By Mike Wellman
It’s January 2010, and internal communicators everywhere are pulling Christmas trees into their driveways, turning up the thermostats in their offices, and—most importantly—thinking about what they want to accomplish this year. CEC members are putting creative energy to work in a lot of good places, like smart use of internal social media and supporting manager-led communication. I’ve also heard a few unusual ideas lately—ranging from a corporate pirate radio station to video games that reinforce messages.
All that said, my favorite member experiments usually involve one thing in particular: the giveaway. Since the dawn of time, when a cro-magnon communicator placed a dinosaur egg on a cro-magnon employee’s desk and asked him to “think egg-cellently,” the kitschy giveaway—also known as corporate swag—has been widely used to attract employee attention. And almost everyone I’ve talked to has a funny story about work knickknacks that are, let’s say, ill-conceived.
So, how can you avoid silly swag mistakes? As with any experiment, it’s important to keep in mind the objective and ask if what you’re doing fits with what you want to accomplish. In the case of swag, you might be trying to get employees to:
1.) Learn
2.) Absorb message and act once OR
3.) Absorb message and act continuously
Flashy items might work if all you want is a few minutes of attention, as with the first two objectives, but chances are good that a mini disco ball won’t be appropriate when trying to encourage longer-term behavior like good ethics. For those longer-term challenges, think about how you can insert a message into an employee’s existing workflow, not their junk drawer. One example: give a branded business card holder to your sales force to remind them of the company’s key message as they introduce themselves to clients. At the end of the day, though, if what you’re really after is an employee behavior change, you’d be better off helping their managers learn to dialogue than thinking up the most creative knickknack ever.
Shameless promotion in subject lines notwithstanding, I don’t have a personalized bottle of hot sauce or baseball cap to offer you, but hopefully the thoughts were swag enough. Now let’s hear from you: what’s the best or worst swag you’ve ever gotten?
on 21 January 2010
Respond
All employees at my former company once received a hanger in the company’s signature color. This was an effort to enforce our policy of no coats on the back of office chairs. The punch line: that company didn’t have any coat closets, so the hangers were tossed or taken home.
on 21 January 2010
Respond
Best Swag: Pedometer with the company logo to promote employee fitness. Worst Swag: All the dozens of things I’ve thrown out over the years. None of them memorable.
on 25 January 2010
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Kath and Ruxpin, I love both of those examples! Kath, I’m curious – what ended up happening? Did they create a coat room, or was there a more creative solution?
I think my favorite piece of swag was a highlighter I was given at one point which managed to stay on top of my desk for at least a few months. While not unique, I also still use a high-quality coffee mug I was given for a job three-four years ago. Thanks for the comments!
on 18 March 2010
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Worst swag: On the first day our company was acquired, management distributed a pair of polyester men’s golf socks with our new logo. I’m still trying to figure out what message those socks were meant to convey!