Tweets. Post. Vlogs. Podcasts. Or good old brochures.
There are more ways than ever to be boring.
But in the right hands, also to stand out.
Let xtraBrandwidth lift you above the noise—with content and tactics that surprise, delight and incite action.
Client: Océ-Technologies B.V., a multinational IT peripherals company
Assignment: Develop a fun, creative and informative way to train Océ sales reps worldwide on 10 new software products and the products’ key benefits. Keep costs as low as possible
Tasks included:
- Developing the overarching theme: Radio Venlo, and the 10 episode themes, each satirizing a radio show forma
- Writing the scripts, carefully balancing entertainment and information
- Finding and hiring a college theatre troupe to provide the voices, keeping costs very low
- Directing the recording of all episodes
- Supervising the production of the podcasts
Result:
What the client said:
We have had so much positive feedback [on the training podcasts], it appears that this medium will really take off, with requests from the Hardware guys to also do episodes.
Great job, exceptional scripts and fun for the sales people.
International Business Development
Océ-Technologies B.V.
Client: Océ-Technologies B.V., a multinational IT peripherals company
Assignment: Help change customers’ image of Océ as a ‘mere’ manufacturer of hardware and software peripherals to that of a full solutions provider. Design a multimedia live show in Paris for +/-1200 key customers and prospects from across Europe. Tasks included:
- Helping to develop the seminar theme, “Access to Success,” and ensuring it was integrated in all materials, from invitations and other printed materials to animated logos, speeches and décor
- Coordinating writing of texts for the first 45-minute session and supervising final editing of these texts
- Creating the ideas for and writing the entire 45-minute second session
- Helping to set up the four case studies—two in England, and one each in Germany and the United States
- Supervising the videotaping of the case studies, conducting the interviews, directing assembly of the finished cases and writing the live-speaker text that surrounded the cases
- Creating the scripts for the seminar hostess, involving five anecdotes that traced the history of information access and connected to the five areas of the company’s primary services
- Supervising videotaping of the seminar hostess at the company’s R&D facilities
- Working with the live speaker to develop text about the company’s services and products
- Writing the text for and supervising visuals for the multimedia ending
- Supervising seminar rehearsals
- Coordinating final texts for autocue and translation (German, French, Spanish, Dutch)
- Writing print versions of the case studies and other collateral materials
- Coordinating speakers on location
Result:
Example script, live speaker:
Determination of the best concept ends the analysis phase and leads into design of a company’s unique solution from specific components.
Did you notice I said ‘components’ just now rather than ‘predetermined configurations’.
We believe this flexible attitude is crucial in optimising document flow for each company.
Turns out successful people have historically shared this pick-and-choose approach to solution design.
Anyone come to mind, Tanja?
Example script video component:
(Text on Screen
Access to Success circa 1896
Guglielmo Marconi)
(Video)
Sure does.
In fact, design played a key role in our greatest step forward in information access.
The invention of wireless telegraphy in 1896.
Oh, I know what you’re thinking…
What about the telephone, computers, e-mail, Internet?’
All important advances, granted,
But consider this…
Marconi found a way to transport information instantly across oceans…
…an acceleration from months to seconds…
…or a factor of nearly 2.6 million.
And he truly did it by design …
…isolating the best elements of existing systems and improving on the resulting combination.
Marconi borrowed the induction coils of Faraday, Hertz’s wave emitter, Righi’s spark gap, Branly’s coherer and the telegraph key of Samuel B. Morse, mixed them all together and honed the results until they were—literally—heard round the world.
What else do I know about this Italian genius?
Well, his invention saved passengers on the Titanic and helped bring infamous British criminal Dr. Crippen to justice.
Oh, and he was kind of a mama’s boy…
…which was lucky for the world’s information-exchange.
If it hadn’t been for his mother’s insistence, he never would have got past British customs officers, who thought Marconi’s fledgling transmitter was a bomb.
Mrs. Marconi stepped in, told officials she reckoned it was a bomb, but not in the traditional sense.
‘It won’t blow up the world’, she said. ‘It will just blow down all its walls.’
Her insistence worked.
Customs let them in and the world gained instant access to information.
Which shows what you can accomplish with a good design.
And a little help from your Mum!
(End video)
What the client said:
Our Print for Profit Seminar, in which Leslie played a vital role, created widespread enthusiasm in the organization, generated lots of free publicity and, most importantly, showed a great ROI, generating nearly 10 times (the seminar investment) in additional turnover within the first six months.
Océ-Technologies B.V.