The International Committee of the Red Cross shares stories of their life-saving work faster with Asana

Highlights

Challenges

• The ICRC’s global communications team is spread across continents and timezones.

• They needed a centralized system to store, manage, and respond to incoming media requests as quickly as possible since details can change in a matter of seconds during armed conflicts and wars.

• Global teams couldn’t align quickly on responses to media requests and—without a clear editorial calendar—set priorities.

Solution

• With Asana, the comms team has visibility into all media requests, approved talking points, editorial priorities, and campaign plans.

• Their work is now accessible to everyone, no matter where they’re located. 

• The team uses one global editorial calendar to track upcoming stories and campaigns, and have centralized all their media requests in one space.

Outcome

• Action media requests faster with real-time visibility 

• Significant reduction in coordination time because information is accessible and centralized across the global team

• Boosted visibility into content plans with centralized editorial calendars

• Improved global alignment, continuity, and efficiency with a single source of work happening across the team

Before Asana, we relied on email to manage our work, and information was quickly outdated. Now, we can update every detail instantly, and everyone across the global team can access those updates in real-time.”

Know what’s being published and when, for every piece of content

The ICRC global comms team drives awareness of their work—to help people affected by conflict and armed violence and promoting the laws that protect victims of war. 

When the team organized their editorial plans ad-hoc, details and timing got lost. Now, they have one global editorial calendar for all their content priorities, planning, and campaigns—helping them to keep their finger on the pulse of rapidly moving storylines.

Operating, communicating, and planning in one central space

• From planning to execution, the communications team uses their Asana editorial calendar to organize every detail of their content by month.

• They’ve customized their calendar with custom fields, noting specific details like the type of content and who’s responsible for it.

• Instead of sifting through emails or reaching out to colleagues when a team member has questions, they can simply check the calendar, find the team responsible for each piece of content, and get right to work.

• With all their information in one place, updated in real time, and accessible to everyone, the team is able to quickly and easily pull and share reports for their partners and stakeholders.

Now we have a holistic editorial calendar that's accessible to everyone. With Asana, we can move faster and more effectively to publish stories about ICRC's work.”

Quickly and easily assign and action on media requests 

The ICRC relies on the latest updates and information from the field to accurately tell the stories of the people they serve. During armed conflicts and wars, these details can change in a matter of seconds. 

They needed a system that would allow them to store, manage, and respond as quickly as possible to incoming media and public relations requests.

Align global teams across time zones

• With one global Asana board, everyone can quickly view and respond to shifting editorial priorities and media requests.

• Thanks to this centralization, they’ve greatly reduced the amount of time spent on admin tasks and searching for accurate information.

Using custom fields, media requests are now organized down to every detail—the topic, region, ICRC assignee, and even the journalist—all in one global board.

With Asana, we've almost entirely eliminated internal emails to coordinate media requests. This means everyone can see all the requests, who's handling each one, and quickly find approved talking points to action them faster.”

Putting the stories of those impacted by armed conflicts first

Speed is everything for an organization like the ICRC. Thanks to Asana, they have solidified systems in place to kick off more efficient and impactful campaigns. And the comms team will continue to optimize their use of Asana to help them share the stories of all those impacted by armed conflicts.