The transformation focused on delivering state-based and Group-wide initiatives to help fundamentally change the way Crown operates and support their path to regaining their licenses as well as a major culture uplift.

Working closely with the Crown Executive Committee, Delivery Leads, Change Management team, Corporate Affairs team and Program Management Office across three states, Enspire was tasked with leading the Communications stream of the transformation.

Over 12 months, Enspire: 

Developed the Future Crown Communications strategy:  Clear and engaging communications were a fundamental part of the transformation and ensured that team members understood their role in building a stronger, more ethical organisation. Our approach involved devising a communication strategy tailored to each phase of the transformational strategy, encompassing the 20 distinct workstreams involved in the remediation efforts. 

The strategy aimed to:

• Engage all team members on the journey and excite them for the future during a challenging time.

• Foster a shared understanding in where Crown was headed as an organisation and why they needed to change.  

• Help team members understand their role in building a better Crown. 

Designed and executed group-wide campaigns: To engage team members and embed critical initiatives we ran several large-scale awareness campaigns across the Group, including:

• Introducing Carded Play: Crown Melbourne introduced YourPlay, a card-based pre-commitment system for electronic gaming machines (EGMs). Enspire oversaw the communication rollout, ensuring:

• All Crown team members, across departments, understood the rollout process and their role in enhancing the gaming experience for guests at Crown Melbourne.

• The broader Victorian community was informed about the pivotal role of player safety and initiatives like YourPlay in transforming the gaming experience at Crown Melbourne.

• Risk mitigation strategies were employed, addressing concerns such as the registration process for casual players, potential overcrowding especially during peak periods and major events.
  

• Policy Uplift Program: This program aimed to consolidate Crown’s policies and procedures. Enspire worked with the Compliance team, Change and PwC to ensure team members understood the changes made and how they may impact their role. This was done through leader communications, Town Halls, People Leader newsletter updates, targeted communications, developing a dedicated SharePoint site and focusing on policies through dedicated campaigns, such as Stand up, Speak Up which focused on behaviour change at Crown and creating safe channels to speak up, and the Code of Conduct.  
  

Employee communications and engagement: Enspire was responsible for planning, writing, and rolling out a range of employee communications. These included Executive emails, newsletter content, Workplace communications, engaging videos, digital signage design, SharePoint sites and leader packs. We were also tasked with developing new channels such as the monthly People Leader newsletter. 

CEO and leader communication: We worked closely with Crown’s leadership team to develop strategic messaging and leadership communications. Additionally, we curated and tailored communication strategies to elevate awareness and changes on important subjects such as Financial Crime, Responsible Gaming, Risk and Compliance and Anti-Bribery and Corruption, and sequenced and coordinated workstream communications.

We also supported the Chief Transformation Officer directly, developing her communication rhythm and speaker notes ensuring complicated messages were able to be easily digested by a frontline audience. 

Updates to regulators and independent monitors: We were required to regularly update regulators and independent monitors in each state to ensure our communications were informative, simple and transparent, all while fostering a positive organisational culture where team members felt safe to raise concerns. 

Leader support: Provided support for leaders to increase their leadership capabilities, ensuring they could drive the necessary changes effectively with their teams.

SharePoint site design: Designed and built user-friendly online hubs to facilitate easy access to essential Crown resources such as information on speaking up, Crown policies and corporate strategy. 

Rolled out Crown’s first ever Corporate Strategy: A requirement of Crown’s remediation journey was to develop a group-wide corporate strategy to support Crown’s transition from a hotel casino to a world-class entertainment destination. Enspire was tasked with the overall conceptualisation and project management of the corporate communications roll out.  This included but was not limited to:

• Organising an all-team member Town Hall, live streamed from Melbourne to all properties and on Workplace.

• Managing talent, speakers and external suppliers. 

• Creating inspiring and upbeat video content to launch the new purpose and other Crown initiatives.  

• Launching Crown’s new brand campaign and positioning in an interesting way. 

• Developing a post launch engagement campaign.