BYD - Happy Employees make Greener Buses

Target Audience: The audience for this entry was all the employees, future hires and community leaders, and various Stakeholders in and around Lancaster, Calif. where our BYD Bus & Coach Factory resides. Even though many people were aware that BYD open a facility in Los Angeles County, many did not know how fast we were growing thanks to an overwhelming influx of orders for the clean, environmentally friendly buses we build. We created a comprehensive campaign which included the video, website www.BYDcaliforniadreaming.com and brochure handout that included FAQs about our labor force.

Strategy Objective:Creating the campaign material was the first step. The second step was outreach. The video played at several events including the special board meeting and press conference to announce Antelope Valley Transit Authority's decision to select BYD as their partner to become the nation's first all-electric zero-emission transit fleet by 2018. Government official meetings were also step up with the communities of Lancaster, Palmdale, Los Angeles, and the LA County Board of Supervisors.

Situation Challenge: BYD was having a Shareholder education problem: not enough people knew that we were growing in Lancaster, adding good paying jobs to Los Angeles County at a time where many companies were leaving California (i.e. Toyota), and saw our involvement in the community, so we decided to show them. At first, we were going to create a video about all the great things we were doing, how many employees we've added, the great benefits they receive using animated charts and graphs, but we didn't think that was enough. It wouldn't connect our audience with BYD as much as we needed to keep them engaged. The audience needed to experience it for themselves in order to believe it, and what better way than to have our talented workforce tell that story in their own unique way'no actors and unscripted.

Results Impact: In regards to the recruiting efforts, the video has help increase the number of people applying to work at BYD and increased flow of 15 new hires per week. For the video, the response has been equally as encouraging, combined views reached 4,589 between our Facebook and Youtube pages, which doesn't include the thousands more from events, meetings, and outreach programs within a matter of months. The campaign impressed Los Angeles City and County leaders. Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich hosted a special presentation in recognition of BYD Motors in building a clean economy workforce in the County by developing all-electric public transit buses. http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160309006403/en/BYD-Motors-Recognized-Leadership-Clean-Transportation-Job

Why Submit: The real reason this campaign was created was to connect people. To connect people building the buses, and to the people riding buses. To connect community leaders with the organizations in need of funding to deliver on-time quality service. And connect BYD to the right people in the right place to build a future for clean transportation. After all, isn't that what public transportation is all about? It's not to get from one place to another, its connecting people to the things, places and people in their lives. If we are graciously awarded an AdWheel Award, it will help more people, the members of the American Public Transportation Assocation, connect to why we are all doing this in the first place. These jobs count, these buses are needed, and the riders know it and believe too.