ECJ EUROPEAN Cleaning Journal

One of the key roles of trade association ANIP Confindustria in Italy is to promote cleaning and its associated services. During the Covid-19 pandemic it launched a campaign to highlight the key role played by the sector, called In Good Hands. A deserving winner of the 2022 European Cleaning & Hygiene Award for Raising the Profile of the Cleaning Sector.

With the arrival of the Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictions that resulted from lockdowns across the world, the world finally appreciated just how valuable people working in the cleaning sector were. They played a pivotal role in maintaining vital services and were at last no longer a mere commodity accessory to daily life.

Paolo Valente of ANIP tells us more. “The appearance on the market of sudden operators in the sanitation sector made it necessary to distinguish those professional companies in the sector – with their extensive knowledge of cleaning and hygiene – from those that only wanted to profit from the public health emergency.”

Hence the campaign ‘In Good Hands’ was created. Valente continues: “’In Good Hands proved to be a winning strategy, above all because of its perfect timing at those most difficult times of the pandemic. When we talk about labour intensive, we mean a world of companies that have their strength in human capital. People who are on the front line, and  who too often remain out of the media spotlight. There are no TV series, movies, books, songs celebrating  their  hard work.

“Exactly for that reason, the ‘In Good Hands’ campaign promoted news and innovations from the world of the labour intensive cleaning sector, highlighting that the workers were crucial in allowing the continuation of fundamental activities for the stability of the country, even where the risk of contagion was high.”

So ‘In Good Hands’ was acknowledging and valuing those ‘silent heroes’ and bringing to the public consciousness the efforts of the cleaning staff, hand in hand with healthcare personnel. In fact Pope Francis and the president of the Italian Republic both gave their public thanks to the cleaning sector workers.

Another important aspect of the campaign was in offering clarification and advice to the general public – this served both to strengthen the positive sentiment towards the industry and combat misinformation around the principles of sanitation. ‘In Good Hands’ also emphasised the need for workers to work with adequate protection (masks and gloves) and at a later stage it underlined the need for cleaning staff to be vaccinated as a priority.

Valente explains: “The storytelling was based on the concept a silent army of men and women were literally fighting with their bare hands, those ‘good hands’ companies want to guarantee to those in need. In hospital wards, offices, factories, on public transport, on the streets – they found themselves facing enormous risks in carrying out their job.”

He continues: “‘In Good Hands’, therefore, resulted in a substantial media campaign based on press releases that had the merit first of all of raising the problem of the lack of attention the government structure responsible for managing the emergency was showing. Not only towards the staff involved in healthcare, but also the entire school sector which suffered greatly due to the governmental choices that did not facilitate the use of specialised operators in professional cleaning.”

It was Paolo Valente, as ANIP Confindustria’s head of communication and media relations, who brought together the team that would coordinate the ‘In Good Hands’ campaign. “I was fortunate in that I worked with some outstanding professionals - including Francesco Nicodemo of Yeast Consulting whose  involvement enabled us to significantly raise the level of our communication.”

As the campaign grew, ‘In Good Hands’ was so successful that word spread outside Italy and momentum grew across Europe. Trade associations were impressed with the hard-hitting message created by ANIP and wanted to adopt it too. So the European Cleaning and Facility Services Industry (EFCI) – the European representative body for the professional cleaning sector – translated it and relaunched it as a pan-European initiative, #InGoodHands. Subsequently, the slogan #HelpingEuropeReopen was added, emphasising the importance of the sector in the restart phase after the pandemic.

The words ‘In Good Hands’ also bring to life the commitment shown by those companies in the cleaning sector to guaranteeing safety in the reopening phase following the pandemic. The vital role they play in caring for people and spaces continues every day and the campaign has a long-lasting effect says Valente.

www.associazione-anip.it

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