The RailStaff Awards 2024

Glynis Appelbe

Said the following about G&W UK/Europe Region Corporate Communications team:

“Genesee & Wyoming’s UK/Europe Region companies’ Corporate Communications team of two (Lynn Crump & Jaye Dry) have wide-ranging responsibilities including internal and external communications, public relations, social media, marketing, event management, staff engagement and corporate branding.

In 2018, the region underwent an organisational redesign to deliver a new customer-centric business model based around their three core service platforms of Rail, Road and Terminals. Along with redesigning the business, the opportunity was taken to align the Freightliner brand with that of the US parent company, providing a uniform identity, together with sister company Pentalver, across the UK/Europe Region.

As a result, the Corporate Communications team were tasked with undertaking a significant rebranding exercise including replacing signage at all Freightliner sites throughout the UK, the Freightliner truck fleet, internal and external safety signage, marketing and railway enthusiast memorabilia, event supplies, recruitment tools, social media accounts, branded staff uniforms and PPE.

By far one of the biggest projects undertaken by the team in 2019, was the development of an ambitious, new, innovative website structured around the three business platforms working with Suffolk-based design and marketing agency Fellowship.

The goal was to create a visually striking, user-friendly, modern website that adapted to the growing number of online visitors using mobile devices while presenting the overlapping services provided by G&W’s UK-based subsidiaries in a way which capitalised on their already strong online presence.

The solution was a multimedia offering which allows for seamless transition between the three main business platforms: www.freightliner.co.uk for rail, www.pentalver.com for road, and www.gwrr.co.uk for terminal services and shared pages such as Corporate Social Responsibility and Fleet.

Taking web trends and business needs into consideration, the requirement for an interactive map representing all UK locations was evident, as were ‘calls to action’ enabling users to instantly click through to contact forms, case studies and recruitment pages.

With the continued need to recruit qualified, experienced train and truck drivers, as well as engineers of various disciplines, it was critical that to continue attracting motivated and dedicated individuals, it was necessary to streamline and modernise online application processes to make them simpler and more compelling for prospective applicants. Listening to feedback from new recruits, the team was able to inform the design of the careers section, including building focused recruitment pages for each area of the business and creating more multimedia content to better display the opportunities and benefits of joining the G&W team.

Intuitive design features such as moving image galleries and slideshows enable users to view information in a visually appealing format at the touch of a button.

In this digital era, the website is a significant tool in attracting new business as well as providing a place for current customers to find the information they need in an instant and this modern, dynamic and visitor-friendly website will help take the customer experience to the next level.

Since its launch in August, there has already been a noticeable improvement in SEO rankings as highlighted below:

Freightliner SEO:

‘Rail freight’ from 15th on page 2 pre launch to 4th on page 1

‘Intermodal’ from 10th on page 1 pre launch to 4th on page 1

‘Bulk freight’ from 16th on page 2 pre launch to 6th on page 1

The Freightliner website now ranks on page 1 for all individual bulk service:

• ‘Aggregate haulage’ from no rank to 10th on page 1

• ‘Biomass haulage’ from 6th on page 1 to number 1 on page 1

• ‘Cement haulage / cement transport’ from page 2 – 6, to all on page 1

• ‘Coal transportation’ and similar from not ranking to page 1

• ‘Waste to energy’ / ‘domestic waste haulage’ from no rank to 1st on page 1

• ‘Scrap metal transport / scrap metal haulage’ from 18th on page 2 to 4th on page 1

• ‘Potash transport / potash haulage’ from page 6 to 1st on page 1

• ‘Rail infrastructure’ from no rank to 14th on page 2

• ‘Hs2 rail haulage’ 1st on page 1

Pentalver SEO:

• ‘container haulage’ from 24th on page 3 to 7th on page 1

• ‘container transport’ remains consistent at 3rd on page 1

• ‘road container transport’ from 4th on page 1 to number 1 on page 1

• ‘shipping container transport’ from page 3 to page 1

• ‘specialist haulage’ remains consistent at 1st on page 1

• ‘abnormal load specialists’ from no rank to page 1

For Pentalver, one of the most interesting improvements is the fact that Container Sales is now the most visited page - something which stats show was done organically through our SEO improvements.

Plus, in support of our train driver recruitment campaign, 'Train Driver Careers' now ranks 5th on page 1 of Google Search compared to 20th on page 2 previously.

Although early days as stated above, the signs of improvement for SEO are promising.

For Freightliner, the percentage of keywords appearing on page 1 of Google has improved from 6% pre-launch to 35%. For Pentalver, the percentage of keywords on page 1 of Google has increased from 22% pre-launch to 28%.

Taking all of the above into account, I consider our Corporate Communications team to be a worthy candidate for the Marketing & Communications Team Award.“

Richard Mannion

Said the following about G&W UK/Europe Region Corporate Communications team:

“I believe that the G&W UK/Europe Communications team is a more than worthy contender for the accolade of the RailStaff Marketing & Communications team award.

Since their respective arrivals, the G&W Comms team has been transformed into a professional and dynamic department that supports and drives business performance, rather than being an ‘add-on’ function.

The positive changes have been immense, raising awareness of the G&W corporate identity/brand, including the structural changes that were implemented in 2018 to organise the business into three platforms - Rail, Road & Terminals as well as the corporate alignment to US parent G&W corporate branding which involved a UK wide rebrand of property / assets / vehicles and much more as well as a host of other great initiatives.

The team is tireless in their efforts and are always willing to listen, help and promote the business at any hour of the day, including outside of normal office hours. The team realised the value of a social media presence when previous teams had only tinkered around the edges. Statistics speak for themselves in terms of follower numbers, website hits and customer enquiries all increasing with each passing day.

The team of two, in Lynn Crump and Jaye Dry, is professional and courteous and are often found at any terminal or depot in the country in support of the business and its renewed ability to communicate with its employees and the public be that through internal communication events or open days / recruitment events and the like.

I feel it would be fitting to recognise their tremendous and consistent hard work to improve and promote the image of a global brand by awarding them Marketing & Communications Team award, as in my view, the really are.“

Matthew Lawrenson

Said the following about G&W UK/Europe Region Corporate Communications team:

“Working with Lynn and Jaye over the course of the year on numerous projects, they have both excelled in what is already a complex business in G&W UK/Europe Region companies.

Combining both Freightliner and Pentalver into one integrated business is not an easy task with the enormity and complexity of the two businesses.

Specifically the creation of the new website combining Freightliner and Pentalver online for the first time. The team managed not only to create a visually appealing, innovative and modern website but, considering the time frame and complexity, the end result is outstanding and something that should be recognised.

The website project alone is significant enough a task worthy of winning the Marketing and Communications team award. However, that was one of numerous projects the team of two has taken on over the course of the year. Considering the size of the team, it is amazing to see the quality of work the team produce especially when taking into account the volume of work the team has undertaken. Whether this is re-branding, event planning, recruitment, social media, internal communications, external communications, the list is endless and the support that you receive when requesting support, highlights the positive impact the team has on the success of G&W UK/Europe Region companies.

The importance both place on inclusion of everyone in the business is a measure of the principles that they share. They have been a delight to work with and very deserving of this award for their performance over the course of 2019.“