The purchasing department at Clarins wanted to run an internal communications campaign to change the habits of employees so Liz Smith in collaboration with information designer Caroline Beavon developed and implemented a campaign that cut through the daily noise and captured imaginations.

The central creative concept was “Plug into Purchasing”(“Branche-toi Aux Achats”) and Caroline and Liz created an animated universe on a Clarins office desk to bring it to life using a mix of stop motion and motion graphics.

When the campaign launched employees started to see stickers of plug sockets appear on the walls of meeting rooms and corridors, then animated teaser videos appeared on their intranet all in the lead up to a live internal company meeting where all was revealed.

Customised desk tidies were placed on desks as a reminder and printed leaflets were placed on the entry gates of the Paris HQ on the day of the event. A training video was also produced using the characters from the animated universe.

The campaign worked as it successfully challenged some misconceptions about the Purchasing Department and more and more employees are now “plugging into purchasing” at the right time.