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Playgroup Launch BT Business' Internal Campaign

02 Jun 2008

Staff at BT were amongst the first to find out that Dragons Den star, Peter Jones along with The Gremlins would be fronting the new ‘Do What You Do Best’ campaign from BT Business. Over the last few weeks in the build up to the TV campaign launch, the Gremlins have been making themselves known at every BT UK office. Brand equity agency Playgroup designed the humorous employee engagement campaign.

The communications strategy used entertainment to engage staff, while also delivering the key messages to prepare them for communicating the BT brand promise to their customers.  The integrated campaign centered around BT abolishing IT gremlins for SME’s. Campaign elements included BT staff being greeted in the morning with evidence of a Gremlin attack at their offices.  Crime scenes had been taped off by the ‘BT Support Squad’, the next stage was to recruit staff to the BT Support Squad.  To join the ‘BT Support Squad’, staff had to learn the brand messages and pass the online test. Other campaign elements included an email competition, SMS, events and viral marketing. In the viral video MD of BT Business, Bill Murphy is seen introducing Peter Jones as the star of this year’s campaign before being attacked by IT gremlins. CCTV footage of The Gremlins attacking the office at night has also spread via YouTube.

Throughout, the communications, emphasis centered on BT positioning themselves as IT support experts for SME’s. Operating a 24 hour service, offering a single point of contact for your move, answering calls within 30 seconds and business support that is UK based are just a few of the messages staff will be communicating to clients as a result of the internal launch.

Speaking about the campaign Tim Moore, Head of Creative Services and MD at Playgroup said: “BT Business’ ‘Do What You Do Best’ proves how powerful internal communications can be. I think its employees will agree the campaign was unexpected and motivating and generated real momentum and buzz ready for the external campaign launch. It's great to see BT making a real effort to provide the kind of service that small businesses depend on.”

Erica Leeke, Senior Marketing Manager of BT Business added “Engagement of our employees is absolutely vital in order for us to deliver our external brand promise. Playgroup should be very proud of their achievements that have brought the next stage of the Do What You Do Best campaign, featuring Peter Jones and the gremlins, to life for our internal audience. BT staff can be sceptical about marketing campaigns, but they have given great feedback on the communications they have received so far, we have got exactly the response we hoped for.”

Read the BT case study here.