The Royal Lancers: Making ‘Connectedness’ a reality

Following the work we started in late 2019, Enthuse continued to work closely with The Royal Lancers, creating new channels and processes that have helped connect serving and veteran comrades across the world.

The Client

On 2nd May 2015, the 9th/12th Lancers amalgamated with The Queen’s Royal Lancers to form The Royal Lancers.

Its Home Headquarters team and Regimental Association body work together to promote the culture and history of the Regiment, keeping in touch with members of the Lancer family to provide support and social activities.

Background

Our previous work with The Royal Lancers saw us surveying over 1,300 veterans, and 300 members of the serving Regiment to garner insight into opinions of the Regimental Association.

After presenting our findings and recommendations in a webinar attended by 170 people, we were asked to carry out some of our suggestions (budget permitting) in order to help achieve the Lancers mission of ‘Connectedness’ across the entire Regiment.

Making ‘Connectedness’ a reality

Bringing antecedents together under one banner

Prior to its amalgamation, each antecedent regiment had its own individual branding full of history and symbolism. To create a sense of unity, there needed to be new unified branding that represented all antecedents under The Royal Lancers. We knew it was essential to get all Lancers on board with this project, whilst appreciating the legacy of each antecedent group.

We started by forming a ‘board’ of key representatives from across the Lancer family and held online calls over several months to discuss the findings of our research, as well as the need for a unifying banner. These collaborators then helped us to establish which elements of the old branding we should repurpose, as well as those that could potentially cause resistance to the new design.

Taking these insights to our designer, new concepts were developed and brought back to the board who chose their preferred look and feel. Engaging with this group from the beginning, and considering their requirements throughout, meant that we saw no pushback on the new branding.

Once the new branding was in place, The Royal Lancers all agreed that the previous Regimental Association website needed a major overhaul – it was disengaging, covered in death notices, and even had the wrong information displayed on it! Hidden behind a password wall, potential new recruits and members of the general public were unable to access information about the Regiment.

Armed with new branding, we worked with a web design agency to refresh the functionality, content and look and feel of the website.

Our design partners started off by sketching out wireframes, so that we could plan how each page should look and what features to include. Leveraging existing WordPress templates along with the new branding, the new design was clear and enticing. Of course, we didn't forget about mobile and tablet users – the new website shines on all devices!

It was important that we created compelling content that would appeal to all Lancers and their families. Updated with relevant blogs, key dates and events populated by key stakeholders, and follow ups from each event, the website encompassed both Lancer history and its future story to keep Lancers feeling connected.

Once live, we hosted a ‘handover’ session with Home Headquarters (HHQ) so that they could feel confident with running the new website and update pages after events throughout the year.

Leaver’s Support

A key takeaway from our research suggested there was a need for better signposting to the support available for those leaving the Army to return to civilian life.

We created a Leavers E-Book with the support of Home Headquarters, that was sent out to leavers and made available for download on the website.  

Moving back to civilian life is a big change, so to help make the journey as smooth as possible, we compiled a checklist of things to do from the point a serving Lancer hands in their notice, to the last few weeks before exiting the Army. It was also important to point soldiers in the direction of support groups and charities as they transition out of the Army. Leaving the military can be seriously tough - imagine going from a structured life to a world where everything feels different! We included a list of key organisations for leavers to contact to support them as they reintegrated into civilian life and help them build a brighter future post-military.

Creating a drumbeat of communication

To offer all alumni the best chance of feeling connected, and knowing what events were happening, it was important to ensure there were a number of channels they could access information from.

With a well-established Facebook group already in place for veteran lancers, one recommendation to target younger members of the community was to set up an Instagram channel to share what different members of the Regiment were up to. A monthly meeting with the Home Headquarters team meant we captured key events, present and historical, that were then shared across the Instagram platform. To promote cohesion between the HHQ and serving Regiment pages, we worked closely with Army Comms to plot communication opportunities and worked together to share posts and improve interaction statistics.

For our older audiences who may not have had Instagram accounts, we created a monthly newsletter that was distributed through email, documenting the top three posts across the HHQ account and serving Regiment account. We added upcoming events over the next four to six weeks to boost awareness and subsequently, the attendance of these activities.

Webinars, led by seasoned officers and experts, were organised at various points across the year. Chaired by Colonel Richard Charrington, these sessions offered real-time insights into current operations, and regimental developments. To keep them interesting and relevant, different squadrons would dial in from their Ops stations to share updates on training and upcoming exercises. We were also regularly joined by the Commanding Officer and Chairman of the OCA, so there was content that was engaging for everyone. And for those who couldn’t make it on the night, a recording was shared across social platforms for our audience to watch on demand – with one recording reaching over 1,000 views on Youtube.

Following the extensive work to refresh the website, we needed to keep it up to date with the latest information and content to bring people back. Contact with members of the Lancer family, including their partners, allowed us to create insightful blogs that reflected on events and address concerns, such as the energy crisis, offering support to those affected.

And once our work was done, we created a comprehensive handover pack to set the HHQ admin team up for success to run these channels themselves.

The results

Over the course of three years, our partnership with The Royal Lancers saw some fantastic improvements with members of the Regiment engaging with the refined communication strategies. One of the standout accomplishments includes a remarkable 208% surge in the Home Headquarters Instagram following. Furthermore, we improved connection between antecedents, nurturing a heightened sense of unity and camaraderie within the Regimental family.

Colonel (Retd) Nick Everard said:

“Enthuse worked with The Royal Lancers for three years to professionalise both the Regiment's internal and external communications, to assist in running events such as webinars for its veterans and to act as our communication 'conscience' when busy day to day life occasionally pushed this undoubted necessity into the background. Throughout we found the team approachable, professional, easy to work with and quick to learn about what is very much an atypical organisation. We valued the staff continuity they provided to us, and are confident that our communications are now running on a much more professional basis as a result of their expert mentoring. Beyond this, they are all extremely nice, discreet and competent people. We have no hesitation whatever in recommending Enthuse.”

We feel privileged to have been part of The Royal Lancers’ work to offer what can be life-changing support to serving soldiers and veterans.

To speak to us about how you communicate within your organisation, regardless of your current situation and objectives, get in touch to see how we can help you. Call us on 07812 343310 or email andrea.law@enthuse-comms.co.uk.