creative & management consultancy

Imagine you’re facing redundancy, fighting for both your, and your entire function’s future. You’ve got a strategy. You know the story you want to tell, but realise you don’t know how to tell it so that it has the desired impact. This was the situation my client faced.

At this point I have to say, sometimes you get lucky. When they explained how far they’d got and where they were stuck, I could clearly see what they couldn’t. To the point that I almost didn’t mention the idea, it was so obvious. But that’s the point. We all have our strengths. 

“Bees,” I said. I was met with quizzical faces. “Everything you’re talking about. It parallels bees and bee hives.” We dug in. Their strategy had its parallel in the structure and function of hives. Long story short, we had our theme. Now we had to articulate it.

It’s all very well coming up with an idea, but often you have to challenge a client to go further, which can feel a lot like adding to their woes. But without doing that, you can’t identify the “Return on Emotional Investment.” In other words, where are we going to make a difference and get the visceral reaction we need to ensure the story is felt, and not just heard?

In my opinion, the first thing we had to do was play with the environment in order to challenge habitual roles and behaviour. I suggested we leave the conference space and get delegates out into the city. Use it explore the history of innovation. There were enough locations close by to do that. I suggested we make a bespoke, immersive audio walk, tell a chapter at each location and tell it from the point of view of a child. A future CIO of the company. Someone just happened to know a bilingual six-year, so now we could tell the story in two languages.

But of course, this was not the only presentation. It was just the starting point. With two weeks to go I had to research, write, record and produce four distinct, location-based audio tracks. On top of that I’d suggested we create another site-specific installation: a “Room of Forgot en Th ngs” (the IT is missing), which we’d fill with now redundant, but once industry leading tech. Each object would have a story to tell and we’d illustrate how each product had once been at the forefront of innovation, but since been left behind. We’d block out the windows, light the room with a single lightbulb, then fill it with mothballs to make it even more unwelcoming. From there we’d move into the main presentation room, which was light, airy and scented with citrus. In other words, we’d use theatre to physically and emotionally move our audience. 

It was a tight timeline, but I had a team who could deliver. We worked around the clock on both US and UK timelines. And then, just when we thought we’d have the content ready in the nick of time, we were asked to bring the entire presentation forward by twenty-four hours. At this point three things happen: you trust in the strength of your team, identify the content that’s ‘good enough’, then pray! 

Sometimes the stars align. Sometimes you get lucky. Sometimes the dedication of brilliant teams moves mountains. I spent the day of the presentation being just forty minutes ahead of the main group. Setting up spaces. Checking the weather. Monitoring traffic. Spreading moth balls. 

In the end, my client told their story with such clarity, energy, insight and passion, that they saved their entire function and some two hundred jobs. On the anniversary of the event my contact messaged me to say she’d just overheard a colleague explain to a new graduate that the event had been “the highlight of his career”.