Skanska, one of the world’s biggest construction companies, grapples with a big question: how to keep everyone informed, especially on large projects that affect many lives? Caisa Jansson, Content Leader at Skanska Sweden has the answer. Video of course. And a lot of it.
“Storykit has played a crucial role in helping us build and develop our brand in external channels.”
Skanska, with its roots in Sweden since 1887, has grown into a leading global construction powerhouse. Today, they proudly operate across key markets including Sweden, Norway, Finland, Poland, the United States, and the United Kingdom. Their diverse and talented team of 30,000 professionals worldwide is dedicated to building a better society through innovative and sustainable construction solutions. See how the Skanska Sweden team is using video to communicate this.
Caisa Jansson, Content Leader at Skanska Sweden, has been on this task for over a year and a half:
– Our job is to make complex construction processes understandable to everyone; from the daily commuter to city planners and our internal teams.
This is especially important for big projects, such as the Slussen project in central Stockholm, which involves rebuilding the area with new infrastructure, including bridges and locks, to improve transportation and manage water flow in Stockholm.
When it comes to projects like Slussen, Caisa says:
– There is a lot of information that needs to be communicated and we need to be able to do that in an efficient way.
That’s where Storykit came in.
Caisa's team knew that video was the best format for sharing their complex messages but needed a simpler, more affordable way to ramp up production.
Skanska’s digital presence—which spans LinkedIn, Meta, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and their own platforms like Skanska.se and their intranet—requires them to produce and publish more videos to stay relevant and reach a bigger and broader audience.
– With Storykit, we can now do this without relying on an external agency which costs between 10,000 to 40,000 for one video.
– Our content and employer branding teams needed something straightforward, and Storykit was just that. It's designed for people like us, who aren't trained motion designers but need to produce quality video content.
Caisa highlights the ease of use:
– A quick training session, and we were all set. The platform's templates ensure that anyone can make a video that looks and feels like Skanska.
Since implementing Storykit, Skanska Sweden has seen a notable boost in their social media visibility.
– The transition from solely using text and still images to now engaging our audience with more relevant and captivating content has led to an increase in followers, interactions, and overall attention across our digital channels.
Nowadays, when Caisa and her team get an idea, they always ask themselves: “Is this a full article or is it an explainer video?”
This new way of thinking, made possible by Storykit, allows Skanska Sweden to share smaller, previously untold stories.
– We're a small content team at Skanska Sweden, but we're proud that we can now create multiple videos per week using Storykit. Last year alone, we produced 68 videos, matching our output from the year before, and we're aiming for more this year.
– When it comes to video creation, our focus is primarily on explainer videos that complement our other content. Sometimes, our videos are based on in-depth articles, for which we create simplified video versions.
– We also make a lot of video trailers for longer articles. By doing this we get more people to click through to the longer pieces.
– In addition, we produce standalone videos for both external and internal use, from digital channels to conferences, meetings, and presentations.
→ Read Caisa’s inspiring story of igniting internal discussions with video.
– We are planning to focus more on LinkedIn in 2024. We know that the LinkedIn algorithm really likes and promotes videos, which gives us an edge since we already have a stronger hand with our video content compared to other companies in our industry that don't work with video.
– Of course we're excited to explore Storykit's new AI features as well. It feels great working with Storykit and knowing you're developing your AI so we can stay ahead and make our content creation even more efficient.
Get inspired by how Caisa’s team is using video at Skanska Sweden, both externally and internally, with these two stories.
“As I’ve mentioned, the construction industry can be quite complex. Take the Slussen project in Stockholm, for instance.
It's massive and never-ending and dates back to the 16th century.
And specifically for this project, we have a lot of different audiences that we need to reach out to.
The City of Stockholm is our main client and we need to keep them informed about ongoing developments. However, there are countless others impacted daily as they commute by bus and subway. So we need to keep them updated on what's happening as well.
It's crucial to explain our actions and reasons, addressing the key questions: What are we doing and why?
This means we have to engage with the public and be able to explain something very complex in a very short and direct way.
And here is where we feel like video is helping so much because it enables us to narrow everything down.
For instance, we made a video about a fish step we built using ancient stones from Gustav Vasa's wall. In this video, we talked about the circulation of materials, sustainability, and the technical aspects of the step.
It’s very complex but by putting it in a video we were able to take a complex project and make it more accessible.
And this is where the importance of being able to create many videos comes in.
Instead of creating one long video about the whole project, we've broken it down into smaller segments and now have numerous videos – think about 100 – each focusing on a different aspect of Slussen.
It's all about storytelling. Every video in itself is a story, but each one helps us bridge over from step stone to step stone in this very big and complex project that is Slussen.”
“Recently we hosted an internal gathering at our office, bringing together 100 of our Skanska Sweden employees. The agenda was to strategize and discuss our business plan for the future.
Of course to do this effectively we needed to take a look at what was happening in the world, eventually narrowing down to 12 key areas to focus on (i.e. the economy, ongoing conflicts, etc.).
But, instead of putting a text in their hands and explaining all of these elements and how they are impacting us, we made small videos about them instead.
For example, “How the economy is affecting Skanska in the long run,” and more like that.
To create them, we just used short copy, stock photos and some photos from our personal library.
So instead of putting together a lengthy PowerPoint or handing everyone a long 90-page complex text, we chose videos to start a discussion and encourage people to be creative. And we were able to create these quickly in Storykit.
When you need to take something very big and make it understandable to 100 people, video is great. Especially for this event where we wanted to get a discussion started and didn’t want people to spend time reading complex things."
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