Anniversary campaign for Steelcase

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We had the amazing opportunity to work for Steelcase, a leading player in workspace solutions, to develop a campaign celebrating their 10th anniversary in Cluj. Despite having approximately a month to spare, we embraced the time challenge with enthusiasm. Our approach to these kinds of campaigns is immersive, involving in-depth conversations to really understand the culture. We believe that this approach allows us to reflect the heart of the company. Allow us to show you how we immersed ourselves in the Steelcase world.

How we work for these kind of campaigns

As a branding agency, our approach to advertising campaigns always carries a distinct branding flavor. For us, respecting the brand strategy and the employer branding culture is the baseline. This serves as our starting point. Therefore, our process unfolds as follows:

Audit / We conduct an in-depth audit to fully understand the company culture and brand. This is our commitment to clients: we aim to deliver ideas that demand profound understanding and align them with the brand's history, considering new perspectives. To sum it up, our approach involves respecting the old and celebrating the new.
Finding the creative idea / Following the audit, we present three (sometimes more) creative ideas for exploration in our campaign. Some of these concepts may include visual mood boards, other audio mood boards, or detailed copywriting that explains the idea. We engage in a collaborative debate with our clients, and together, we determine the best approach for the current objectives and context.
Visual representation / Once the creative idea is established, we put it into action. We explore three ways to bring it to life and pitch these options to our client. Depending on the situation, some involve using renders, others have a unique identity, while some just adhere to the brand manual. Usually, we present three different approaches and the client decides on the direction, taking into account our recommendation.
Deliverables / Depending on the situation and the size of the marketing/branding/communication department within our client's business, we can fully provide editable files or implement the campaign using our resources. In this case, Steelcase had its internal design department, so we delivered Adobe files.
Campaign implementation / Depending on the situation, we cn offer either full implementation or consultancy services. However, we prefer to stay close to our idea until the campaign is completes. In the case of Steelcase, we provided a comprehensive master sheet outlining logistical steps and tasks, offering consultancy across all layers of our campaign.

This is our typical framework, but more often than not, we create multiple versions of this plan. Our clients are so diverse, and our goal is to deliver unique and customized processes.

Audit and finding the creative solution for Steelcase

As we mentioned, we love conducting an in-depth audit to fully understand the company's culture. Our commitment to clients is this: we strive to deliver ideas that require a deep understanding and alignment with the company's values.

We conducted comprehensive interviews with 10 individuals at Steelcase, representing different levels of the hierarchy. These interviews delved deep into their perspectives, expectations, and future aspirations. We have asked questions such as : "What expectations do you have from the company?"; "What makes Steelcase special?"; and "What does Steelcase represent for you?".

This deep dive aimed to capture the organizational culture, serving as a crucial foundation for our creative process. Then, we outlined our objectives:

Increase Steelcase's notoriety as an employer of choice;
Position Steelcase as an expert in leading the hybrid workplace;
Strengthen relationships with the local community;
Celebrate Steelcase's 10-year milestone.

Furthermore, together with our client, we established the deliverables for these objectives:

A press conference;
A community event;
A campaign that unifies everything and communicated through the city.

While Steelcase efficently managed logistical aspects internally, our primary role revolved around shaping the strategic and creative facets of the campaign.

Deviating from our usual practice of presenting three ideas, we elevated our commitment for Steelcase's anniversary by offering an array of six compelling narrative concepts. Our presentation showcased each concept, and we actively collaborated with Steelcase to understand their preferences. The selected one was called "Thank you Cluj," it was a very beautiful tribute to the city.

10xCluj

Now, not to leave you hanging, let’s also discuss the narrative we ended up choosing. "Thanks, Cluj" became the focal point, allowing us to strategically convey gratitude to the city that hosted Steelcase. This concept promised a heartwarming touch, fostering a meaningful connection with our target audience, which included employees, Cluj citizens, and clients.

Our plan was the following:

Firstly, we designed thank you notes for Cluj and asked local employees to fill them out and put them on Steelcase’s wall.
Then, we extended an invitation for video recordings capturing thoughts and feelings from global employees. Their perspective is supposed to serve as a diverse addition to the celebration.
Afterwards, we organized an anniversary raffle and carefully curated and selected the most beautiful messages. These messages were transformed into visual representations, such as: “Thank you Cluj for being the coolest city in Romania - from Steelcase’s employees”, or “Thank you Narcoffee for giving our clients coffee - from Steelcase’s employees”.
The culmination of this campaign involved expressing gratitude to the Romanian clients. We sent them personalized thank you notes enhanced with these previously mentioned visuals and accompanied by a selection of thoughtfully curated branded local products.

It must be mentioned that these ideas, including the chosen narrative, were born from collaborative brainstorming with Symbold – our ideal partner for execution. While we retained control over strategic aspects and implementation, Symbold has contributed to the creative part, resulting in visual concepts that resonated perfectly with Steelcase’s objectives. Symbold then crafted the deliverables, ranging from posters to an anniversary logo, KV screens, and social media posts.

With attention to every detail, the campaign unfolded seamlessly. Our comprehensive mastersheet served as a roadmap, ensuring a smooth execution: from press conference logistics to social media layouts. This document served as a comprehensive guide. Within it, we provided instructions for the upcoming press conference, outlined specific commands for the production area, and ensured the seamless execution of the event. Radu Măhăleanu directed the production area, ensuring the delivery would be impeccable. Moreover, we went the extra mile and created a user-friendly Squarespace landing page for our campaign.

Our prompt and strategic response to Steelcase's urgent needs culminated in a memorable 10th-anniversary campaign. It's safe to say that the campaign not only met but exceeded its objectives, leaving a lasting impact on Steelcase's brand image and community relationships.