We’re all grown up!
2020 is a special year for us – it’s 10 years since the birth of our team! Join us for a Wayne’s World style wobbly flashback with Vicky Edwards, Head of Creative Engagement, who was there when it all began…
What was the team like when you joined it?
It looked very different then. When I joined there were no consultants – we were an in-house studio with 3 graphic designers. The sales team wrote content for the communications and what we produced was quite templated in terms of formats. A ‘z-card’ was our go-to creative option. It was reactive and what we produced was focused on making things look interesting and fresh visually rather than developing a brand to reflect a client’s culture and connect with their employees.
What’s changed the most since then?
So much has changed in that time but there are a few things that stand out. At the beginning we had very little interaction with clients which is completely different now. To do the best job for our clients we need to get to know them really well. We take into account their business priorities, people and culture as well as their objectives for communicating. Of course, as well as designers, we now have consultants who think strategically and are experts at content creation. But our approach to design has also become much more strategic.
The other big differences have been driven by the changes in Darwin. When I joined Thomsons Darwin looked like a bank statement! We worked hard to get employees’ attention and then when they arrived onto Darwin it wasn’t branded and definitely didn’t provide the user friendly experience it does today. Now we can get really involved in making the most of what Darwin has to offer to clients. Part of what we do is ‘maximising Darwin’ for clients, both when they launch and helping existing clients make the most of new features and capabilities.
What’s the same?
Even in the early days we had ambition and a drive for getting it right for the client. We have always worked to offer something different and stay ahead of the competition. We’ve never believed benefits are boring and have a passion for using our creativity to do right by the client and their employees.
What’s the best thing about working in Creative Engagement?
Personally I still enjoy the challenge of creating great communications to help people get the most out of the technology. But more generally it has always been the people in the team that are the best thing about working in Creative Engagement.
Because we run like a mini in-house agency we’ve been lucky enough to attract some really talented, creative people to the team over the years. Designers feel at home because of the way we work – they understand what we are trying to achieve. We don’t impose boundaries or restrictions – in fact it’s the opposite, we need to keep pushing and trying something different. This gives our consultants the freedom to change things up which keeps things interesting.
How do you think the team will change in the next 10 years?
That’s so hard to predict – look at the changes to our ways of working in the last 10 years! Digital will definitely continue to evolve and I would expect us to gain even more expertise in that area. We’re already exploring options to build microsites. This would add to our current capability in animations and digital magazines.
Now we’re part of MMB I would definitely expect us to broaden our horizons beyond Darwin to engaging employees who don’t have access to technology. Of course the plan is that all roads lead to Darwin but in the meantime there are loads of opportunities to engage people with the value of their benefits even if they don’t have our technology yet.
Supercharging benefit communications: a series
So, what’s new Creative Engagement?
Our creative roles can be a bit of a rollercoaster ride, and inspiration can strike at any moment. There are times when we feel completely uninspired or find that the most mundane activities trigger that elusive lightbulb moment.
Being part of a creative team means that those coveted ‘Eureka!’ moments are teased out when we bounce ideas off each other. Ideas that start off as seedlings, can quickly and easily bloom into our latest innovative offering. And when we’ve cracked it – boy, is it good!
Hello HTML!
Supercharging benefit communications is our purpose – it’s what we do, it’s what we love. We start off this new series of articles with our latest venture, championed by our resident techie Kaivai: building HTML campaigns and notifications to come out of Darwin.
This is the first time Creative Engagement and Darwin configuration specialists have explored developing emails and notifications in this way. It’s a really exciting time for slick and great looking communications.
Why are we sharing this with you?
This all ties back into our tried and tested approach to ‘Create Visual Impact’. A dedicated benefits brand helps to resonate with employees, should reflect the values and personality of the business, and clearly signposts benefit communications, so when employees see it they think “this is for me”. Communications and key messages need to stand out from crowd to increase engagement with and awareness of the benefits package.
While we often write the launch and window campaigns for our clients, we’ve been limited in the influence we have over the way that they look. By building a range of HTML templates for us to use and edit, Kaivai has transformed this area of engagement for our clients and their employees, meaning we can provide clients with highly bespoke results. Clients utilising this service have upgraded from a humble Outlook email with limited branding to a fully branded solution mirroring the type of communications you would expect to receive from a digital platform such as Darwin.
Creating benefits engagement in unexpected ways
Changing our name to Creative Engagement last year truly reflects what we do. With a wealth of creative agency copy writing and design experience under our belt, we are here to shake up benefit communications and move them into the 21st Century, one bright idea at a time.
Come and have a chat with us if you want to learn more about the innovative work we do in the benefit communications and engagement space, and share your ideas with us too! We’d love to hear from you.
How to hug a tree
We all try to do our bit for the planet these days, whether that’s bringing reusable bags to the shop, metal straws to the bar or your own coffee cup when you need a caffeine fix. In turn, we find ourselves tutting when people litter or disappointed when your employer promotes your benefits package by giving away something made of plastic.
At Creative Engagement, we ask ourselves ‘what can we do with a tricky to reach audience with no email access or to engage employees that receive so many emails that we need to something that stands out from the noise?’
The solution? Eco-giveaways are here to save the planet and your conscience! We have been working closely with suppliers to find an eco-giveaway to suit any benefit communication need.
The good the bag and the ugly
The UK has reduced its use of single use plastic bags by a third in the last year, but our work is not finished yet! A great alternative to these is canvas bags, great for quick trips to the shops and, if designed by our in house team, they will have you looking not only engaged with your benefits platform but stylish to boot.
An uphill bottle
8 million tonnes of plastic waste enter the oceans every year. If waste management practices don’t improve, scientists predict this amount could increase tenfold by 2025. One way we can help is to stamp out our use of single-use plastic bottles. As a giveaway, we can source longer lasting plastic bottles made from recycled materials or stainless steel versions that keep hot things hot and cool things cool (we love multifunctional!).
An offer you plant refuse
For those among you with a green thumb, we can offer a variety of plant-based items from mini desk grow kits and branded seed packets, to a pencil where you can plant the stub. Something we’re excited about at the moment is seeded paper, which is exactly that – paper with embedded seeds. Once you’ve absorbed the information, you can rip it up, give it a drink of water and watch as the seeds sprout before your very eyes! We love the message caring for a plant brings to benefit communications as we believe employees are also able to nurture their work/life balance by taking advantage of their benefits package.
Easier read than done
Sometimes these eco-friendly methods aren’t the answer, for example when printing something more substantial like a full benefits guide. There is always the option of carbon offsetting your printed work, meaning that for each tree cut down to make the paper for your booklet, two are planted in its place. You can put a carbon neutral logo at the bottom of your communication and give yourself a pat on the back for doing your bit.
The hows and whys of engagement
Figures, Feelings and Facts!
You will often hear us raving about the importance of emotional connections and why we think organisations should be speaking to employees all year round. A sometimes little known fact about us is that we use specific information from Darwin and our clients’ expertise to help build campaigns that have meaning so we can be sure our work is resonating with the right people.
Engagement is about figuring out what makes people tick and using that to get their attention in the best possible way. Using data from Darwin and other platforms means we have a better insight into what is important to employees and how they behave. We can then apply that information to our communications strategy, which in turn, will help us build brilliantly, unexpected campaigns!
Statistics vs Sentiment
So, what’s the difference between using data or emotional appeal?
Well, luckily we are able to marry the two so that they work together in blissful harmony. Emotional factors inspire loyalty and require a reaction, whether that is fear of missing out or excitement for example. Whereas the rational data can influence and play a key role in developing the relationship between the benefit offering and the employee. These figures help support the role of the emotional appeal by making it trustworthy and justified.
Ultimately, we want employees to feel that they have a relationship with their organisation and the benefits on offer to them for being a loyal staff member. By mirroring the qualities of positive human connections, we are able to engage employees using empathy based communications that trigger a response and ensure interactions with both the platform and their benefits are positive.
Engagement is vital to any organisation that is looking to boost retention and build a happy workforce. Our team work alongside our clients to ensure the messages we are delivering are timely, personable and relevant. A bit like when you treat yourself to a new jacket, then walk past the shop a week later to see it on sale – I think we can agree, it’s not a great feeling. Which is why we encourage our clients to use their data to understand their employees and be familiar with what interests them and when, to ensure peak engagement rates!
Top tips!
Be transparent – Employees want to feel they are knowledgeable about what is happening at their organisation, particularly in these uncertain times. Good news stories are great, but employees will feel more engaged and loyal to their company if they are being kept in the loop! Consistent communications of what is happening and why can help employees to feel they have the full picture.
Get creative – Make sure your communications are standing out from the usual email traffic. We create and develop benefits brands that help our well-thought-out communications stand out from the crowd. Ensuring employees are familiar with their benefits brand means that we can always pique their interest when we want to tell them something new that is just for them.
Know your numbers – Use data to your advantage. Do your employees only log in at certain times of the year? Let’s figure out why. Has there been a sudden interest in a particular benefit? Let’s understand what has caused this reaction. Do your employees have a positive view of their benefits package? If not, let’s work out how we can help them understand the golden nuggets and day to day uses of the benefits on offer.
There’s plenty of ways to ensure data and emotion play a perfect role in engagement campaigns. So if you have a client who’s stuck in a communications rut, give us a shout to see how we can help turn that frown upside down.
Trends, but not as you thought
Winter is the time of year where nearly all sources of design inspiration turn to discussing trends – either summarising the top trends of the year coming to an end, or attempting to predict what will be the coolest directions creativity could take us in the months to come. Trends are an excellent resource to feed our brains and charge up on fresh ideas.
For the casual observer it may seem like replicating trends is the key to making fresh and exciting designs, but blindly following these trends leads to the same outcome in design as it does in fashion. All the hard work put into designing a client’s brand runs the risk of screaming for attention only to become dated in a few short months (we are looking at you, bedazzled jeans and velour tracksuits!).
That is why when we look for inspiration, we look for trends that are adaptable to our client’s communication needs and the branding framework we are working with. In short – we are looking to distil a lasting style and not just follow a trend.
What do we mean by that?
We look beyond the surface aesthetic and consider where these ideas would really shine and whether any limitations could be turned into an advantage. When we design benefit and wellbeing brands, we take into consideration the personality of our client, their company values and unique communications challenges as well as guidance from the client branding team on the creative freedom we are given.
Any design we propose considers the communications channels it needs to shine in; languages and cultural backgrounds it needs to be appropriate for. That is a lot of strategic planning to do and sometimes our clients will add in additional requests to challenge us further! Above all, the work we do needs to continue feeling fresh in the years following launch, and have the scope to grow as the communications evolve over time. Some of our best work comes exactly from what seem like impossible tasks at first reading of the brief.
So where do the trends come in?
When we work on mapping out the plan for a brand, we keep in mind all the ideas we’ve absorbed and discussed over a coffee in the kitchen. Sometimes the right one will present itself like a key to a coded message; other times we get a feeling for the perfect solution from the first conversation with our client. Some of our favourite trends we have explored include collages and photo montages; quirky and abstract illustration; bright bold colours; mixed media techniques; surrealism and typography.
Show, don’t tell!
We love a great colour palette peppered with neon accents – it communicates bold, bright confidence with a hint of 80s nostalgia in a fresh new way. It is a brilliant approach for a client looking to do wild digital communications for their employees. Couple that with surrealist isometric illustration to achieve a visual identity infusing abstract concepts with the feeling of calm, clarity and organisation.
Mix stylish photography with transparent colour overlays and bold typography for an editorial look that feels both inspired by classic photography and 60s modernism, as well as being freshly digital and flexible. This approach really shines in print on eco-friendly materials and has an effortless groove when animated.
Sometimes ‘wild’ is the sanest way forward – for clients with employees who work in a creative space daily, we will look to design a brand to stand out among stand-out work! We have designed complex layered collages that challenge employees in a guessing game; toned down and quietly dignified collages that speak with humour; and lush juxtaposition between nature and daily life to bring out a sense of rich freshness and growth.
We are always on the lookout for new ways to create the best work for our clients and we love talking about the different solutions we have had the pleasure to see succeed! Get in touch with us if you are curious to know more.
So long, farewell,
auf Wiedersehen, adieu
Since our very first release of The Comms Buzz, as it was known back then, we have enjoyed sharing with you eleven editions brimming with engagement thought leadership, trend forecasting and showing off our seriously creative skills. But all good things must come to an end…
Don’t panic! This is not the end of The Buzz, just The Buzz as we currently know it. We’re moving our beloved Buzz onto a new platform, where we’ll be able to share even more insight, design examples and thought-provoking articles on a regular basis rather than once every quarter.
Thank you for being avid readers, for entering competitions and for letting us know we’re doing a great job, it really means the world. This will be our last Buzz here but watch this space for more details about how you can continue the journey with us.
Love, Creative Engagement x
Thanks for reading!
Remember, if you have any thoughts…
Love, Creative Engagement 😉