BBC

 | Case Study

Personalizing the employee experience at the BBC

A digital transformation at the world’s most trusted news organization

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How it started

‘Old-fashioned, didn’t reflect the culture’

As the world’s most trusted news organization, reaching an audience of almost 500 million viewers a week, the BBC has always valued storytelling—not only for its audience but for BBC employees. In the 1930s, the BBC launched Ariel, an employee-focused newspaper, which transitioned to an online publication to meet employee needs in the digital age.

But something was missing.

“It didn’t reflect the modern media organization that we were,” said Deborah Copeland, director of internal communications and engagement at the BBC. “It felt quite old-fashioned. It didn’t reflect the culture that I knew we had, and were wanting to continue to create, at the BBC.”

Where they landed

‘A platform that can grow alongside us’

“We have correspondents and journalists working in some really difficult circumstances,” Deborah explained. “Having access to the latest information, having it personalized to them, whether that’s via desktop or mobile, is really, really important.”

“The breadth of what Firstup offers allows us to do more in a single platform, and there are cost efficiencies to that.” But more importantly, she said, is that “we have a platform that can grow alongside us. The ambition for the platform matches the ambition we have for our engagement approach. It feels like a journey that we can go on together, which is really exciting.”

About

BBC

Founded in 1922, the BBC is the world’s leading public service broadcaster. Impartial and independent, every day the BBC creates distinctive, world-class programs and content which inform, educate, and entertain millions of people in the United Kingdom and around the world.
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