The brief: Global nuclear giant AREVA acquired UraMin, a locally based uranium company with mining interests in South Africa, Namibia and CAR in late 2007. From April 2008 to July 2009, Corpcom was tasked with rebranding the company amongst internal and external stakeholders as well as setting up the communications structure within the organisation.
The approach: A key part of the strategy was to convince senior management that change management and ongoing communications were important, particularly given the thoroughly French culture of the one firm and a predominantly South African one of the other. Since the company did not have a full-time communications resource, once senior management buy-in had been achieved, a Corpcom representative was present at the company's headquarters in Johannesburg for a certain number of hours per week to fulfil that role and develop and implement a communications strategy until a full-time resource was appointed.
The result: A new identity for AREVA Resources Southern Africa was forged and numerous team building interventions and workshops succeeded in bridging the divide between local management and the French expatriate contingent. Communications tools were conceptualised, branded and embraced by the organisation. All external and internal activities were tied back to the business's strategic objectives and milestones in establishing the company's mines.
