When the innovation team at WD-40 Company recently launched “HYPE,” a new internal system for ideation and idea management, one of their big challenges was to make their colleagues pay attention.
The team decided on creating a charming, yet slightly mischievous, character named Neon Leon to carry the message and two weeks before the global launch of the system, they began a viral campaign at their headquarters offices.
They first sent out an email with a “newspaper article” announcing that the newest member of our innovation team was missing. The announcement explained that Neon Leon, the “spokes-bulb” for the new system, had disappeared along with all of their new idea submissions, just two weeks before the launch.
The team asked everyone to immediately take a photo of him if they spotted him. At that point, they hid the plush “Neon Leon” in one of the common areas and waited to see what people sent us.
For the remainder of the two weeks, they moved Neon Leon to new hiding places and created a story around his journey, based on the responses and photos they got from the employees who found him.
The below pictures include the story of Neon Leon’s adventure around WD-40 Company’s headquarters leading up to the launch of their idea management program.
You should also check out this video in which employees can learn how to use the system. Very funny!
I think this is a great case on how to create internal awareness on new innovation initiatives. Let me know what you think and let me know if you can share similar initiatives.
