Branding through Employee Engagement

Organizations across the world have come to realize that in today’s constantly changing business scenario, the most valuable resource that needs to be leveraged is human resource. This means not just attracting the crème-de-la-crème and retaining them but keeping them motivated and committed to achieving the organization goals.

Though Employee Engagement as a business buzzword has generated research and steam since the new economy service industries like Technology and Telecom companies have taken off, there are some intelligent ones who have also learnt to club employee engagement and company branding in a very innovative manner.

One such example is of a company called Mastek, an enterprise IT solutions provider, which has turned a simple branding activity into an employee engagement initiative.

Mastek like most large technology companies owns/operates fleet of busses to ferry their employees to and fro, and while most companies settle onto simple company branding, Mastek turned this opportunity into an employee engagement exercise. The company organized a contest titled ‘Mastekeer on the Bus’, where the employees spread across geographies were invited to share their real and authentic experiences on their life at Mastek. The contest was not about creating advertising slogans but was about sharing true experiences and feelings on ‘How has Mastek touched them, what was it about Mastek that they wanted to share with the outside world?’

The 12 best phrases were selected and were creatively painted on the busses with the photographs of the authors of the phrases.

Radhakrishnan Sundar, co-founder of Mastek said “When we were looking to create a message on What it is to be a Mastekeer? – we could have come up with clever lines that communicated a corporate message – but the team came up with the idea – of who better to talk about this with genuine caring and spirit – than Mastekeers themselves. And so the campaign was born! Marketing and brand is not about clever lines – but it is about being genuine and living the brand – because finally it is all about what takes place in the day to day interactions. And the employee lines from all Mastekeers exceeded our expectations – fully in keeping with the Mastek spirit.”

Sunder Subramaniam, one of the winner, said “Seeing my quote & photograph on the bus , I was filled with a great sense of joy and satisfaction and a deeper connection with Mastek. Just as one feels proud of representing oneself at a prestigious event or for owns own country, I felt equally proud about representing our brand. I feel even more responsible for my actions at work, a higher need to continuously keep improving myself at work and motivate fellow Mastekeers to give their best! Mastek Zindabad”

While Olympia C. D’Souza, another winner, said “When I sent across my quote I actually did not think it would get selected at all… but when I heard from the team that two of my quotes were selected I was pretty thrilled. Then we had the photo shoot which was an amazing experience.  And then my wait began, to see my picture on our bus.  Since the buses which has my pictures are at Mahape I’m still to actually see it to my hearts content, but yeah I did get a pictures of my picture which I posted on FB (what better way to show off huh!) I got so many likes, and fab comments like “You could be the Big O move over Big B ;)”.  To add to it my kids and hubby too were immensely happy and proud.  I got so many calls from friends too who noticed me on the bus… this is one huge celebrity experience – the glamour of which I am still basking in!”

Corporate busses ply the city roads round the clock, making it an important OOH advertising option for companies to showcase their brands and messages, but engaging employees through this medium was though not unique but certainly a refreshing thought.

And here are few more creative bus branding to incite your creative nerves.

Renault Twingo Bus Advertisement

Car shown not actual size. The Roomy Twingo

Monster Wrong job Bus Advertisement

Stuck in the wrong job? – Monster.com

Duracell Bus Advertisement

Creative bus advertisement promoting Duracell batteries.

Air India Express Bus Advertisement

“Air travel at land travel fares”.