe can be done specific to their function to close them, in addition to how
they believe these gaps may affect their perception of being an important asset
to the company. For this to be the most effective, conducting these at every site
would be the best approach to ensure that the various employee demographics
are covered. Some questions to be asked of these focus groups include:
• Were you aware of what an IPO was before our company’s? Do you know
now?
• Are you aware of the process that the company is going through to
become a standalone? If so, what aspects?
• If you are aware, what channels, internal or external, helped you stay in
the know?
• If you are not aware, what can be done to keep you aware?
• Do you feel like your role/function is a factor in what you are aware of?
• Do you research what is going on with the company on your own?
Employee Engagement Levels: Based on the proposed tactics, employees will
be engaged via various channels to ensure that they are aware of what is going
on with the company as a whole, what it means to be a Synchrony employee,
and why they are the company’s most important asset. Their knowledge of these
aspects of Synchrony will help drive retention based on their level of
engagement. The company will want to keep a count of how many employees
are participating in appreciation lunches, leadership calls, benefits calls, and
Business Leadership Program events.
85
Post-Campaign All-Employee Survey: With part of the campaign being
dedicated to current employees’ knowledge of the broader company, this all-
employee survey will serve as a comprehensive checkpoint for leadership to
understand the knowledge and perception of their employees. This survey must
be designed in a way to give the company a way to measure outputs by asking
employees about what they have participated in, outtakes by asking about their
knowledge of company dealings, and outcomes by asking how their knowledge
and engagement drives their perception of the company and their satisfaction in
working for the company. Questions asked as a part of this survey may include:
• Have you participated in any Walk With Us events? If so, how many?
• Have you participated in any Know Your SYF events? If so, which ones?
• Are you a member of a diversity network? If so, which one(s)?
• Based on the events that you participated in, where do you rate your level
of knowledge of the company?
• Based on knowledge gained from these events, where do you rate your
likelihood to stay with the company for the next 3 years?
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