It’s no secret that stories help audiences connect with a message. Still, it’s not always easy to convert traditional company content into a narrative that resonates. And while every situation is unique, one trick of the trade may be useful to you. We call it A Day in the Life.
This approach first came to our attention via a communications agency we hired to help us better connect with a distinct subset of our employee base. These employees operated under a different brand than the bulk of our workforce and worked remotely, with minimal access to their colleagues and our communication tools.
The agency conducted their due diligence and presented their findings in a visual, compelling presentation. The material illustrated A Day in the Life for employees in each of the three roles we were trying to reach. It was an hour-by-hour breakdown of how each employee spent his/her time, along with the miniscule windows of time they had to engage with any communication vehicles or messages we were making available. It was a powerful story and it helped us identify tactics to better reach and engage these internal customers.
We liked this storytelling approach so much we used it ourselves, years later, on the complete opposite end of the spectrum. Our company’s CEO was turning over the reigns to a well-regarded, internal successor. We were searching for ways to help employees understand how the role of the CEO influences the direction of a Fortune 100 company, and to give them a better sense of the individual ascending to the top job. We partnered with our world-class internal video production team, and – with the gracious consent of the incoming CEO – arranged to have a camera crew follow him in his first few days on the job. The material was edited into a three-minute piece entitled – you guessed it – A Day in the Life, and distributed to employees worldwide. It remains one of the highest-rated pieces of content we ever shared on our internal network.
Finally, we should note that we’ve used a variation of A Day in the Life in some of our day-to-day communications, as well, to put a personal spin and a face on complex company strategies. In this usage, we’d find employees whose roles were pivotal to the success of the strategy, and allow them to tell the story – interview-style – of how they were bringing it to life.
To see other examples of our work, go to Mini Case Studies.
Categories: Mini Case Studies