A witness to National Grid’s social responsibility

“The 44 team brought all its great experience to bear in this project – from overall project management, book and app development to photography and editorial. We couldn’t have achieved the successful outcomes we had without 44.”

Senior Business Partner, Employee Communication & Media Relations, National Grid

The challenge

In October 2012, Superstorm Sandy struck the US East Coast, one of the worst natural disasters ever to hit the region. In the aftermath, National Grid wanted to commemorate its employees’ incredible commitment to social responsibility during the recovery effort. So Employee Communications commissioned something unique as a reminder of the monumental role played by their teams.

The solution

Unprecedented is a commemorative coffee table book and Apple, Android and Kindle-ready app which shares the employees’ heroic stories in their own words. Drawing on intimate, first-person accounts and in-the-moment reportage photography, this is a unique communications package. It remains a vivid and powerful testament to National Grid’s social responsibility commitment, and to the dedication of everyone at National Grid US who was involved.

The results

70% of readers said they would share the book or app with family and friends, and 70% said that they felt prouder about working for National Grid having read it. Awards included three Class Winners and the ‘Best of the Best’ Tom Dawson Award at the Institute of Internal Communication Central Awards, and an international Gold Quill Excellence Award for Best Publication Design.