Alcatel-Lucent: haute cuisine or fast-food?
Arnhem, January 28, 2008

How to integrate two former competitors? That’s hardly an easy task. Particularly when you’re dealing with a French party on the one hand, and an American one the other. In order to swing the moods of both the Hamburger-chewers as well as those of the Croissant-swallowers in the same direction, Alcatel-Lucent organised an internal meeting. Four Corners produced six interview-flicks and an intro to this event.

Since Alcatel’s acquisition of competitor Lucent back in 2006, this behemoth of communications offers employment to 79,000 people worldwide. That’s no small company, indeed. The prime challenge lies in getting the ideology of all employees straight and uniform, and to merge these two companies into a solid whole. A company in which everybody present uses the company’s resources and strengths, and whose merging adds valuably to its clients.

Expectations
In order to get all the people of the two Dutch bureaus, in Rijswijk and in Hilversum, fully up-to-date regarding the plans for 2008, Alcatel-Lucent organised an internal meeting for all employees. She ordered Four Corners to produce six interview-films, in which several employees were pounced upon while on the job and given the opportunity to bluntly give a piece of their minds in front of a running camera…
emerged, such as the chances and opportunities the employees perceived, difficulties they met along the way, the fun-side of the job, and personal expectations of 2008.

Modus Operandi
The interviews were filmed in a trendy manner and a bit in the style of the Bourne Identity. Dynamic and modern shots are alternated with black-and-white close-ups of the interviewees. Naturally, we’re eager to see how things will go for Alcatel-Lucent and which course they’ll be taking: will it be haute-cuisine or fast-food, or mayhap something in between?