A reorganisation affects hundreds or thousands of people, often across several sites, and is hard to tell by email. Gathering everyone at once is rarely possible. The result: everyone hears it at a different moment, from a different person, in different words. And rumour travels faster than the announcement.
A video does not replace dialogue. It guarantees one thing, precious at that moment: everyone hears the same thing, at the same time, said the same way. Here is how to prepare it, and the precautions to take.
What the video can do, and what it must not do
It can:
- explain why the company is changing, with the context employees do not have;
- show the new organisation, which an animated org chart does far better than text;
- say what changes, what does not, and when;
- say who to ask.
It must not:
- announce individual consequences, a role removed, a transfer. That is said face to face, in a one-to-one meeting, never in a video sent to everyone;
- present as final a decision still subject to consultation with employee representatives;
- replace conversations between managers and their teams. It prepares them.
The timing: employee representatives, managers, then everyone
The order of release matters as much as the content.
- Employee representatives. When a reorganisation requires informing and consulting employee representatives (the CSE in France), the video must not get ahead of that process. Have your HR and legal teams approve the text and the release date: it is for them to say what can be announced, and when.
- Managers. They see the video before their teams, with a FAQ and the answers they can give. A manager who discovers the announcement at the same time as their team cannot carry it.
- Everyone, at the same time. The same hour for every site, on the intranet, through an email from leadership and on screens. Q&A sessions follow in the days after.
The tone: sober, precise, human
A reorganisation announcement is not a campaign. Anything that feels like marketing backfires.
- No forced enthusiasm. No upbeat music, no superlatives. Discreet music, or none at all.
- Simple, exact words. "Teams A and B merge on 1 March" rather than "we are evolving our organisation to become more agile".
- Also say what does not change. It is often the first question people have.
- An identifiable voice. A leader's, or a neutral voice-over that clearly names who decides.
The structure of an announcement video
One to two minutes is enough. Beyond that, the essentials get lost.
- Why: the context, in two or three factual sentences.
- What changes: the new organisation, shown with an animated diagram rather than described.
- What does not change: the teams, sites and contacts that stay.
- The timeline: the key dates, without promising any you cannot keep.
- Questions: who to ask, where to find the FAQ, when the Q&A sessions take place.
Motion design or a filmed leader?
A filmed leader embodies the decision: you see who stands behind it. Motion design makes the structure clear: an org chart rearranging itself, flows moving, dates lining up. It also adapts easily into several languages, and updates if a date moves.
The two combine well: a short statement from the leader, then the new organisation explained in motion design. If you already have the statement, we produce the animated part in your brand guidelines.
Getting the announcement approved
An announcement video goes through more approvers than most: leadership, HR, legal, internal communications, sometimes subsidiary management. To avoid losing weeks:
- list the approvers at scoping, with what each one approves;
- have the text approved in writing before any animation, where a legal comment takes ten minutes to fix;
- isolate dates and names in the files, to change them without remaking the video if the timeline moves.
Our article on getting a video through legal review details the method.
Measuring whether the announcement was understood
Do not measure views. Measure what matters: the number and kind of questions HR and managers receive, attendance at the Q&A sessions, recurring questions that point to something poorly explained. Our article on what an internal video delivers suggests useful indicators.
Production time
Our internal video is delivered in 21 days, approvals included, provided the approvers are known at scoping. For an announcement, start from the release date and work back: the consultation of employee representatives, preparing managers, then production.
In short
An announcement video guarantees that everyone hears the same thing at the same time. It explains the new organisation, says what changes and what does not, and points to the right people. It replaces neither one-to-one meetings, nor the consultation of employee representatives, nor managers. For the big picture, read our guide to corporate motion design video.
