Flow Communications has notched up yet another successful communication campaign, this time a safety awareness campaign in four languages spanning two countries for gas giant Sasol Gas.
The campaign entailed conceptualising, designing and producing safety communications for six Sasol Gas sites in South Africa and Mozambique, as well as overseeing installation of material that ranged from banners and wall-mounted signs to the sandblasting of logos.
The project started in April, when Flow presented the Sasol board with a comprehensive concept entitled “Safety First”.
“We proposed the name ‘Safety First’ because it ties in perfectly with Sasol Gas’s worker-safety philosophy,” says Flow design studio manager Tina Brown, who was involved in the original pitch in April and managed the design process throughout the project. “Using the Sasol Gas corporate colours, we developed a simple design in order not to detract from the very important safety messages conveyed by the campaign.
Towards the end of May the project received a huge shot in the arm when project manager extraordinaire Ros Caboz joined the Flow team. Deadlines were tight and Ros jumped in with gusto to ensure everything happened on time and within budget.
“The first thing I did was visit all the sites to gauge first-hand what was required,” says Ros. “This meant I hardly spent any time at all in the office in my first few weeks as a Flowstar, but I am happy to say I never felt like a stranger here.”
By June, a plethora of launch material, which extensively outlined safety procedures, had been developed and supplied to the Sasol Gas head office in Randburg and depots in Germiston, Pinetown, Komatipoort, Nelspruit and Maputo. Safety instructions were translated from English into Sotho, Zulu and Portuguese to make them more accessible to workers.
Installations at each site, which took place in July and August, took between two to six days and Ros was there to make sure everything ran smoothly.
“Once we’d established the exact requirements it was pretty much plain sailing, thanks to the hard work put in by everyone involved at Sasol Gas and Flow Communications,” she says.
Flow CEO Tara Turkington adds, “Working with Sasol Gas to roll out its safety campaign at its depots across South Africa and Mozambique has been a privilege, particularly because the work is so meaningful and important – it’s about ensuring people don’t get hurt while at work.
“We enjoyed conceptualising the campaign with Sasol Gas, designing it and then implementing it in places as far afield as Maputo and Komatipoort.
“We worked briefly with the CEO of Sasol Gas, Wrenelle Stander, in her previous job, when she was CEO of Air Traffic Navigation Services. She is an impressive, no-nonsense leader, and generously gave of her time to support us in this project.”
Erika Balouza, facilities manager of Sasol Gas in Pinetown, is full of praise for the Flow team: “I would like to compliment Ros and the installation crew who worked efficiently, safely and were so polite that it was a pleasure to have them on site,” she said via email. “We have already received compliments on the new signage and I am sure this will inspire everyone to work safely!”
“This was the first time we have worked with Sasol Gas, and we hope that the relationship we’ve built with its fantastic team will last long into the future,” concludes Tara.