Effective corporate citizenship professionals try to find ways to make the most out of their investments in nonprofit organizations. In this session, learn how to leverage your company’s unique resources and engage your colleagues to create alliances that deliver value to the cause and your business.

1. FedEx CASE STUDY |
How did Robots Deliver the FedEx Story?
Jason Baker, Senior Communications Specialist, FedEx Corporation
Traci Stubblefield, Communications Advisor, FedEx Corporation

2. Gladstone BraveBots – “It’s Here”
04/14/16 2
https://twitter.com/BraveBots/status/701635877697531905

3. How did Robots deliver the
FedEx story?
Traci Stubblefield and Jason Baker
FedEx Corporate Communications
Boston College Corporate Citizenship Conference 2016 – Atlanta, GA

4. Chargers Robotics – Perpetual Motion
04/14/16 4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_zU56BQUek&feature=youtu.be

5. What is FIRST?
• FIRST - For Inspiration & Recognition of Science & Technology
• Founded by world-renowned inventor, Dean Kamen
• Supports STEM education (science, technology, engineering, and math) through
student robotics competitions – “Sport for the Mind”
• Three leagues targeting K-12: Robotics (FRC), Tech (FTC) and Lego (FLL)

6. Here’s how we got there….
Then Now
• Provided in-kind shipping - $1M retail • Ship thousands of FedEx branded containers
to teams around the world
• Ship 600 robots to and from World
Championships, with ship site at event
• Issued a press release to tell our story • Millions impressions through social channels
• Thousands of pieces of content created on
Twitter and Instagram by students about our
brand
• Zero known team member involvement • Over 40 FedEx team members serving as
mentors to local teams
• Executive leaders engaged with program

7. We learned a lot of lessons along the way
•Do more than cut a check
•Work with partners to engage in meaningful ways
•Social Media is no longer free
•Sustaining support

8. Do more than cut a check.
What we’ve always done:
• Provided in-kind shipping and logistical support since 2002
• Donated over $500,000 in shipping each year (over $1M retail)
• Shipped Kit of Parts and 600+ FRC robots annually
What we realized:
• FIRST was one of our largest annual in-kind shipping investments
• Their programs aligns with our business core competencies and our innovative spirit
• We weren’t leveraging our investment and relationship with FIRST
• We weren’t telling our FIRST story internally or externally

9. Do more than cut a check.
What we did:
– Attended World Championship to learn more
– Our Chairman, Mr. Fred Smith, hosted Dean Kamen, at FedEx
– Leveraged our brand on Kit of Parts
– Connected directly with teams through grants and social media

10. Engage partners in a meaningful way.
What we’ve always done:
• Relied on non-profits we worked with present us with ideas on how to engage
• Worked within our own team for solutions
What we realized:
• Non-profits don’t always have the resources or infrastructure to help companies
activate
• We weren’t the only ones looking to take our support of FIRST to the next level
• New ideas can be scary, expensive and hesitation is completely normal

11. Engage partners in a meaningful way
What we did:
• Pulled together some really talented people within FedEx
• Made the most of FIRST Strategic Partner meetings by engaging other companies
• Brainstorming conversations with FIRST
• Pitched some big ideas to our management to pilot and secure funding

12. FedEx Innovation Challenge
• Interactive competition: entries via Twitter and
Instagram
• #OMGRobots and #FedEx
• Series of challenges related to FedEx
• Cash prize for teams
• Surprise engagement prizes (first entry
received just 2 mins after start)
• Physical component of online competition kept
teams engaged
• Postano / Spredfast / FedEx Blog to aggregate
and showcase submissions

13. Social Media is not free.
What we’ve always done:
• We created event recaps for social media
• Post stories about charitable work to our own channels
• Tracking likes & shares and move on
What we realized:
• Be active and go where your audience is
• Engagement matters
• Segmenting works: targeted, paid social posts
• The most relevant stories are created BY your audience

17. #eventtechlive

18. Unsolicited feedback from
teams:
“140 characters are not enough
to express how thankful we are
and how much this means.”
“Your team ran an extremely
effective campaign…you
definitely moved some
prospective hires down the
pipeline at this competition.”

20. 2014 Results
• 840 posts by teams were approved and published to site
• Over 100 teams participated
• Over 1,700 total posts related to FedEx and FIRST
• #FedEx trending on Twitter in the region for two days
• Teams mentioning #FedEx in posts unrelated to
Innovation Challenge (one team mentioned #FedEx 67
times!)

21. 2015 – More time, more prizes, more engagement
• Branded Kit of Parts totes
• Expanded Innovation Challenge to cover
entire FRC season (Jan-Apr)
• Monthly prizes including cash grants to
FRC and FTC teams at Championships
• Other prizes:
- Opportunity for team reps to pitch
game idea to FRC Game Design Team
- Trip to STL for team reps to serve as
Innovation Ambassadors during Championships

22. Work with other engaged sponsors

23. January ’15 Success
• Almost 500 entries from
about 200 teams in January
• Almost 10,000 pageviews on blog site
• Picked up by Reuters and 3BL CSR
social media wire service
• Lots of non-contest #FedEx mentions
• Direct engagement via official FedEx
social media channels

24. Creativity! Engagement!

25. 04/14/16

28. Hamilton
04/14/16 28
https://twitter.com/team5510/status/701645703827705856

31. Cooney Robotics
04/14/16 31
https://twitter.com/269Robotics/status/701641128341155840

32. 04/14/16 32

35. Blue Cheese
04/14/16 35
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W-8pIuzNrww

37. Ponytail Posse – FedEx Innovation Ambassadors

39. A First for FIRST: Game Design Pitch

40. A First for FIRST: Game Design Pitch

42. 2015 Results
• More than 8.5 million impressions
• 392 participating teams
• 3,522 pieces of content created on Twitter and Instagram
• Over 22,000 views of the Innovation Challenge site.
(30% of all FedEx Blog visits from January 1 – April 30)
• 6:28 - Average time spent on Innovation Challenge site
(anything over 2 minutes is good)
• 4.9% of all #OMGRobots mentions on Twitter also mentioned #FedEx
• 6 different teams posted 20 or more times about Innovation Challenge
• Increased participation at Championships by 30% from 2014

43. 2016 Innovation Challenge is on!
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery…

44. Sustaining support
What we’ve always done:
• Planned and executed by small, core group of FedEx team members
What we realized:
• Things are continuously evolving within FedEx and FIRST
• Need more resources within FedEx to grow and sustain
What we are doing:
• Replicate IT support in other departments at FedEx
• Brainstorm with other companies how to help each other grow and sustain
• Remaining open and flexible

45. #OMGquestions?

46. Mech Tech Dragons: Stand for your Brand
04/14/16 46
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzs7hRjaVzM&feature=youtu.be