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Talking our language – digital projects

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Talking our language – digital projects

It’s both a privilege and a delight to work with our amazing clients and help bring their ideas to life; whether that’s through creative design, intriguing copy, emotive video or clever animation. We LOVE the journey we go on with clients, from receiving their initial brief through to delivering the end result and seeing the impact it goes on to achieve.

What we have realised though is we’re not always good at sharing what we’ve been up to. But that’s going to change – starting now!

To kick things off, we asked Ally (who works on the digital projects at Alive) what have been three of the most interesting, challenging and colourful digital projects she’s worked on recently.

 

Here are her top three picks.

Bringing inspiring and impactful employee stories to life for TCS

Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is part of the Tata Group and an expert in digital business solutions and all things IT. The company has more than 400,000 employees spread across 46 countries.

The brief

TCS came to Alive with a wish to showcase the fantastic things their employees were doing; from charitable endeavours and making a difference in the local community and world around them, to pushing themselves to the limits to overcome extreme physical and mental challenges.

The stories had huge potential, not just for powerful internal comms campaigns but also externally for all company audiences, including customers, stakeholders and for recruitment. And so ‘TCS Superstars’ was born.

The challenge

The Alive team worked closely with TCS to devise a way to bring these stories to life and highlight the inspirational team members at the heart of the organisation, who are living and breathing the company’s own values.

One of the key challenges was digging deeper to reveal the people behind the stories and to get the human element across.

The location of the ‘TCS superstars’ themselves, being spread across a number of different countries, also presented logistical considerations.

The result

An important first step was recognising their ‘stars’. Each was presented with a bespoke wooden box filled with special star pin badges designed just for them. An achievement certificate, an award and a handpicked thank you gift that reflected their story in some way.

Alive then designed and created a dedicated TCS Superstars website, complete with introductory video about the initiative’s aims, to let TCS showcase the stories to a wider audience.

Employees have been interviewed, filmed and their stories shared, through a mix of blogs and videos, showcasing each individual and their achievements. This includes Gunasekar, who has pioneered a Tsunami early-warning device, ultra-marathon runner Tobias, and Thomas-Sajo who is changing lives as part of a non-profit organisation.

Alive helps TCS to honour each superstar with an individually chosen gift (often linked to their individual passion), which is presented to them along with a beautiful personalised and branded box, containing a pin badge, keyring and certificate.

The project is ongoing and continues to reveal more and more incredible stories, helping TCS honour its internal superstars.

At Alive, we all really enjoyed working on this project and it was lovely to receive such kind words from Sobha Varghese, at TCS Europe:

“I would like to acknowledge our amazing partners at Alive with Ideas (Alan Oram, Allyson Taylor, Cam Yavari) who ran with the idea and perfected it with their creativity and commitment. It wouldn’t have come so far without you guys and I want to say “Thank You!”

“I’m happy to say that this tiny thought has now blossomed into an inspirational movement. #TCSsuperstars is all about putting people forward, telling their stories, unveiling their emotions, and recognizing them for their passions and achievements (aligned to our corporate values).”

Sobha Varghese, Head of Internal Communications at TCS Europe

A window into the world of KP Snacks colleagues

From Tyrells to Skips and Hula Hoops – and of course, their iconic KP Nuts range – KP Snacks is home to some of Britain’s favourite snack brands and supplies all kinds of delicious products to retailers across the UK.

The brief

KP Snacks approached Alive seeking a fresh, revamped website. Looking for a new concept and a great user journey that would be enhanced with videos and bold imagery, and that would celebrate their most valuable resource – their people.  The website is a little window into their world.

Alongside the new website development the team at KP were keen to highlight the hard work they have put into their corporate social responsibility progamme, which they call ‘Our Taste for Good’. KP asked for help to promote the company’s commitment to improving its products and its pledge to reduce its packaging impact on the environment – their PacKPromise.

Challenge

To get the balance right in showcasing the people, working environment and the great brands that make KP one of the nations’ favourite snack companies and a great place to work.

One of the key requirements of the build was to make it quicker and easier to update product lines to help promote KP’s broad range of brands, as well as regularly updated anecdotes about how colleagues feel about working at KP Snacks.

Result

First and foremost we provided a unified look and feel on the new corporate website using great imagery and video and giving KP a site that was also efficient to use (a flexible backend that is better suited to meeting the needs of KP corporate comms and brand teams) and which was wholly designed with the user experience in mind.

The site is now more flexible to cope with the ever-changing snacking world that KP is at the heart of. A system that allows changes to the main site pages, press releases, etc quickly and efficiently but also for their ever growing range of products and initiatives.  One such initiative being KP’s new ‘PacKPromise’, which we were delighted to help promote. We built functionality onto the pages that detail KP’s product packaging initiative through online mapping, used to find local recycling points. This initiative was run in conjunction with TerraCycle.

For the whole team, the project has been fantastic to work on. It has been great to support KP and provide an enhanced and holistic website user experience that we continue to support the company with.

“Our company is fun, we have great brands, but most importantly we’re all about our people – and I wanted an agency who would understand that and help us bring it to life through our website and other comms. Straight away I felt that Alive ‘got’ us and provided the creative inspiration exactly where we needed it, as well as the technical expertise to deliver a well-functioning website.”

Keren McCarron, Head of Corporate Affairs & Communications

 

Streamlining KP Snacks contact facility for consumer teams

Within the remit of the KP Snacks website project a separate and technical project emerged for the consumer care team. It became clear that having an easily navigated corporate website, with lots of great content was just half the story. A crucial element was having a system for the administrative teams to be able to support the unenviable task of managing hundreds of enquiries daily, without compromising the brand integrity.

The brief

The consumer teams approached Alive looking to streamline the contact process, making their teams lives easier and response times faster through integrating a new third party CRMS. Through a collaboration project with a software platform provider that KP had identified, Alive were asked to come up with a way that multiple website contact forms (from their different brand portfolio) could all use a similar contact information structure which would map into the new CRMS.

Importantly, it needed to be cost effective, efficient and able to be rolled out across other brands which Intersnack group have acquired in recent years.

The challenge

One of the main challenges with the project was the need for the form to use a system Alive were unfamiliar with so we rolled up our sleeves and set to work with the partners to ensure the solution was robust, gave the consumer care teams the maximum information they needed to improve their response times and which ultimately would make the process cleaner for both the consumers and for our client.

The result

A system that from the front works efficiently but which is a veritable powerhouse of information behind the scenes for KP Snacks consumer teams.

Since this system has been implemented successfully we have started working on supporting the consumer care teams with ensuring a FAQ portal can provide ‘self-help’ allergen and lifestyle information to our consumers. To build a portal where the info can be updated easily and information supplied can be amended accordingly, month on month.

We loved the challenge of this technical project. We always know we can develop a solution that will give the client what they need, but we also pride ourselves in considering the if’s, but’s and maybe’s of a brief. What the system could do and why it’s the right fit for purpose. Then we know that we have done a good job.

“We find working with Alive With Ideas easy with good project planning, scope definition and communication, delivering satisfactory outcomes on the projects we have commissioned to date.”

Mike Waddell, Technical Services Support Manager

We love meeting new people and we’re always happy to chat, to see if we can help. If you like what you see here and you need some creative inspiration for your own business, then drop us a line to hello@alivewithideas.com, or call us on 01256 331021.

 

“I feel like they own and care for the project as much as we do! I would not use anyone else for my creative work and think Alive is ahead of the game.”

Jo Hobbs — Communications Manager

“Thanks for all your help. We are delighted with the campaign, both in terms of the creativity and messaging but also the thought taken over the rollout of the materials. All looks absolutely fabulous!”

Sarah Crowdy — Campaign and Media Officer Communications, South East Water

“We went to ‘Alive’ for ideas on how to run a specific employee program in Europe. Alan and his team were brilliant in coming up with fresh, creative and practical approaches. The team took charge and executed brilliantly. We are pleased with the progress made so far and hope to have the same level of partnership and commitment going forward.”

Sobha Varghese — Tata Consultancy Services

“Alive helped us create a video of our response to the floods of winter 2019. Our Chief Officer received messages from all round the country praising us for it and was really pleased with both the video and the response to it.”

Alexander Mills, Communications Manager — South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue

“We had the privilege to work with the Alive team. It was our first time to be involved in creating an animation for our patients within paediatrics. The team were approachable, friendly, creative and very accommodating. Your vision for what you want to create, is at all times acknowledged, appreciated and accommodated by the team. They worked effectively and with great passion towards our project and worked not only alongside health professionals but also our patients who really enjoyed the experience of working with the Alive team. It has given our team the confidence and inspiration to do further projects in the future. We highly recommend Alive and their exceptional team.”

DR ELENI ATHANASAKOS, Lead Paediatric Clinical Scientist — NHS Barts Health

“‘The short animation developed in co-production with clinicians and young people is outstanding! Informative, developmentally appropriate, vitally fun and engaging. We are really grateful for the expertise of the Alive with Ideas team for their innovative approach in building children’s health literacy.'”

Kath Evans — Director of Children’s Nursing at Barts Health

“Our mission was to update our brand visuals to better reflect our innovative and forward-thinking organisation. After receiving numerous pitches from different branding agencies, Alive stood out with their clear passion and understanding of our identity and goals. We thoroughly enjoyed working with the Alive Team to create an engaging new brand that we are immensely proud of.”

Lianne Springer — Communications and Engagement Lead

“Alive wowed us during the pitch process and they didn’t stop wowing us throughout the whole project. Every person we worked with at Alive were so friendly, knowledgeable and clearly passionate about what they do. They have worked with us to really understand what we do and have created a new brand and website that really stands out from our competitors. Thank you!”

Louise Burnard, Head of Marketing and Communications UK — Be | Shaping the Future

“I think the team have done such a brilliant job, particularly with responding to our requests. It's one of the best mental health videos I've ever seen. Very proud to be associated with your exemplary work. Thank you so much.”

Dr Anna Batho — Clinical Psychologist – Critical Care, UCLH

“We have worked with Alan, Caroline and the wider Alive With Ideas team for many years. In that time, they have provided a dedicated service that is second to none. We appreciate their attention to detail and creative approach to bringing our brand, communications and stories to life. And would recommend them to anyone looking for creative communications support.”

Georgia Beech — Internal Communications Specialist, Ocado Group

“This is brilliant. I wanted to give my heartfelt thanks to all of the team who worked on this. You all understood exactly what we wanted to communicate and why, and then managed to do it in a way that was far better than anything I could have imagined. I’m a bit choked up to be honest!”

Sarah Wright, Head of Communications and Campaigns — NEA

“Each time I work with the team, I am always stunned at the effort and creativity that goes into each detail and am always eager for the end result. The team is extremely accommodating and always provide a fresh approach to our projects that elevates our communications materials!”

Alana Khaytin, Communications Specialist — Braskem America

“What I really appreciate about Alive is that they work with us as partners, and care as much about getting it right for our patients as we do.”

Sara Langston, Patient Engagement & Marketing Manager — italk

“Alive are unique in how much they deeply listen and invest in you and your ideas. I have not come across a company that listens as much as they do to ensure your needs are understood and met (actually - they always exceed my needs and expectations). Everyone I recommend Alive to has an equally brilliant experience. When you work with Alive, you are not only getting some genius creativity brought into your life, you are also hanging out with some of the best examples of human beings I’ve ever known.”

Steph Tranter, Hybrid Exec Coach & Psychologist — StephTranter.com

“The (Alive) team were able to creatively pull together and document (in just over 2minutes) everything our service has achieved over the last few months, from thousands of prescriptions deliveries to hundreds of phone calls made to the vulnerable. The final product was so powerful and reflective of what our service has and continues to achieve. It couldn’t have been better received within the service – thanks Alive for once again helping us to communicate our vision!’”

Emma Wright — South Yorkshire & Rescue

“We worked with the team at Alive to create our staff recognition video.
At a time like this, its never been more important to share the amazing work that our staff have done and continue to do on a daily basis under very difficult circumstances. We wanted to shout about this and recognise that when the time came, South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue stepped up to the plate. We didn’t want an ordinary thank you post on social media or a basic email sent out internally, we wanted something special. Enter Alive. ”

Emma Wright — South Yorkshire Fire & Rescue

“Our company is fun, we have great brands, but most importantly we’re all about our people – and I wanted an agency who would understand that and help us bring it to life through our website and other comms. Straight away I felt that Alive ‘got’ us and provided the creative inspiration exactly where we needed it, as well as the technical expertise to deliver a well-functioning website.”

Keren McCarron, Head of Corporate Affairs & Communications — KP Snacks

“Boom!
Thank you so much. Incredible work done at incredible speed by incredible people.
Outstanding work as ever and what a turnaround. As for the concepts – wow. These are that good it would be an insult to describe them as just good. It’s a joke, quite frankly. This is exactly the Alive effect I was after. Right now I feel like I am living in an Alive With Ideas wonderland. Thank you!”

Jack Grasby, Campaigns Manager — SYFR

“If you are looking to improve creativity and build teamwork, I highly recommend a session like this for your team. No matter where you are in your creativity journey, a workshop like this can give your team a boost of energy and ideas to invigorate their creative thinking.”

Amy Lilja, IC Manager — Hennepin Healthcare

“Alive were there to help when we were working every hour to respond to the coronavirus outbreak. They gave us the creativity, ideas and support we needed to deliver campaigns which empowered our residents in the most difficult time most of us have ever seen, personally and professionally. The team understood what we needed, worked closely with us and delivered fast without any compromise on quality. Working with Alive has been a joy in the darkest of times and I have no doubt will have helped to save lives. Thanks team x”

Julie Odams, Assistant Director of Communications & Customers — Derbyshire County Council

“We got 'Alive' involved to help us shift mindsets across our organisation and they delivered! Using simple, clear and creative ideas the team have delivered us a campaign which has seen a dramatic increase in idea sharing and development. They’ve also played a significant role in creating a culture of shared success. I wouldn’t hesitate to work with again, in fact, we already are!”

Gavin Buckle — B&Q
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