AN ANALYSIS OF DELHAIZE GROUP AND ITS MAIN COMPETITORS’ PRESENCE IN FINANCIAL AND BELGIAN, DUTCH AND U.S. REGIONAL MEDIA Masterpaper Fabrice Hofman Huivelde 218 | 9240 Zele | [email protected] Master na Master Meertalige Bedrijfscommunicatie Universiteit Gent 2010 1 AN ANALYSIS OF DELHAIZE GROUP AND ITS MAIN COMPETITORS’ PRESENCE IN FINANCIAL AND BELGIAN, DUTCH AND U.S. REGIONAL MEDIA Masterpaper Fabrice Hofman 2 3 I. Beschrijving van de stage Hoofdstage Bedrijf Delhaize Groep Marie Curieplein 40 1070 Brussel Telefoon: +32 2 412 22 11 Fax: +32 2 412 22 22 www.delhaizegroup.com Stagebegeleider Barbera Hoppenbrouwers Communications Manager Telefoon: 32 2 412 86 69 E-mail: [email protected] Afdeling Investor Relations & External Communications Taken - Vormgeven, structureren en aanleggen van een databank met artikels uit Belgische, Nederlandse en Amerikaanse kranten en vaktijdschriften over Delhaize Groep, Ahold, Carrefour, Colruyt, Harris Teeter (Ruddick Corporation) en Wal-Mart. - Analyseren van de aangelegde databank en aan de hand daarvan een proactief media- plan opstellen om (het aandeel) Delhaize Group op een meer gestuurde en gestructu- reerde wijze in de media te brengen. - Onderzoeken van de mogelijkheden om Delhaize Groeps aanwezigheid in social media op te starten. Opstarten van accounts op de relevante social media platformen. Plan- nen van content. Talen tijdens de stage - Engels - Nederlands - Frans Stageperiode 26 april 2010 tot 25 juni 2010 4 Bijkomende stage Bedrijf Porter Novelli Louis Mettewielaan 272 1080 Brussels www.pnintellingentdialogue.be Stagebegeleider Danny De Vriendt Director E-mail: [email protected] Afdeling Hoofdzakelijk PNBR5, het social media lab; maar ook taken voor andere account executives Taken - Verschillende korte research projecten over social media (zie bijvoorbeeld bijlage 9) - Contacteren van persrelaties om adressendatabase up to date te houden - Research project rond Equate’s congres in Dortmund - Insight Session on biopharmaceuticals and biosimilars for Sandoz - Een press release schrijven voor Compex (zie bijlage 8) - Opstarten Journalism and Social Media Survey (zie bijlage 10) Talen tijdens de stage - Engels - Nederlands - Frans Stageperiode 5 juli 2010 tot 31 augustus 2010 5 6 II. Acknowledgements There are a couple of people I would like to thank. First of all, thank you to Mr. Luc De Bie, coordinator of the MTB program, who organized the visit to the Delhaize Belgium DC Fresh II buildings in Zellik, which eventually led me to meet Mrs. Barbera Hoppenbrouwers (more on this in the preface). Thanks also to Mr. Tom Bruyer who took over Mr. De Bie’s job from the end of January 2010 in a splendid way, who helped me deciding to do my internship at Delhaize Group instead of Barco or Bank van Breda and who stressed that it was a good idea to do a second internship at Porter Novelli Brussels. Other words of gratitude go to prof. dr. Eugeen Roegiest, president of the Language and Communication department at Ghent University and heart and soul of the MTB program. Without him students like me would not have the opportu- nity to make the jump from college to a corporate job so easily. Prof. dr. Geert Jacobs is the final person, related to UGent, who I would like to thank – of course next to my fellow MTB students. Prof. Jacobs was the promotor of my Masterpaper, gave feedback to my proposals and helped me find relevant literature for writing the theoretical framework. Next to the people at Ghent University, I also would like to thank the people at Delhaize Group, who were so good to welcome me into their company for almost three months. First, I would like to thank Mrs. Barbera Hoppenbrouwers, Communications Manager at the Investor Rela- tions & External Communications department at Delhaize Group. She was my supervisor and was always prepared to help me out, give me tips or just hand over some extra work that I was happy to do. Together with her, I set up the media analysis described in this Masterpaper under the supervision of Vice President Investor Relations & External Communications Geert Verellen. Further thanks go to Investor Relations Manager Aurelie Bultynck who explained me the prin- ciple of ADR, Senior Vice President Strategy & External Communications Guy Elewaut, every- body else at Delhaize Group and Hans Michiels at Delhaize Belgium for our conversation. The third group of people I would like to thank are tweeps Danny De Vriendt, Marta Majewska and Shastri - Sasha - Gayatri at PNBR5 (the Porter Novelli Brussels social media lab) and every- body else at Porter Novelli Brussels where I did my second internship. Special thanks to Chris- tian Remon, fellow MTB student, who introduced me to PN when he was doing his own intern- ship there. Finally, thank you to my parents who agreed to pay for another year of college, thank you to my brother Cédric and thank you to my girlfriend Evelyn who endured my absence during her first and long 3 month summer without re-examinations and for allowing me to spend the few mo- ments of spare time I had on writing this Masterpaper. 7 III. Table of contents I. Beschrijving van de stage ................................................................................................... 4 II. Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................ 7 III. Table of contents............................................................................................................ 8 IV. Preface ........................................................................................................................... 9 1. Description of Delhaize Group .......................................................................................... 10 1.1 History ...................................................................................................................... 10 1.2 Company Structure ................................................................................................... 12 1.3 Vision ....................................................................................................................... 16 1.4 Strategy .................................................................................................................... 17 1.5 Corporate Identity .................................................................................................... 17 1.6 Finances ................................................................................................................... 18 1.7 Competitors.............................................................................................................. 20 2. Theoretical Framework .................................................................................................... 24 2.1 Motivation of the Theoretical Framework ................................................................. 24 2.2 The Network analysis of Evaluative Text Method ...................................................... 25 3. Investor Relations and External Communications in an International Company ................ 33 3.1 Main Case: an Analysis of Delhaize Group and its Main Competitors’ Presence in Financial and Belgian, Dutch and U.S. Regional Media .......................................................... 33 3.2 Second Case: Investigation of Opportunities to use Social Media for Investor Relations Purposes by Delhaize Group ................................................................................................. 63 3.3 Critical Evaluation of the Internship Projects and their Execution .............................. 69 4. Conclusion ....................................................................................................................... 71 5. Bibliography ..................................................................................................................... 76 6. Attachments .................................................................................................................... 79 6.1 Delhaize Group ......................................................................................................... 79 6.2 Porter Novelli ........................................................................................................... 79 8 IV. Preface One of the main pillars of the MTB program were the company visits to Shell, BNP Fortis and Imperial Meat among others. But the most special company visit for me, was at the Delhaize Belgium DC Fresh II when visiting Delhaize Group concerning financial communication. After the tour, I started talking with Mrs. Barbera Hoppenbrouwers about the difference between Delha- ize Group and Delhaize Belgium (not evident for the average Belgian Delhaize shopper). She told me that in fact a lot of newspapers do not even make the distinction and that Delhaize Group. Mrs. Hoppenbrouwers said she liked to install a forward-looking and proactive media plan, to tackle this and other issues. However, she lacked the data and analysis to build her plan. I said the Corporate Branding problem interested me and that is how she proposed me to apply for an internship. Indeed, after turning down a similar project at Barco and an analysis of the Intranet at Bank J. van Breda & C°, I signed the contract at Delhaize Group. Over the past years, Delhaize Group has worked with the media mostly in a reactive way. Al- though there are some satisfying contacts with Belgian journalists, due to Delhaize Group’s historical