OEC construction company celebrates the results of its social networks and other communication channels program, such as the portal and Mundo OEC blog, which consolidate the model of strong openness and dialogue with society and other related parties.

Also in October 2018, a survey conducted by the Reputation Institute, which monitors corporate reputation globally, gave 71.7 points in the internal public evaluation, indicating Strong Level reputation. “An observation that renovation actions and the close and transparent posture of the leadership were very well received internally,” says Rodrigo Vilar, director of Communication & MKT. At the end of last year, another survey, this time a multistakeholder, conducted by the Humanizadas Institute with 1,070 participants, using the Conscious Business Assessment (CBAª) methodology, registered the acceleration in the process of regaining the trust also of external stakeholders and the society, registering a total of +52, on a scale of -100 to 100 points.

In communication, one of the pillars of the relationship with the company’s audience is the digital communication work with a long-term vision, a close and transparent approach, and focused on impactful and human content, having the engineering universe as its center. “At the end of 2018, we launched our own platforms and created profiles on the main social networks, adopting a more informal and less institutional stance. Instead of hiding, we decided to open up to dialogue and make our presence felt where people were criticizing us,” comments Vilar. “The objective was clear: to use our more than seven decades of expertise in large projects to approach young professionals and show that the company had a solid technical base and would quickly advance where necessary, being ready to participate in the recovery of the infrastructure sector in the Americas and Africa. And precisely the content about new projects (the

company has increased its contract portfolio by almost $800 million in 2021) and recent deliveries in the United States, Brazil, Panama, and the Dominican Republic that are the most engaged topics on the networks.

Ciro Dias Reis, president of the communication agency Imagem Corporativa, chosen in 2020 to conduct this work, indicates that it was a wise decision for the OEC not to hide and face the reputational challenge head-on,” he highlights. “Today, it is impossible not to recognize the merits of the decision.”

In less than four years, the prevailing sentiment on the networks has had a complete turnaround, reaching 99% positive interactions on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and Youtube. More significant than the percentage, only the absolute numbers. In the last 12 months, the company’s profiles on these networks have reached more than 45 million impressions, 821,000 followers, and 680,000 interactions. The numbers for Mundo OEC portal and blog are also impressive, especially considering that this is a B2B company in the infrastructure sector: there have been more than 220,000 visits since May 2021.

Even with the results achieved, Vilar promises that the company should not reduce its efforts or limit its presence to what it has already achieved and plans to expand its digital footprint. “Leadership has embraced the goal of forming the largest digital engineering community on the planet,” he explains. “The next stage of this work is to launch the ‘OEC Connection’ podcast on Youtube and Spotify. We are producing content focused on Innovation, with an informal and relaxed participation of professionals from diverse backgrounds who made history in the construction sector,” he anticipates. The executive says that the content intends to attract engineering enthusiasts and promises to present some of the company’s most iconic cases, previously kept under lock and key, as a strategic market advantage.

Looking at the history and the future horizon, Reis says that transparency and courage are the great differentiators of this work and the keys to achieving the OEC’s ambition. “There is no forbidden subject within the company’s sphere of activity. The exchange with the diverse audiences is authentic, guided by unparalleled technical quality and respect. This openness to speak clearly about governance advances or about topics that are still a taboo in the heavy construction sector and embraced by the OEC, such as Diversity & Inclusion, are differentials that allow us to aspire to create the largest engineering community on the planet,” he analyzes. “Certainly, we will soon present this case again.” For Vilar, the journey of dialogue with society is a process that will only expand in time and form. “It is a work in progress, as this is a demand from society, customers and members.”