All is not lost.
Winning over hearts & minds for a merger worth believing in.
Client
Global Technology Group
studio expertise
Event Design
Creative Strategy & Concept
Storytelling: name, tagline, key messages
Brand Strategy & Identity
Event Program & Content Development
Communication Strategy & Assets
Creation of Storyboards & Scripts - Film
Creation of all experiences and activities
Event management & production from A to Z
project partners
Graphic Design - Benoit Clair Film Production - EO Prod
In a nutshell
The objective of this project was to inspire a global sales team to get onboard with a new acquisition. Having just come through a recent merger, the situation was delicate.
Our brief was to design an experience that would help to allay fears and doubts, leaving each individual with the feeling “this is the opportunity we’ve been waiting for”.
To bring this idea to life, we created a new kind of sales meeting that broke with previous formats and enabled the company to prove that they could do things differently, mirroring the changes to come. By giving people an authentic experience of “different”, we engaged teams, boosted morale and instilled a positive outlook on the future.
5 minute read
Insight
How do you help people to see the positive side of change? How do you instill confidence in it, especially in the face of cynicism and skepticism?
We proposed that the company use their global sales meeting as an opportunity to exemplify the values of the change they were promising. Instead of asking teams to believe in a better future, the goal was to show them, not tell them, that a positive change was already taking shape.
Communication would need to be carefully designed to challenge assumptions, encourage people to keep an open mind and suggest a way of looking at the situation that they might not have considered.
As for the meeting itself, there was no room for contradiction. Every detail had to embody the change being promised — proving in real terms that doing things differently could lead to better results.
What we did
We created an event over 2 days that was designed to address doubts and create clarity on the vision and strategy for the future.
1.
Rebranding the standard Sales Meeting as a Creative Festival
From the outset, the communication needed to feel unlike anything the team had experienced before, signalling a clear break with the past and giving people an immediate sense of momentum – that things had already started to change for the better.
We sidestepped any associations linked with the old brand as well as the future owner (which we were unable to reference for legal reasons). Instead, we created an entirely new brand identity and name that people could own and love.
This was not going to be another routine sales meeting. It was designed to feel like a cultural reset, signaling a clear shift in mindset, ambition, and what the company could achieve.
2.
From Numbers to People
Invitations to past sales meetings had been delivered via impersonal mass emails. To break from this and reinforce the message that each individual mattered, we replaced this approach with something far more personal: printed invitations and tickets were delivered directly to each sales representative’s home.
The outside of the invitations evoked a VIP feeling and a sense of intrigue.
Invitations opened up to reveal a vibrant festive universe hinting that this was would be anything but a typical sales meeting.
Once on site, each attendee was greeted with a personal welcome package including custom designed clothing featuring a subtle event monogram with no corporate branding. The intention was to create genuine gifts people would value and choose to wear, avoiding the usual pitfall of excessive company branding, and instead offering something that felt truly personal.
3.
Rebranding Discipline
The company had an issue with discipline that they wanted to address, particularly in relation to sticking to deadlines. The event also had an issue with time, we only had two days to fit everything in. To address both of these needs, we created a time-keeping challenge that started from the moment teams arrived at the venue.
The goal was two-fold: 1) transform the perception of a disciplined person from “a bore who follows the rules” to “someone who has personal mastery” and 2) make sure every session stuck to the timetable!
The impact? No one was late for any activity and no session ran over time. Arriving on time for activities was perceived as a leadership quality – in fact, most people started showing up 20 minutes early!
4.
Thinking beyond silos
One of the strategic objectives was to remove barriers and create improved relationships and communication between teams. To introduce this new mindset and initiate discussions around this topic, we were asked to create a lightbulb moment. We co-designed a workshop that consisted of a series of enigmas that could only be partially solved by each team working alone. During the task, each team began to realise that they were stuck, and that the only way forward was to suggest collaboration with others. What started off as a competition between 12 or 13 teams concluded with hundreds of people working together as one team to solve the ultimate enigma, which they did.
5.
Sales reps singing opera?
Creating something from nothing, particularly when it is artistic, can give us a kind of satisfaction and joy that is rare. To deliver a tangible and unforgettable experience of unity and to restore a sense of camaraderie we challenged the teams to create a choir. In the space of 2 hours, four professional opera coaches took hundreds of sales reps from — I can’t sing to — we’ve just performed a classical concert.
6.
We may still have a long way to go, but look how far we've come.
The true value of this company was its people. They had been pioneers in bringing some of the most innovative technology solutions to market, including several world firsts. We were asked to find a way to remind teams of this.
To do this, we created a series of films that retold the story of the company’s greatest breakthroughs through the eyes of the individuals that worked on them. This not only reminded teams of the talent within the company but generated feelings of pride and confidence in their capacity to innovate into the future. Focusing the meeting around this key idea helped to build a narrative of resilience — We did it before, so we can do it again.
A film series took people behind the scenes of the company’s greatest breakthroughs and the individuals behind them.
7.
Leading by example
Following a series of interviews filmed on location all over Europe, we created a docu-series that challenged senior sales leaders to talk frankly about their personal struggles in recent years and give examples of how their teams had overcome the odds time and time again in the face of enormous competition. The series highlighted the high esteem in which the directors held their teams, and gave them a platform to express their personal belief and commitment to the next chapter.
Watching the docu-series together in front of the whole company gave local teams a sense of recognition and pride. It also highlighted the unique challenges of different regions and the diversity of approaches and talent within the Group.
Results
Change can be brilliant.
By giving teams a positive experience of the changes to come, the event helped dissolve doubts, boost morale and transform the company narrative.
The event opened up a space for listening which gave senior management a platform to communicate a tangible vision for the future that people could get behind. Negative attitudes and fears were dissolved and teams left the meeting feeling motivated, re-energized, and confident that this was the place to be.
The attention to detail throughout every aspect of the event design functioned as an example of how the company was going to behave moving forward. It raised the bar and provided a new reference point for “how we do things around here”.
Following the event, language and ideas from the various films and other communication collateral began permeating the culture of the organisation as well as the discourse of the management team. Subsequent versions of communication materials were then created for client facing events and external communication purposes in order to assist with the transition and shape the narrative on a global scale.
Let’s talk! — We’ll look after you.