THE CHALLENGE: ecollective Creative Director, Mel Walz, explains: “Qwest Communications sales teams, nationwide, suffered from a sagging morale. What we were asked to do was to boost and sustain that morale with whatever we could come up with. The scope was wide open. The standard Qwest approach was to hire designers to compose a “cool” looking media series with a not-so-cool sounding message – you’re not selling enough Qwest products! We saw a fundamental flaw in the messaging they were using in the past if they did, in fact, want to motivate their employees. A standard call to action was not going to get the job done. We developed an interoffice, multimedia campaign that relied on everything from the Qwest Sales Intranet to printed pieces for the real office environment.
But it wasn’t really the media alone that could do it. It was the message that had to be right on. The tone and manner of the work had to reflect a genuine concern to talk WITH and not AT employees. Concealing management’s demands in a “cool” looking package did anything but motivate people. After discussing Qwest’s past attempts with select sales employees, we learned that it actually demotivated employees, but at the same time, created a subculture that was bound together by the adversity of the situation. That is where we found our audience.”
OUR SOLUTION: “The campaign was a huge success,” explains David Roth, Sales Communications Director at Qwest. “They first researched our target audience to find out what kind of people they were and what kind of communications would be effective when speaking to them. Then they presented us with multiple concepts of designs that were all pretty much dead on.”
We believe that this project was saved by understanding and communicating the importance of sophisticated messaging when confronted with the task of changing behavior. When the project was finished, we had produced a campaign brand and identity, a short web-based intro movie made in Flash and a series of concept posters. However, the most influential product – the only reason any of the technology had an effect – was the message.
“Working with the team at ecollective always produces great results. We look to them when we need fresh creative based on a thorough understanding of our products and services. On time and in scope is always nice too!”
