Module: Issues and Crisis Management

Communication Plan

Client: Housing Development Board

My role in this project: Account Director - compilation, managing the team and ensuring conhesiveness among team.

Project brief:

You and your team are tasked with developing an issues management plan to address the various criticisms of the HDB.

Your plan should focus on how to put across positive messages on HDB’s housing policies, and to sensitively put across the facts and to rebut false information if necessary.

Problem

HDB does not communicate their policies and efforts well enough to their stakeholders hence causing negative perception from its stakeholders.

Solution

Come up with a campaign and actively reach out to publics through engagement of the media.

4 MONTHS CAMPAIGN

We propose to use a reactive outreach plan first, to respond to the current complaints before using a proactive outreach plan to prepare for and control possible future or current negative issues. We want to achieve that by proposing activities based on our campaign theme - “HDB CARES”.

For reactive outreach plan, we have “HDB CARES for current homeowners” where activities will mainly be focused on responding to current homeowners. “HDB CARES for future homeowners” will be the proactive outreach plan where activities revolve around spreading awareness and positive perception of HDB to future and potential homebuyers.

REACTIVE OUTREACH:

HDB BOT

We will be setting up an online 24 hour chat room where a bot will be there to help to answer basic enquiries and questions about HDB. The bot will be preset with the answers to frequently asked questions. For more complicated questions that are asked, the bot will direct them to live help/ websites with related webpages. The bot will be updated regularly with more answers depending on questions asked to it.

NEWSLETTER
A newsletter would be sent to existing home-buyers containing information about HDB policies, current campaign message and details. A tear-out part will be included in this newsletter. This part will contain a feedback form. Target publics can fill in their feedback, comments for HDB and share current housing issues they are facing onto the form. They can tear out that form and drop it in an attached mailbox to HDB around the letterbox area. A pen will be attached with the newsletter as an incentive and target publics can also use the pen to fill up the form. The newsletter will also include a scratch card that allows target publics to scratch and win promotion codes and vouchers when purchasing furnitures from the different furnitures. This activity will carry on throughout the whole 4 months. Newsletter will be sent by a monthly basis. The first month will be sent to the North district in Singapore, and the following months will be sent to the people of South, East and West districts respectively.

WEB FUNCTION
A new web function that allows users to estimate the household that they will be acquiring. By inputting personal details such as number of family members, expendable income, price, prefered estate, location, we are able to come up with a rough estimation of how much they have to pay. At this point, we will give a list of policies that they are eligible for. This will allow them to know what policies are out there for them. This will increase the awareness that they have about the policies that HDB is offering. We will also have a loan calculator inside the results to show that how long it will take for the person to complete the payment of the house and the estimated cost that they will have to pay per month.

PROACTIVE OUTREACH

PAINT YOUR FUTURE WITH HDB
This is a contest that would be held on HDB’s social media accounts, mainly Facebook, where it would be open to those that do not own a HDB flat yet (future homeowners). They would be tasked to draw/paint out the design of their future HDB home and entries would be submitted to HDB via an upload portal on Facebook. The submissions then be uploaded onto a folder on HDB’s official Facebook page whereby awareness campaigns would be made known to the public through the direct mailers and newsletters to vote for their favourite home design. The participants behind the top 3 designs with the most number of votes within a period of time would be awarded IKEA vouchers to purchase furniture for their future home with HDB.

DIRECT MAILER
A hard textured post-card would be produced in the first few weeks of the campaign and it will be sent to future homebuyers who are just engaged (information can extracted through the Registry Of Marriage) containing information about HDB policies, current campaign message and details. A link to a feedback portal for them to share their queries can be provided. This activity will continue throughout all 4 months of the campaign.

RESIDENTS’ COMMITTEE - LIVE QUESTION AND ANSWER
This event would be held monthly by the Residents’ Committee (RC). During the event, there would be the MP of the area as well as officials from the HDB present whereby they can help to solve the minor problems of the residents as well as answer any queries by the residents. During this event, target publics will be able to raise concerns to a member of the board allowing for greater channel of communication between the board and the target Public. Posters will be places around the different housing estates nearby to inform target publics about this. It will also be publicised on social media to raise awareness.

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