How Strategic Storytelling Bridged Generations:

Empowering Employer Branding with Strategic Storytelling

MLC Consulting embarked on a transformative journey with Fil Man Made Group (FMMG), a traditional and international family-owned Italian company, facing the challenge of rejuvenating its leadership team.

FMMG’s struggle lies in its difficulty attracting young talent due to its relatively unknown B2B brand among the younger generations.

MLC Consulting’s task was to revamp FMMG’s corporate branding communication in a way that resonated with millennial students, making the prospect of working for FMMG an aspirational dream.

cLIENT BACKGROUND

With its rich heritage as a traditional family-owned multinational, Fil Man Made Group faced a critical juncture in its evolution. The need to infuse fresh energy into its leadership team highlighted a broader challenge: attracting millennial talent to its workforce. Given the company’s low profile in B2B sectors amongst younger demographics, FMMG needed a strategy that would highlight its values and culture and align with the aspirations and expectations of the next generation of leaders.

cHALLENGE

FMMG found itself at a crossroads, needing to appeal to a generation that values meaningful work and cultural alignment over traditional incentives. The task was to communicate the company’s ethos in a manner that would captivate millennials, who often viewed the prospect of starting their careers in a manufacturing, traditional setting with skepticism.

The central question was: How could FMMG’s brand story be told in a way that engaged young graduates and made them envision a fulfilling career path within a company they do not know and they feel too traditional and old school?

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

MLC Consulting partnered with Fil Man Made Group (FMMG), a traditional family-owned Italian company, to address a pressing challenge: rejuvenating its leadership team by attracting young, millennial talent. FMMG faced the hurdle of being relatively unknown in B2B sectors among younger generations, which hindered its ability to attract the next generation of leaders. The objective was to revamp FMMG’s corporate branding to resonate with millennial values and aspirations, making FMMG an aspirational workplace. The strategic solution involved leveraging emotional engagement and strategic storytelling to bridge generational gaps, resulting in a successful transformation of FMMG’s employer brand.

Challenge

FMMG needed to attract millennials who value meaningful work and cultural fit. They sought to tell their brand story in a way that engaged skeptical millennials and made them see a fulfilling career with the company.

Solution

The MLC team collaborated with FMMG’s owner to distill the essence of what made the company an ideal workplace. They then crafted a narrative and presentation aimed at bridging the gap between FMMG’s values and millennial aspirations, making FMMG an attractive employer to them.

RESULT

The strategic storytelling led to an immediate and profound impact. Following the founder’s presentation at a university, millennial students showed great interest in FMMG opportunities. The founder’s visit to MLC’s offices was delayed as the university wanted to record his presentation, emphasizing its impact as a “student success case.”

SERVICES

#Strategic Storytelling
#Brand Revitalization
#Corporate Presentation Design
#Cultural Alignment Strategy
#Millennial Engagement

SOLUTION

The MLC Team began with the question: “What is the biggest worry for young graduates?”.

After answering this question, the MLC team created a storytelling-audience-based strategy, designing a narrative for the owner’s speech and a visually compelling presentation.

The entire project was about reverting the perspective from a self-referential narrative to new storytelling that put the young graduates at the center of the story

The MLC Approach

Every powerful storytelling starts with the audience.

The biggest challenge was matching the young grads’ desire to have an immediate impact with the traditional culture of a family-owned business in which things have “always been made” the same way.

The FMMG’s previously failed presentations all talked about them, creating an absolutely self-centered narrative.

The MLC Team decided to invest in researching how to change the perspective.

This narrative was designed to highlight FMMG’s rich heritage, commitment to innovation, and culture that values contributions from every team member.

The insight

The critical insight that drove the strategy was recognizing millennials’ desire for meaningful work that aligns with their values and aspirations for making a difference and having a concrete impact.

This generation seeks employers that offer a job and a fulfilling career path that contributes to their personal and professional growth.

The young generation is also impatient and not used to committing and sacrificing to achieve long-term results.

The insight highlighted storytelling was a powerful tool to communicate FMMG’s values and culture in an engaging and relatable way, but it needed to change perspective from being company-centered to being audience-centered.

The Process

The MLC Team began with an in-depth briefing with the FMMG owner to distill what made the company a “dream workplace” from his perspective.

Armed with these insights, we embarked on a creative endeavor to bridge the gap between FMMG’s traditional values and the aspirations of young talents.

This involved crafting a compelling narrative for the owner’s speech and designing an impactful presentation.

The strategy aimed to translate FMMG’s corporate culture and values into a story that resonated deeply with the millennial audience, enabling them to see FMMG as a desirable employer.

RESULTS

The impact of this strategic storytelling was immediate and profound. Following the founder’s presentation at a university, there was an overwhelming response from the millennial students, who were engaged and eager to learn more about opportunities at FMMG.

The founder’s visit to MLC’s office to celebrate this success was delayed due to the university’s request for him to record his presentation, underscoring the presentation’s impact as a “student success case”.

CONCLUSION

MLC Consulting’s collaboration with Fil Man Made Group demonstrates the transformative power of strategic storytelling and targeted branding. By aligning FMMG’s rich heritage and values with the aspirations of millennial talents, MLC Consulting helped FMMG position itself as a coveted employer among the next generation of leaders.

This case highlights the efficacy of a nuanced approach to branding and communication, proving that even traditional companies can rejuvenate their image and appeal to young talent by articulating their story in a compelling and relatable manner.

CLIENT FEEDBACK

Students were thrilled! While driving back to the MLC office to celebrate, the university called me back to record the presentation for their students in the future.

E. Parodi,
Sales Director

PROJECT OWNER

Valentina – Consulting Services Project Manager

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