2007 Copper Quill Award

When Cox purchased a rival cable system, CableAmerica, in an area where it already had a fully staffed area service center, it needed to educate its employees on how the transition would affect their roles and the customer service they provide. Cox employees in Mesa were concerned about their jobs changing. Customer service employees needed direction on how to handle calls from CableAmerica customers, who would soon face changes in services and fees. And CableAmerica employees wondered if they would get to keep their jobs – and worse, they wondered if they wanted to. Knowing that Cox already had a fully staffed Mesa office, and that all call center positions operated out of its Deer Valley office, some CableAmerica employees faced a 40-mile one-way commute. There was a need for strategic communications to begin the process of sharing the Cox culture to recruit CableAmerica employees, and to respond to questions about the plans and process for transfer of assets and customers from CableAmerica to Cox. Because CableAmerica employees did not have e-mail or Internet during the transition, the communications program included written pieces like memos and letters that were posted on bulletin boards onsite, in addition to e-mails, e-newsletter pieces and intranet articles for current Cox employees who relied more heavily on electronic communications.