Comms Team Newsletter – 04

Here comes The Buzz, our snazzy way of sharing industry updates, top tips and team news.

We hope you enjoy the read 🙂

Pink Spaces

Workplaces are changing. More and more research is going into creating spaces that maximise employee engagement and wellbeing, and with good reason – better environmental design leads to happier staff. A beautifully and considerately designed office interior can not only help retain staff, but can also attract new talent.

“Our surroundings continually affect how we feel, whether it’s in our homes, the countryside or even in our cars, so to think it shouldn’t happen in the office would be very strange”. – Neil Morrison, Human Resources Director at Penguin Random House

We’re not saying that simply redesigning a workplace is going to solve every engagement issue. But, it’s a strong motivator when employees walk into an environment where they feel energised and inspired to do their best work.

Why brand it?

A well implemented interior design communicates your brand’s message and lets people touch, explore and engage with it in a physical space. For companies, the workplace isn’t only a place designed to live the values of their external brand but it also reflects the culture and identity specifically crafted for their people (and nobody else). It’s a space so unique no office design consultancy can replicate, an experience that can only be lived there, made for them.

And on that note we went to Clerkenwell Design Week …

We spent a day soaking up the latest in interior design trends and solutions showcased at Clerkenwell Design Week and gathering ideas to perk up the Thomsons pink with fresh energy.

This was the 9th edition of the event, hosted in London’s leading design district and crucial in the promotion of London’s creative industry. Over the three days many established and new designers debuted their work for the first time across more than 100 spaces. The showrooms offered an impressive range of creative solutions to cater for every working style and extending a brand identity into a physical space. Among the newcomers were the eye-catching Haru tapes, designed in Japan. Colourful, affordable, durable and with huge potential for temporary and fun ways to promote a communications campaign in restrictive environments. Have a closer look at them here.

Sharing the love

We couldn’t resist taking pictures of dazzling light installations and furniture to include in the Buzz. While we could talk with excitement for hours about all that inspired us, why not have a look at the highlights yourself and see what changes they might inspire in your environment?

CDW HIGHLIGHTS

The Cupcake Concept –
a quick way to shake up messaging

We help clients think differently about communications.

Want to share information? Delivery is everything.

If you want to make your content ‘sticky’ you need to pay attention to how it’s positioned.

Broadly speaking lots of content, particularly in the benefit/reward space, takes a rational approach to messaging.

There’s no denying that facts and logistics are important, but often it’s the emotional angle that moves us…and ultimately then motivates us to make decisions.

I know what you’re thinking.

What has that got to do with a cupcake. Do I win a cupcake? Can I have a cupcake? Why is that sparkler so large? So. Many. Questions.

Well, it’s a snazzy exercise that we put together to help explain emotional vs rational messaging, memorably called ‘The Cupcake Concept’, because ‘How to explain different messaging approaches in one PowerPoint slide’ was taken.

What is this? Rational description: sponge cake topped with frosting. More specifically, eggs, flour, milk, sugar and butter….and pink food colouring for good measure.

Emotional description: it’s a taste sensation. Think birthdays, family, special occasions, magical moments, indulgence, a treat just for you, candles and celebration.

Hopefully, you agree that the emotional angle is more engaging. It’s that same logic that can be applied to communicating reward and benefits.

Example please!

You can tell me all about the equation used to calculate holiday buy, the tax implications, the ins and outs of salary sacrifice, the eligibility criteria…or you can pitch to me the power of what I can do with those extra days.

The city break I’ve been putting off, the sports day I can now attend, the hen/stag party I’m locked in to. That’s where I get to see the value in everyday terms.

Yes, I still need to know the detail; but first let’s be a bit more creative in capturing my attention.

Understanding where and when to ramp up emotional messaging can be key in getting people to value their benefits and understand the place they have in their lives.

It’s an approach we’re passionate about, shaking up delivery to make content stick.

*Also, sorry if you’re still thinking about cupcakes.

All the emails…

Internal communications is an increasingly busy space (says us who just sent you this whopper…soz).

To get noticed content needs to be considered and captivating.

Thinking about the ‘hook’ in your message can make all the difference in getting it noticed…and more importantly, read!

It’s something that we’re encouraging all of our clients to do, and forms an important part of our content creation and brainstorming process.

Hook, line and sinker

Here are 3 quick examples of how you can add a hook.

Be Relevant – if something is happening in your business or organisation, don’t ignore it. A lovingly crafted message may sound great a month out from delivery but can completely miss the mark if it’s not sense checked just before circulation.

Be Opportunistic – something big happening in the outside world? Acknowledge it! Trying to promote wellness? Think Wimbledon, Tour De France or (dare we say it…) Love Island…link in with real life to stay current.

Be Relatable – what’s in it for me? Think about the people reading your message – don’t over complicate things with terminology or phrasing that’s too wordy and corporate. Think about what would grab your attention and use that for inspiration.

Gulp

We love a creative challenge and to shake things up. But it’s not often we work with organisations whose bread and butter is creativity. Tends to up the ante a tad. So when Time Warner – the world’s third largest entertainment company – asked us to create a global benefits brand for them we knew we needed to bring our A-game.

The challenge

The global benefits team wanted to create a consistent approach with the kind of visual impact that would get employees’ attention. This would help get the buy-in of local HR teams and give the benefit communications credibility and cut-through. The aim was to:

Make it easy for Time Warner people to connect with information and resources to help them when and where they need it.
Create a recognisable, cohesive way of reaching and engaging employees.
Communicate in a compelling, succinct and consistent way.

How much is too much?

Branding is subjective. Time Warner gave us a brief which basically said ‘go bonkers’ and while it’s lovely to be given that sort of licence we needed to work out if our definition of ‘bonkers’ was the same as theirs. They also asked us to retain certain elements of an existing, conservative benefits brand so it wasn’t entirely a clean sheet. Our initial brand proposal was designed to test the waters.

TAKE 1

Nope that’s not it

So not bonkers enough. But we tried not to panic, after all this is just a normal part of the process. More extreme ideas were clearly needed. We also visualised our ideas as posters to help bring them to life.

TAKE 2

Nailed it

A big thumbs up from the client this time around. They liked two of the concepts in particular. By blending elements from these concepts we created the final brand proposal which captured the Time Warner spirit and values to a tee.

HELLO GORGEOUS

A new benefits brand is born

We are happy to report that the brand is now all grown-up and finding its way in the world. For Time Warner we created:

A style guide to help them apply the brand consistently;
Tools and templates to support the roll-out of the brand across HR communications;
Policy documents for their travel insurance;
A campaign for their annual enrolment (and branding for their benefits site); and
Are currently coming up with campaign ideas to promote their EAP.

At the moment Time Warner are a communications only client but obviously we’d love them to discover the wonderful world of Darwin before too long. Watch this space…

Explainer video 101 – what are they, why do we make them and why should you care?

Let’s start at the beginning and make sure we get the important stuff right.

What is an explainer video?

An explainer video is a concise, animated video that has two main functions: to explain something (go figure) and to capture attention. They tend to be either animated or filmed, we work mostly with animations because they have the ability to express complicated, abstract ideas quickly and easily, effectively boiling down your message into the most important and relevant points.

(…and what it is not)

An explainer video is DEFINITELY NOT:

A viral video. However strong the communications pitch of an explainer video may be, the intention is not to gather as many views and likes as possible.
A tutorial. It is supposed to be a short, to-the-point video and not a detailed step-by-step on how to do something.
A product demonstration. An explainer video focuses on explaining to your targeted customer why they should be excited about the new service you are offering, and avoids the technicalities of how it actually works.

Why are they important, aka why should I care about them?

A short and succinct explainer video with a captivating animation theme is an excellent way to engage and influence your audience with your message. A good explainer video provides a quick, easy explanation of a problem and how your product overcomes it.

What makes a great explainer video?

It’s all about the script. A well written script is the foundation upon which everything else is built. Whether you’re working on the script yourself or with a consultant, there are some key things to remember.

You don’t have a large word count to work with. The recommended speaking speed for videos is 150 words per minute.
Tell a story. Above all else, when creating the idea for a script, it’s important to engage in storytelling. Stories are powerful, relatable and engaging. Plus, stories convert.

What else?

Keep it simple. In order to keep it short you need to keep it simple and to the point.
Focus on benefits, not features. It’s always tempting to show off as many features as possible, however, it’s the idea behind the product that really matters. Share with your audience how Darwin is going to make their lives better.
Have some fun. Regardless of who’s watching your video one thing is always true – people love to be entertained. Adding something a little different to the video, whether it’s humor, a surprise, or something downright wacky gets people smiling and helps them connect with your brand in a way other mediums can’t.
Visuals are secondary. Professional looking visuals are important, but not quite as much as you might think! The key to an effective video is using visuals that help illustrate and reinforce the story, so make sure to get the message right first and then focus on developing a complementary visual aesthetic.

How about an example?

Have a look at how these principles work in a video we made for our Life Rewards brand! (Pssst … Life Rewards is getting a whole lot of love poured into it, so watch this space for the big reveal!)

I love it! Where can I get one?

Come and have a chat with us. We may have what you need already from our “Welcome” series or we might need to create something completely bespoke. Either way, we’re always up for a chat.

WIN a one of a kind Frövi bag!

Thanks for sticking with us to the end! For your efforts, there’s a prize to be won! The bag, created exclusively for Clerkenwell Design Week, can be yours in seconds.

Just answer one simple question: which colour did Time Warner steal from Thomsons for their benefits brand?

Send us your answer below.

Thanks for reading!

Remember, if you have any thoughts…

Drop us a line | Enter the competition

Love, The Comms Team 😉