Step Two Designs

DECEMBER 2008

Publicising the launch of ‘Boris’ at City of Casey

Written by Alex Manchester, published December 18th, 2008

Categorised under: articles, case studies, intranets

Step Two Designs has written before about the benefits of naming an intranet. It’s something many teams consider, especially when launching or relaunching a site. Questions abound on the idea:

• Will the name be inanimate, functional, industrial, emotive or something with personality?
• If relaunching the intranet, is the existing name still a viable option?
• Will it build on a company name, or is there ambition to create a distinct identity?
• Once a name is decided upon, what’s the best way to publicise the new site, and will the name become ingrained in organisational vernacular?

In this interview, Website Coordinator Michael Cleland explains why the City of Casey’s intranet was named ‘Boris’ upon its launch in 2006. The site has proved hugely successful, winning an Intranet Innovation award in its first year. Michael says the site’s success is due in large part to its usefulness, but also the creation and powerful, consistent promotion of the intranet’s brand.

S2D: Where does the Boris story start?

When we began developing the City of Casey intranet we didn’t know:

• What it was going to look like
• What it was going to contain
• What it was going to do

What we did know with absolute certainty is that it was not going to be known as ‘the intranet’.

We knew our site was not going to be called ‘the intranet’

Intranet brand power

Casey also likes to see itself as a large family, rather than a big organisation, and we were quite aware of the value of ‘the brand’ — the message that it can send, the way it can make you feel, and their impression of it. All of this meant that we had a great chance to create a communications tool for the organisation that had warmth and character and that’s what we have created with Boris — the Casey staff intranet.

S2D: How did you settle on the name?

As we were building our intranet, we asked staff to submit names for it. We liked the idea of having a character name, whether human or animal, so that staff didn’t just see the intranet as a ‘device’.

We had dozens of entries submitted, from ‘CSI’ (Casey Staff Intranet) to ‘Myrtle’ (the name of a goat at Casey’s children’s farm).

In the end, we shortlisted this to about five names that were mainly character names. We put it to the vote and Boris was the name voted for. Prizes were also given to staff whose entries were shortlisted.

S2D: How did you visualise Boris?

With the name decided on, we had an illustrator develop a character. We wanted Boris to be a friendly, welcoming character, with references to Barney Rubble, Mr Spacely (from the Jetsons), Mr Magoo and others.

The actual design of Boris went through several iterations, but with the character perfected, we were ready to launch a marketing campaign in the weeks up to the launch of the intranet.

Notably, there’s not one City of Casey logo on Boris, nor do we use corporate colours or branding.

We also wanted Boris to be quite distinct from any other system in the organisation (and using ’system’ there is a hard thing to do, as Boris is not a system — he is Boris!)

Prior to launch, every wall was splattered with the Boris brand

S2D: How did you promote the launch?

In the weeks prior to launch, every door, photocopier, toilet, exit and wall was splattered with posters and postcards promoting not only features of our intranet, but also the creating awareness of the Boris brand. The

Boris character and logo was on everything — ‘Boris is coming soon’ they all shouted. Not one member of staff could deny that they knew about Boris.

When it came to launch time, we invited staff to a training room to meet Boris and take a two-minute tour. The two of us that worked on Boris were in branded t-shirts. Each person left the meeting with a Boris drink coaster.

S2D: Why is Boris so appealing?

Boris is a very visually based intranet. The front page has about 40% of the space dedicated to a front page campaign graphic. We use this space to promote anything from HR training, social club events or just some fun.

In more than half of these promos, Boris is featured. He has (and people do refer to Boris as “him”, rather than “it”) sported tracksuits, Santa costumes, safety gear, sidled up to Nicole Kidman, adorned the side of Pepsi cans, Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s Soup cans and toasted the Irish on St Patrick’s Day.

We change our front page at least fortnightly or more frequently as required. If there’s nothing all that important happening in Casey, we usually find a fun way to place Boris in a topical situation. The aim of this is threefold:

1. Updating the front page of Boris gives the illusion that the intranet is never stale but is a ‘living document’
2. To give staff a laugh at the start of their day (Boris appears on all staff’ PCs at login)
3. To reinforce the positive image of the Boris brand

We’ve since expanded the reach of Boris to include a staff newsletter, the Boris Bugle, which is both on Boris and in hardcopy.

An online staff learning program was launched, named ‘Educating Boris’, and features Boris in a university graduation outfit.

Introducing new staff to Boris

When new staff start at Casey, they’re listed on the front page with their name and thumbnail photo, which links off to their full details.

On their first day, Boris emails them a ‘Welcome to Casey’ message and gives an overview of the intranet, including the main functions (staff directory, organisational information and documents, trading post, HR and payroll kiosk etc.). This is important as it builds brand awareness from day one and makes Boris seem like a buddy in the office. We even have links in this email to “Welcome to New Staff” information, to help get them settled in.

Additionally we have a staff induction session every two months where I present Boris and the City of Casey website. I invite staff to contact us if they have any suggestions or questions (and they have some great ideas) and every person gets a Boris drink coaster.

Protecting the brand

Recently a member of staff wanted to parody Boris in a submission to the Boris Bugle, but we rejected the article because it would have damaged the Boris brand. Just as a multinational would not want their brand associated with negative issues, I felt strongly about this for the same reasons.

S2D: How well-used is the intranet?

Simply put, our staff remember Boris. It’s not just a system.

The brand awareness of Boris is very high but, importantly, it’s backed up by the fact that staff find it extremely easy to use and it has information that they need to help them in their jobs. The statistics back this up — staff use it regularly for everything from the staff directory, to payroll, news, bBay (our self-serve eBay-style trading post), HR, leave and more.

S2D: Was the branding crucial?

I really cannot emphasise enough the importance of branding and marketing Boris. Without the marketing at launch time, the uptake by staff to use an intranet would have been a lot lower. We understood the need to sell the product, to demonstrate the features and benefits and really show staff how useful it would be to them.

There isn’t one City of Casey logo on Boris

S2D: What are some of the organisational benefits you’ve seen?

Let me answer by way of a scenario:

Monday morning, we send an email out saying that “Boris has been disconnected”, meaning:

• All our forms, policies, department information and other documents are thrown back into the public drive.
• The staff directory is printed on paper once every three months and distributed to staff.
• The trading post goes back to each building having its own notice board.
• Finding how much leave you have owing means phoning payroll.
• Knowing where someone’s desk is means wandering the building (we use mapping on our staff directory to show people’s desk locations).
• News is distributed every two months — on paper.
• No one knows who the new staff are or who is moving on (we list this on the front page of Boris).

In short, whenever I walked down a corridor I’d be asked, “Where’s Boris? What’s happened to him?”

We all own Boris

People simply refer to Boris as Boris. Just recently, someone said to me they were talking to someone outside our organisation and said proudly, “Oh, we don’t have Lotus Notes, we’ve got Boris!”

There’s a sense of ownership with Boris — he’s not mine (although I do get called Boris’s daddy) but he belongs to all of us.

People just tell me, “Boris is great!” They love the staff directory with the desk locator mapping and our easy-to-use trading post, bBay. New staff especially love him and tell me how much better he is than intranets at their previous employers.

If Boris was just ‘CaseyNet’ or some other boring name, it just wouldn’t be the same.

S2D: What have you learnt?

Marketing works. Branding works. Making it fun works.

I was absolutely thrilled with the response we got when we launched Boris. I still enjoy hearing our directors and CEO refer to Boris as ‘Boris’ and not ‘the intranet’. If I had the chance over, I’d change nothing.

S2D: What would you suggest for other organisations?

I’d say that while you have to remember intranets have to contain all of the ‘boring but important stuff’ but there’s no real reason why they can’t be fun. Boris is fun. Make your intranet useful — but make it fun too. A boring intranet will become an underused intranet.

And, while there will be plenty of stuffy people who don’t like the concept of Boris, my strong feeling is that you’ll get a far more positive reception from your staff if you brand it, market it and make it fun and interesting!

Our directors and CEO refer to ‘Boris’ not ‘the intranet’

Our thoughts on Boris

The City of Casey’s Boris branding exercise stands as great example of how to kick-start your intranet’s existence and maintain its visibility in the long term.

While the character itself may not be to everyone’s taste, or a fit for every organisation’s culture, the underlying concept is strong and there’s no doubting the character has personality and his presence catches the attention of employees.

In fact, the use of personal or character names on the intranet, as opposed to functional names such as ‘The Hub’, appears to be increasing, as organisations seek to differentiate their sites.

Useful is usable

Furthermore, the brand is supported by useful applications including the award-winning Staff Locator (a Gold Award winner in the 2007 Intranet Innovation Awards), the staff directory, the trading post (bBay) and more.

If Boris was simply a brand for a site that was of little use then users would soon lose interest — no matter how fresh the graphics. But because of the usefulness of the site, Boris serves as the glue, providing cohesion and a virtual buddy who will help get the work done.

Minimal resources

One of the most impressive aspects of this project, recognised in the 2007 Intranet Innovation Awards, is the size of the intranet team. All the work involved was undertaken by just two staff members who also have the City’s main website to maintain and develop.

Despite this, Boris employs Web 2.0 (AJAX) technology and can boast of being constantly up to date and more engaging than many larger and better-resourced intranet sites.

Tags: branding, case studies, intranets, launch, marketing