Here’s a triumvirate of good news nuggets freshly mined from the gilded tunnels that permeate the bedrock under WMW Towers: we’ve picked up some international awards over the past few weeks. You like to know these things, right?

Here’s the list. You like lists, right?

Employee Engagement, IABC EMEA Regional Awards 2013
‘Spotlight’ for RSA

Internal Communications, IABC EMEA Regional Award 2013
‘Know Africa. Live Africa. Love Africa.’ for Standard Bank

Internal Communications, PRISM Awards South Africa 2013
‘Know Africa. Live Africa. Love Africa.’ for Standard Bank

Helping the world communicate better at work? Darn right we are.

Sehr gut!

Refresh the environment of the London offices and make an explicit connection with Standard Bank’s proudly African roots with a design idea that can be applied to locations across the globe.

1. SIMPLIFY

‘Today’s Africa, tomorrow’s world.’

2. CREATE

We wanted to not only reflect the remarkable diversity of the African continent – and Standard Bank’s footprint across it – but also challenge people’s perceptions by showcasing both its natural beauty and thriving modern economies.

3. MOBILISE

We created a dual-faceted design treatment applied through a variety of wallpapers and canvases. For smaller areas, we used postage stamps (universal cultural artefacts) from around the continent underpinned by story snippets about the bank’s activities in that country. For maximum impact in larger spaces, we used dramatic full-bleed photography of modern Africa at its most spectacular.

Help everyone at TNS understand, apply and harness the power of Signature – our new client-focused working process that focuses all our research and recommendations on our clients’ real business issues and growth aspirations.

1. SIMPLIFY

‘Big ideas. Bitesize chunks.’

2. CREATE

Our first step was to break down the content – sophisticated and sizeable – into sections that would build and bolster understanding in a clear, steady and logical fashion. We then turned these into eight online modules, featuring videos, animations, interactive content and quizzes.

3. MOBILISE

Theory done; time for practice. So next we created a series of case study videos to show what crucial parts of the process should look like. The result? Anecdotal evidence says it’s the best-received learning tool so far – and it’s established a format we’re now building upon with new tutorials covering every aspect of strategic client engagement.

Support the reinvigoration of the Learning & Development function at RSA with a fresh, distinctive and flexible visual identity and comms strategy.

1. SIMPLIFY

‘In your hands. At your fingertips.’

2. CREATE

We brought to life this idea of taking ownership of your own future with something that’s fun, playful and interactive – fridge magnets. It provides plenty of creative freedom and flexibility while ensuring everything L&D shares a consistent look and feel.

3. MOBILISE

We’ve applied the new visual identity to everything from promotional posters and HTML email templates to the online Learning Zone. Our clever developers also turned the fridge magnet letters into a typeface so it’s even easier to apply on the fly.

Contextualise, celebrate and engender pride in Corporate and Investment Banking’s first dedicated global brand advertising campaign.

1. Simplify

‘Know Africa. Live Africa. Love Africa.’

2. Create

We worked in partnership with CIB’s executive committee, comms team and consumer agency to develop an internal story that worked in parallel with the external campaign line – ‘They call it Africa, we call it home’ – to celebrate the bank’s uniquely authentic African heritage.

3. Mobilise

Structured around ‘Know Africa. Live Africa. Love Africa’, we brought the global CIB team closer to their campaign with a cascade kit (packed into a memory stick) supported by a website. Key included a kinetic typography presentation, ‘behind the scenes’ video, exclusive preview of the TV spots and social story-sharing competition. We also installed bespoke ‘Love Africa’ sculptures in their global offices with writeable faces their people could sign.

Develop a graduate recruitment campaign focused on quality of applicant, not quantity, and that reflects the brand’s exciting plans for a multi-channel, international future.

1. SIMPLIFY

‘The M&S of tomorrow. Starting today.’

2. CREATE

What’s cutting-edge right now will soon be old hat. And it’s the graduates who start with M&S right now who’ll turning today’s science fiction into tomorrow’s retail reality – whether they’re working in stores or behind the scenes at head office. So our campaign used the language of cutting-edge augmented reality to dramatise this forward-thinking opportunity.

3. MOBILISE

We took this idea off the page with AR technology that let grads view an interactive version of each ad where the customer comes to life. We also equipped our recruitment stand with AR tech, and had roving ‘adwalkers’ with wearable PCs that print personalised tickets grads can use to activate an AR animation. The creative idea is carried through in the smartphone-style brochure and tablet-style campaign website.

Help us turn recognition from top-down, exclusive and expensive to people-powered, everyday and sustainable – while connecting it with our strategy to turn customers into fans.

1. SIMPLIFY

‘Recognition for the people, by the people.’

2. CREATE

Fanclub is an online, peer-to-peer recognition system rooted in social networking mechanics. It’s open to all employees, enabling anyone to publicly applaud a colleague for delivering a fan-winning performance. Crucially, Fanclub was designed to do more than just reward people for winning fans. It captures practical examples of delivering their Customer Promise – reinforcing the brand behaviours with a light touch.

3. MOBILISE

Fanclub has over 10,000 active users who’ve generated over 150,000 applauses – plus nominations for the Superfans annual event and completing online sustainability pledges. Annual spend has actually decreased despite increasing the number of people included in recognition by a factor of 10. Employee survey scores revealed a year-on-year 25% leap in people’s understanding of the Customer Promise. Oh, and it won a few awards too.

Turn our outdated site into something rich, contemporary and reflective of our fashion-forward brand. Oh, and we’d like to be able to update it quickly to keep up with the latest trends.

1. SIMPLIFY

‘Live to change’

2. CREATE

New Look. The clue’s in the name. The aesthetic experience was always going to be the key to this site. So we created a fashion scrapbook look and feel with plenty of fine detail – collage-style photography, swatches of materials, design sketches, pinned notes and more.

3. MOBILISE

While the design is rich and textured, the navigation is simple and intuitive. Visitors can explore each section by panning across each page of the scrapbook. The content is concisely written but comprehensive, and supported by video shorts, social links and seamless integration with the job application system.

Create an identity for our performance management comms. One that clearly indicates the three stages – goal-setting, mid-year and year-end – while also reinforcing it’s an ongoing, conversation-driven process that’s as much about the ‘how’ as the ‘what’.

1. SIMPLIFY

‘Your growth is built on great conversations.’

2. CREATE

We created a distinctive look and feel featuring three trees (one for each stage) thriving on a speech bubble, and a performance management rallying cry: ‘talk more, talk better’. All supported by a clear positioning statement for everyone in the business to read.

3. MOBILISE

We ran ‘talk more, talk better’ campaigns throughout the year, applying the identity and messaging to HTML emails, posters and information packs for leaders and their teams. One Kraft Foods team went a step further by applying the identity to a cake. Sweet success.

Develop a comprehensive internal look and feel that consistently reflects Standard Bank’s external brand identity, but also clearly differentiates our four distinct business units.

1. SIMPLIFY

‘One language. Four dialects.’

2. CREATE

Working with stakeholders throughout the business and around the world, our brand design team developed four detailed sets of guidelines (group, retail, investment, private clients) – each with its own look but rooted in the same shared personality.

3. MOBILISE

All guidelines have now been signed-off at Board level and implemented across the business to create a multi-faceted but cleanly structured internal look and feel – connecting the world with Africa and back again. The project has since earned independent recognition with a category win in the Institute of Internal Communication awards in London.