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“Humorous” is not usually one of the first words we use todescribe an employee newsletter, but gist is an exception.

As its name implies, the thrice-yearly magazine for CoastCapital Savings employees (and yes, we know—it’s easier tobe funny three times a year than, say, every month) givesreaders the general idea behind a lot of subjects.

“We thought [the name] gist was perfect, as the magazineprovides the gist of what staff need to know in a simple,straightforward manner,” says Communications Advisor MeaganBaker, who edits the newsletter for the British Columbia-based credit union. “It’s also a fun name that fits nicely intoour corporate culture, where we take our work seriously, butnot ourselves.”

In case its name doesn’t give it away, the magazine’stagline removes any doubt as to editors’ intentions: “StraightTalk for Employees.”

At many organizations, straight talk doesn’t necessarilytranslate into interesting talk—in gist, however, the obvioussense of humor turns even the most dreadful credit-unionsubject matter into easy reading. (Some of the headlines haveeven made us chuckle. Out loud.)

Laughs aside, however, gist is extremely informative. Indeed, it has a lofty goal, as described by Baker: “To helpbuild a dynamic corporate culture that’s in harmony with thecredit union’s customer-centric business model; and, to helpinspire employees to take ownership and participate in fulfillingCoast Capital Savings’ vision and 10-year goals by showingthem how they can incorporate the company’s mission intotheir daily work.”

Communicating this message has been particularly impor-tant over the past few years, during which time Coast CapitalSavings has gone through some major changes—morphingthree separate credit unions into one organization with aunited culture.

“Gist magazine played a role in nurturing a shared cultureand helping employees embrace the ‘one-company’ attitude,”Baker says. As you might imagine, the publication’s infrequent,well, publication means that gist provides in-depth discussionon corporate initiatives. Other communication tools—such asa daily internal e-newsletter—provide the organization’s2,000 employees with more timely news.

Despite its frequency, employeessay gist teaches about the business Next to (in)frequency, space is a big challenge for editors.“Although the magazine is 16 pages, we often find it difficultto include everything we’d like in each issue,” Baker says.

Company: Coast Capital Savings

First issue published: Fall 2004

Circulation: 2,000

Format: thrice yearly, 16-page, 8.5 x 12, full-color mag-azine on matte paper

Size of editorial staff: 2 (plus help from an externalcommunications firm)

Managing editor: Meagan Baker

Contact information: 604.517.7659 ormeagan.baker@coastcapitalsavings.com

gist

Gist: Putting the fun in function

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“Everyone wants to be profiled or communicate their messagein gist.”

With only three issues per year, that’s going to take sometime. But employees aren’t complaining. Recent surveys indi-cate that readers look forward to, and even enjoy, reading themagazine. Here are some of the specific findings: • 99 percent read gist• 87 percent are satisfied with format and layout • 64 percent are satisfied with the frequency • 82 percent are satisfied with length • 84 percent agree that stories in gist provide sufficient

information • 75 percent agree that stories in gist help them better

understand Coast Capital’s business.

Communicators are taking employees’ feedback into consid-eration—they’re considering, for instance, readers’ request forboosted frequency. But gist, not even two years old, has al-ready seen a few changes that reflect employee suggestions.The inaugural issue, for instance, was shorter and slightlymore conservative.

“Upon the positive reception of gist, and employees’ appetite for more, we decided to take the magazine to thenext level by increasing the content, fun factor and humor,”Baker says.

The magazine continues to use savvy, progressive languagethat eliminates corporate-speak and engages employees in afresh and educational manner. It’s an approach that hasn’tgone unnoticed. The young magazine has already snagged ahandful of awards, from both the International Association ofBusiness Communicators and the Marketing Association forCredit Unions.

But an employee summed it up best, in a letter sent toeditors after gist’s launch: “Thank you for this wonderfulmagazine. It’s witty, humorous, easy to read and informative.”

✔ Writing with personality and humor to communicatebusiness initiatives

✔ ‘How can we help you?’ corporate culture extends togist’s mission

✔ Innovative employee features that take employees onthe road

✔ Senior executives help plan each issue with editors

✔ Creative, consumer design with a comic-book edge

✔ Strong covers without a lot of copy to detract from vi-sual appeal

✔ Constant call and potential for reward for feedback

Coast Capital Savings delivers the gist of business

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Writing and EditingQuirky and quick-witted

We can’t summarize thewriting and editing ofCoast Capital Savings’employee magazine gistany better than does itsEditor Meagan Baker:“Telling stories in a newor humorous way [to]help engage readers andmake complex ideas tan-gible for employees toapply to their work life.”

We love gist’s Edi-tor’s Letter and ever-changing accompanyingphoto of Meagan Baker,

which really sets the tone for every issue. Take the one from thisyear’s first issue: “I’m sure many of you would agree 2005 was agreat year to work for Coast Capital Savings. It doesn’t matterwho I talk to, they’ve all heard about what we’re doing as acompany. … We’ll take a closer look at [our new initiatives] inthis issue of gist. We’ve also taken another crack at cross-sellingtips. Dive in; this issue is full of goodies. … Thanks to everyonewho submitted their feedback about gist. … We’ll definitelybe making some enhancements to reflect your input, so staytuned.” The tone—I’m one of you and the company really ap-preciates you—continues throughout every issue.

Headlines and leads are sharp and clever. Here’s a smat-tering from a recent issue: “Nip and Buck: We’re giving ourbusiness-to-business depository boxes a hot makeover for 2006”;“Cheque Mate: Once cashed, cheques don’t simply disappear offthe face of the earth. Instead, these archaic slips of paper em-bark on a journey with more stops than a Greyhound bus toFredericton;” “Coast Trek 2006: To boldly go where no creditunion has gone before.”

The writing inside is just as light and clever. (Take thisline from a story on corporate social responsibility: “You can’tthrow a loonie without hitting a financial institution thatdoesn’t speak about its responsible approach to business.”)

Even the standing section headings are creative: “ConspicuousCharacters,” “The High Fiver,” “Greetings from the Inside.”

The magazine’s fun factor (extremely high) has increasedsince its launch in 2004—largely because that’s what employeessaid they wanted. Senior executives are also clear about what theywant, submitting story ideas throughout the year, Baker says.

Tip: A great way to lend personality to an employeenewsletter is to run a “regular rant” column about corporatelife; every issue of gist includes one called “Inner Voice OutLoud” by the pseudonymed “C.H. Crum,” who complainshumorously about everything from the proliferation of meet-ings to bizspeak.

Strategic Business FocusBusiness—with a personalityEverything that goes into Coast Capital’s internal magazinegist has a strategic purpose in supporting the company’s busi-ness model and key initiatives, and in nurturing its “how canwe help you?” brand and corporate culture.

That corporate culture happens to be dynamic and fun.There is nothing dry in this publication—impressive consid-ering that there’s also nothing in it not tied to the company’sgoals and objectives. For instance, the Winter 2005 issue fea-tured the company’s “game plan” and “star players” for2005—all based around hockey (they’re based in Canada).

Executive profiles are also compelling. A recent one washeadlined “Schmoozin’ on up”; here’s the subhead: “Val Isaak,Head Office’s Admin Service Coordinator, went on a road tripwith Sheena Hanbury to get the scoop on a day in the life of aVP of Retail Services. Val, who’s usually madly working theswitchboard, jumped at the chance to explore the retail worldof Coast Capital by job-shadowing Sheena for a fateful morn-ing.” The copy that follows details Val’s hour-by-hour accountof retail operations. The accompanying photos show the twowomen in a convertible, ostensibly having a Thelma-and-Louise-inspired road trip.

Another exec profile, on Chief Operating Officer JoelRosenberg, is loaded with personality (one of his quotes:“Does anyone want a Hello Kitty stamp?”) and great photos.

Corporate editors are always talking about including theWIIFY (what’s-in-it-for-you) angle, but those at Coast Capitalactually do. Many stories are accompanied by “What’s In ItFor You” boxes, which spell out exactly how employees areimpacted by whatever corporate initiative is described in themain bar.

Tip: Want to ensure you have the most important businesscontent in every issue? Coast Capital Savings’ editors involvemembers of the senior executive team in the planning of eachissue Editor Meagan Baker says the result is that “gist is positioned to help motivate and inspire employees and provide details as each of these initiatives is rolled out.”

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Employee FocusProfiles and lettersEmployee focus in Coast Capital Savings’ employee newslettergist is apparent from the first page—where a robust (imagine!)letters section appears in every issue. We like that EditorMeagan Baker isn’t afraid to print the glowing letters alongsidethe critical. For instance, a 2005 issue included a comment froma reader who opined, “Although I think gist is great, I also feel itis missing a direct voice from staff. Wouldn’t it be great todedicate some space specifically for employees?” A few issueslater, Baker did just that.

In a new section titled “streeters,” editors ask three employ-ees to share opinions on a topic relevant to the current issue.

Employees also get space in regular (and, of course, fun) “ADay in the Life” and “Conspicuous Character” profiles. “One ofour goals is to profile different groups and departments acrossthe organization so individuals can put a face to a name; thisencourages employee participation and, at times, even asks themto contribute to the magazine by writing or brainstormingdifferent ideas,” Baker says.

The employee and department profiles live up to the publica-tion’s creative standard. Take a recent one on the company’sfraud team. Here’s the headline/subhead combo: “No-FraudSquad: The Secret Files CCS Corporate Security.” The two-pagespread was in comic-strip form, the content a la Dick Tracy.Photos of the team “investigating” were morphed with illus-trations and cleverly inserted details about what the team doesand why it’s important to the company.

Incidentally, employees say in surveys that the profiles aretheir favorite. They also say they would like to see more issuesand this is something editors will consider in the future. Inthe meantime, gist’s 99 percent readership rate (again: imag-ine!) would satisfy any editor.

Tip: The back page of every issue of gist is a great tool forhooking employees and soliciting their input. The page alwaysincludes a “brief” that announces “Calling All Feedback”—readers are encouraged to send letters to the editor or offer asuggestion. Those whose letters are published are entered in adrawing to win a $50 gift certificate.

Design and LayoutComic-book creativity

Every single bit of theCoast Capital’s employeemagazine gist (and wemean every) is wrappedin a fun design package(at press time, they wereonly five or so issuesin—it’ll be interestingto see if they can con-tinue the trend).

A recent story ex-plaining corporate so-cial responsibility, forinstance, was titled“How do you put aface to a company?”Using photos and il-

lustrations of Mr. Potato Head, editors and designers literallyillustrated the anatomy of CSR at Coast Capital.

The communications firm—Kaldor Brand Strategy +Design designs and produces gist, and consistently does anamazing consumer-magazine/comic book-worthy job. Coversare simple—yet striking and bold. Varied and numerous vi-sual elements—including eye-popping illustrations; active, un-usual photos, and sidebars and charts—transform complicatedtopics into tangible takeaways.

The layout of the publication combines short and in-depth, interactive and more conservative stories throughoutthe magazine. Explains Editor Meagan Baker: “We want tooffer employees a variety of information that they can readwhen they have time, whether it’s on a lunch or coffee break,at home or during work. The combination of features allowsus to fit almost any topic into the structure of the magazine.”

One of the best examples of when the design has helped“make” a story was a recent “Players of the Year” piece, whichused hockey as a concept to explain the big initiatives addedto Coast Capital Savings’ annual lineup. “The team conceptused in this story resonated with employees,” Baker says.

Tip: Sometimes less is more. Although we’d love gist toinclude a table-of-contents box (it doesn’t currently), we’reglad there’s not one on the cover. The cover shots are creativeand compelling enough to stand alone—and we like thatthere’s not a jumble of copy confusing the visual appeal.

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