Bringing ‘Building with Heart’ to life for Willmott Dixon
The Challenge
Since 1872 Willmott Dixon have been building structures throughout the UK, from schools to hospitals to leisure complexes and homes, Willmott Dixon pride themselves on delivering smart new buildings that help engage society and leave a positive impact.
In a competitive environment where the customer has a vast choice of construction companies to choose from, Willmott Dixon wanted to show they build with ‘heart’ rather then just deliver on time and on budget.
Willmott Dixon have chosen to use their brand stories to bring this message to life and worked with Hoot to help unearth them and then craft them into film, print and event collateral to get these stories out into the world.
Our Approach
Sometimes when you are working so closely in your own business and with your own customers, it’s not always easy to see the brand stories that are right in front of you. Hoot spent time talking with customers and researching Willmott Dixon’s construction projects to find the human examples of what working with Willmott Dixon is like. They had some great stories, from making sure neighbours close by their building sites were not adversely affected and were kept safe, to looking after animal habitats, to finding and implementing new ways to protect our environment from the constant change we create. Also stories about sustainable processes, helping young people learn more about construction and delivering more opportunities to other local businesses.
Since we started to unearth their stories with them Willmott Dixon have used them in a variety of ways including at staff and customer events; in their recruitment as they attract more great people into the construction industry; and inspiring their own teams about the great work they are doing.
We took some of these stories and blended them into a treatment for their ‘Why’ Film which you can watch above.
Positive Impacts
The film was well received by customers and the Willmott Dixon team themselves, and we went on to create many more short films for individual projects around the group, and also the next overall communication piece for the Group as a whole which celebrates the people who use the buildings that Willmott Dixon create. You can watch ‘Buildings fit for Heroes’ on the company’s homepage https://www.willmottdixon.co.uk
We are delighted to be helping Willmott Dixon tell their inspiring stories and we are grateful for their kind words….
“We are going through a cultural change programme and need the support of media, particularly film, to help us with our messaging and to inspire our people and customers. The Hoot team have been with us since the start of the change which, I think, has helped them achieve a deeper understanding of what we are trying to do.
We say it starts with the Why? but Hoot will insist on making sure they understand the What?; the Who? and the How? as well. This deep understanding shapes what they produce. We have commissioned individual bespoke projects which have in all cases inspired emotional responses and connections for the audience quite unlike anything we thought possible. Hoot seem to be able to construct a film that tells a story succinctly and concisely that wastes not a second.
We showed our last Hoot film to an audience of 220 people who all applauded its end to signify their approval. We showed the same film to some young apprentices who called it ‘inspirational’; ‘thought provoking’ and ‘motivating’ and to a big customer who believed it could start to change the view of the industry we are in.
There is no one I would recommend more. (But I’m not going to recommend them to anyone because I want them all to ourselves….!)”
John Waterman – COO
