Gaby Thinks: Strategy, silliness, and show-stopping internal comms campaigns
Updated: 2 days ago
"I truly believe that research isn't there to box creativity in. It's often the spark that sets it off." Gaby Terpougoff, Associate Creative Director
Research to support creativity
While working on a brand identity project for a Royal Mail mobile-first employee app, I came across a piece of research: postal workers historically wore red-breasted jackets, just like a robin.
It was such a small fact, and it completely unlocked a creative idea. The name Robin followed almost immediately, and with it a whole direction for visual identity.
What made it more than a nice naming coincidence was what came next. Google told me the robin symbolises friendship, community and a sense that someone is always near, which was perfect for a workplace app designed to build community. Rooting the concept in something so embedded in Royal Mail's history gave the idea strength.
Without that research, I wouldn't have found the thread, and without the thread, the idea wouldn't have taken flight. I truly believe that research isn't there to box creativity in. It's the spark that sets it off.
The catch is that research only sparks something if it reaches me in a shape I can use.
What I look for when a strategy lands on my desk, and I've been asked to create a campaign to support it
If there's one single-minded proposition at the core of a brief based on the internal comms strategy, then I know the whole campaign can hang off that. I can run with it, because there's a strong spine to build the creative around.
That's also what separates the brief of dreams from one I have to wrestle with. A brief trying to do too many things at once produces ideas that are muddled and hard to land. Whereas a genuinely single-minded proposition gives me something sharp to react to.
A sharp proposition isn't always an exciting one, though. Sometimes the thing you need to say is necessary, but nobody particularly wants to hear it.
Sometimes the message isn’t exciting, but it needs to happen
Take the workplace etiquette campaign we created for Transport for London. Since the return to office, TfL has been dealing with a familiar set of challenges: unreported faulty equipment, meeting rooms hogged by one person when they should be shared, and colleagues being too loud in quiet spaces.
The brief wasn't about imposing rules or telling people off but about nudging better habits in a way that felt fun and human, shifting the tone from "You're doing this wrong" to "Here's how we look after each other".
The creative idea clicked when I realised the message itself was a bit dry. Nobody gets excited about being told how to behave at work, no matter how nicely you ask.
Personally, I've always noticed how, even as an adult, I respond so well to comically silly graphics. Something like the Minions still genuinely makes me laugh, and I know I'm not alone in that. Aamir Akudi, AB Account Manager, has written about the same thing.
So I started looking at bold, fun, fictional characters instead, reasoning that if you wrap a boring but necessary message in something silly and memorable, people actually retain it and act on it, rather than switching off the moment they sense a lecture coming. That's when Freddie Reynolds, Senior Content Manager, and I landed on the character concept together, and the names sealed it. Doctor Books-It-Right versus the Meeting Room Bandit made the whole thing feel playful rather than preachy.
TfL were open to being ambitious and brave. But not every client is comfortable with that.
Being safe or being brave?
Strategy is underpinned by data, and that can understandably push towards the safest, most broadly palatable route, something that won't alienate or exclude anyone. But a genuinely brave creative idea sometimes, by its nature, won't land equally well with everyone.
This is the part people don't talk about much. The evidence points one way, and the instinct points another, and both have a decent case.
My approach isn't to force myself to pick one over the other. Instead, I'll develop two distinct routes: a safe route that ticks the box comfortably and a brave route that pushes creative boundaries even if it carries more risk.
Then I put both in front of our client and let them make the call. I'd rather show a client two creative proposals. If the brave route gets turned down, at least it got seen, and everyone knows the options.
What clients rarely see is how much work goes into getting either route to the point where it can be shown at all.
What some get wrong about the messy middle
Some people often assume ideas arrive fully formed. In reality, the best ideas almost never show up polished. Sometimes they don't look quite right and are a bit half-baked at first. That's because they need to be talked through, argued with and reworked before they're recognisable as a showstopping campaign.
It's a genuine development process that we go through at AB. Each version isn't a fresh roll of the dice to see where the brief might magically land; it's a deliberate step closer to the outcome, refined and pulled into focus through iteration. The final product comes from grinding an approach down, version by version, until it’s perfect.
All of that development starts with the brief. Which is why what happens at planning stage matters so much to me.
The bit to do now, not later
If I could encourage IC teams to do one thing while they're creating a strategy and planning the year ahead, it would be to start collecting measurement data long before they need a campaign.
We’ve created a resourc for creating an IC strategy, it covers making measurement work.
Gather baseline data early, and the brief becomes evidence-based instead of assumption-based. That's the kind of brief I can build a single-minded proposition from, because there's something real to react to rather than an assumption to design around.
It sets creative teams up for grounded, more impactful work, and it means the creative gets properly developed ahead of launch rather than squeezed in around it.
Get the strategy right early, combine it with creativity, and you get work that encourages people to change behaviour. We’ve been doing this for our clients for over 60 years. Drop us a line to talk to one of the team about how we can do this for you— info@abcomm.co.uk
