ACCESS ANDREW: SPREADING THE WORD

Internal Marketing Samples

When launching the blog, the company undertook a number of efforts to ensure employees were aware and engaged. We developed a series of posters promoting the blog and displayed them in our global locations. We also ran a video “ad” about the new blog on our internal television system, and devoted a segment of our quarterly global employee satellite broadcast, Dow World News, to the topic. In all of these communications, Andrew consistently reiterated the need for employees to get involved, in order to create a true, dynamic dialogue.

Sample poster promoting the blog to employees:

dow newsline articles promoting the blog

The following articles have been published on Dow’s intranet to encourage employees to visit the blog and join the conversation.

Access Andrew Blog to Debut Soon

Monday, March 5, 2007

As discussed on the most recent Dow World News broadcast, Dow Chairman and CEO Andrew Liveris will introduce an internal blog this month called Access Andrew, to share his thoughts and observations on a variety of topics, both personal and professional, and to facilitate a dialogue with employees.

“While I spend a lot of time visiting Dow facilities around the world, I don’t always get to interact with as many employees as I would like,” commented Andrew. “My blog will give me a chance to talk directly with all of you and to hear your comments as well.”

For those who don’t blog, or haven’t heard about this technology, a blog is a user-generated website usually started up by someone who wants to offer commentary about a particular subject. Readers can post their own thoughts in reaction to that commentary and often engage in dialogue among themselves.

While blogs are growing at an explosive rate around the world, with approximately 175,000 new blogs being created daily, they are new to Dow and fairly new to companies in general. Companies like IBM, Wal-Mart, ING, Intel and others have introduced internal blogs.

Access Andrew will be evaluated after six months to determine if it is a useful and meaningful communication vehicle for Dow and a good fit for the company’s culture. One of the factors that will be used to judge its success is employee participation.

“I’ve already begun thinking about and writing postings for my blog,” said Andrew. “I really hope all employees will engage in the conversation and will be comfortable sharing their thoughts. I want people to feel free to offer alternative points of view. Frankly, I’ll be disappointed if the only feedback I get is from people who agree with me.”

To help guide the blog conversation, participants should keep in mind some general “do’s and don’ts”, such as:

DO:

1. •Be accountable for what you say
   

2. •Be accurate
   

3. •Be yourself
   

4. •Be respectful
   

5. •Be willing to disagree
   

DON’T:

1. •Post classified, confidential or proprietary information
   

2. •Spread rumors or speculation
   

3. •Engage in personal attacks, insults or threats - in fact, it is inappropriate to use personally identifiable information about others in your postings
   

4. •Use obscene language
   

A more comprehensive blog policy will be available when the blog is launched.

The blog dialogue will be conducted in English to allow for real-time postings and to preserve Andrew’s voice in his blog posts.

Andrew indicated that he wants the blog to foster meaningful discussion about Dow, its culture, products, goals and vision for the future. It will also provide a forum for addressing important industry and public policy issues.

“While I have a number of things I want to write about, I also want to make sure we are talking about things that matter to each of you,” said Andrew. “I read the recent GEOAS results with great interest, and it wasn’t lost on me that employees are seeking improved communication from senior management about our direction and what is going on at Dow. I want to use this blog to help address that situation.”

Watch Dow Today for updates about Access Andrew.

Blog? Blogging? Bloggers?

Tuesday, March 6, 2007

Confused by the term “blog?” The term, which comes from “web log”, has many uses. As a noun, the term can be used to describe a user-generated website where entries are made in journal style and displayed in a reverse chronological order. Blog can also be used as a noun in referring to the owner of the blog, a “blogger.” As a verb like “blogging”, it means to maintain or add content to a blog.

For more information about blogging at Dow, read our recent Newsline.

Check back for more blog facts throughout the week and watch for Access Andrew, Andrew Liveris’ blog about life at Dow, to premiere soon.

The Rise of the Corporate Blog

Wednesday, March 7, 2007

While blogs, namely Access Andrew, are new to Dow, blogs are not a new concept for some world-class corporations. With the upcoming launch of Access Andrew, Dow will join Wal-Mart, ING, Intel and IBM, among others, in using blogs as a way to communicate internally.

For more information about blogging at Dow, read our recent Newsline.

Check back for more blog facts throughout the week and watch for Access Andrew, Andrew Liveris’ blog about life at Dow, to premiere soon.

The Blog-Father

Thursday, March 8, 2007

Justin Hall is generally recognized as one of the earliest personal bloggers. He began personal blogging with his blog “Justin’s Links from the Underground” in 1994 while attending Swarthmore College.

For more information about blogging at Dow, read our recent Newsline.

Check back for more blog facts throughout the week and watch for Access Andrew, Andrew Liveris’ blog about life at Dow, to premiere soon.

Everyone’s Blogging!

Friday, March 9, 2007

As of February 2007, blog search engine Technorati is tracking 69 million blogs. According to Technorati data, there are over 175,000 new blogs every day. Bloggers update their blogs regularly to the tune of over 1.6 million posts per day, or over 18 updates a second.

For more information about blogging at Dow, read our recent Newsline.

Check back for more blog facts throughout the week and watch for Access Andrew, Andrew Liveris’ blog about life at Dow, to premiere soon.

Access Andrew’s Thoughts

Monday, March 12, 2007

Through Access Andrew, Dow employees will have the opportunity to hear directly from Andrew Liveris on a wide variety of work- and life-related topics. Employees will be invited to join in the dialogue by offering their own comments in response.

For more information about blogging at Dow, read our recent Newsline.

Watch for Access Andrew, Andrew Liveris’ blog about life at Dow, to premiere soon.

Access Andrew Blog is Live

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Andrew Liveris’ blog for employees, Access Andrew, launched earlier this week. Visit the blog and join the dialogue with Andrew and your colleagues from around the world.

Andrew’s first blog entry explains why he wanted to have a blog. He writes, “Humankind is ‘getting to know each other’ via the web and we are getting better at it. The blog allows you to not only see what I think, but ‘hear me’ (as one blogger put it) and understand me. In today's corporate world, we are more remote from each other than ever before, and communicating via the blog short-circuits this remoteness - it connects the human element in Dow!”

Andrew will update the blog with a new entry approximately once a week. While his schedule doesn’t permit him to respond to every post from employees, he will read them and encourages employees to use his blog for conversations among themselves on topics of interest.

Dow’s Public Affairs and Information Systems groups worked together to develop comprehensive Blog Guidelines to facilitate appropriate electronic dialogue through the blog. It includes guidelines for blog conversations, responsibilities for blog comments and other useful information.

To start blogging, visit Access Andrew today and weigh in on life at Dow.