I’m talking about breathing life into [yawn], run-of-the-mill emails, meetings or newsletter articles. I’m not satisfied with status quo. I have a lot of creative energy to burn and it’s refreshing to work with a client who encourages innovative internal communications. A recent change management communications project provided the perfect opportunity to give mouth to mouth to traditional channels – without blowing smoke.
One approach I took was to use an avatar (or cartoon character) as a champion or change agent along the journey. In this case, the avatar represented the target audience undergoing the change. We gave him a name, his own email address and phone extension with an outgoing voicemail message. The email address and phone extension were outlets to send emails and voicemails and capture feedback and questions.
I couldn’t stop there. I had life-size cutouts created for placing in high-traffic areas. But these weren’t ordinary cutouts. They included dry erase talk bubbles for quick weekly updates written in a conversational tone. The talk bubbles included key messages about the business case for the change, reminders about required actions, things that would take getting used to and things that would ultimately be better.
Wait, there’s more. The avatar had its own voice. Literally and figuratively. Its written messages were in conversational tones. Its speaking voice was an anonymous employee who recorded sound bites, many of which narrated a presentation giving an overview of the change journey.
Why use an avatar? This approach won’t work for every company culture, but here are some things to consider about avatars. They can:
- inject life – and a little fun – in your campaign
- deliver tough news in a non-threatening way
- mitigate employees’ potential fear or resistance
- serve as a neutral voice of realism, especially when it comes to upcoming challenges
- boost message credibility – particularly when the avatar represents the target audience and is positioned as a peer going through the change along with everyone else
The results and reactions to the avatar were positive. Messages cut through clutter and sparked many conversations. Have you tried anything similar?