ZN

Over the past few months, we’ve been working with SCA, a global hygiene and forest products company, to launch Life Inspiring Careers. With a goal of increasing recruitment for their sites across the globe, Life Inspiring Careers brings to the forefront careers that have real meaning, employees who are continuously challenged and enjoy what they do, and a company that contributes to the betterment of society and the environment.

To show exactly how fun it can be to work at SCA (and to reach Gen Y), we got creative with our video shoot. Check out how we tackled the Mystery Careers shoot with cool equipment and a bit of ingenuity:

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I strongly recommend you watch Simon Sinek's How great leaders inspire action:

Particularly at the beginning of a project, the editorial team spends a lot of time working with a client to help reshape their current corporate voice and storyline to be ready for the digital age. Once done, this storytelling approach transcends the digital channels and is used in all communication activity, be it internal, external, above-the-line or offline.

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Jesús Azogue, our Creative Director here at ZN, is one of those truly creative types that you rarely get to meet. Dynamic in nature, he juggles his daily work, his job as Master’s teacher in Madrid, and his own exhibitions and projects. Nourished by these experiences, his mind is continuously filled with new ideas. To experience the depth of his imagination, just spend an hour in a brainstorming session with him and you’ll see what I mean!

I asked him about a project that he had on exhibit last December at Instituto Cervantes – the e-Tree. From conceptualization to the actual realisation, Jesús told me the e-Tree story…

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As a creative web designer at ZN, I engage in projects with a very wide range of clients. In fact, in the production department, we literally are on board with every project that comes through these doors. But not only do I fill my days designing, I have now been putting in extracurricular hours on a personal project – MOOD.

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As always, the ZN’s team of Hyperthinkers have been hard at work. Their heads becoming so hot with ideas that it would blind an infrared camera and boil the kettle from a distance. Here’s a look at some of the things they’ve been up to:

Animal Testing Perspectives – Animal testing is a controversial issue and one that is difficult for the general public to fully grasp.

That’s why the European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA), together with ZN, created a space that could help people understand the nuances surrounding the issues – including the link between research and health/healthcare benefits – and where an honest and balanced debate could take place.

The website has two sub campaigns. The first relates to new EU rules that will require scientists to publish research summaries online. It aims to bring more transparency by asking what information people want to see. Have a look at research studies in plain words.

The second has to do with the increasing pressure to end animal research in Europe. If no more animals would be tested on in Europe, what would the ramifications of this policy be? Would animal testing become a major industry elsewhere? For this reason, Animal Testing Perspectives is launching a page to discuss all the potential side effects. To find out more, visit Shall it stay or shall it go?

James Elles – James Elles is a member of the European Parliament. He is a member of the Parliament’s Budget committee and substitutes for many others. He is also the founder and chair of the Transatlantic Policy Network and co-founder of the European Internet Foundation. Now that you’ve seen his resume, we can agree that “government elite” is a pretty accurate description. So why is ZN involved with an EU politician?

In addition to providing communication strategies for companies and associations, we also provide services for… people! We recently gave Mr. Elles’ site a makeover and made him more accessible to the people. Take a look at  http://www.jameselles.com.

IABC – If you are in the business of communications, you will be familiar with the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). No? Well, it is really big network that helps “practitioners” (people in the biz) connect and share knowledge.

It currently has 16,000 members, and guess who chairs the Europe and Middle East region? Our very own Chief Hyperthinker, Philip Weiss! In an effort to give IABC Europe a facelift, we gave its website a good do-over too! You can see the result on europe.iabc.com.

If you would like to know more about IABC, Phil wrote about his experiences and the benefits of joining the association on his hyperthinker.eu blog.

ZN is currently working on many other exciting projects, so stay tuned for more news!

If you’ve been to TEDxBrussels before, you will know how electrifying the atmosphere is, filled with energy, inspiration and creativity.  The only problem, you don’t have an outlet for all these ideas that fill your imagination as the speakers impart their knowledge.

To address this issue, the social media team came up with a pilot idea for TEDxBrussels with the cooperation of Accenture, and supported by Swift, ZN and Evernote.  As you know, Accenture is great at “innovation by combination”, building and merging ideas together to create and implement new concepts.  Now, integrate this concept through social media, and you have TEDxBrussels’ REMIXit!

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 When the glory and bliss of your dreams are being manifested into your reality it almost feels unbelievable, doesn’t it? It is the case for Charles Hazlewood and his British Paraorchestra.

Many of us , in fact hundreds of millions of people around the world watched the closing ceremony of the Paralympics2012 in London earlier this fall. The climax of the ceremony saw a newly formed orchestra of 17 disabled musicians playing along Coldplay and Rihanna. The moment touched the global community undoubtedly, but for the few of us who witnessed the full journey of it, it was even more inspiring.

The story goes back one year, when Charles Hazlewood brought 4 musicians with disabilities to perform for the first time in front of a public, at TEDxBrussels2011. The group beautifully improvised and interpreted the traditional British tune – “Green sleeves” and left the audience speechless. That was the moment when we all got to hear their daring vision: “Every country should have a paraorchestra of all shapes and all sizes. No question about that. So here is our paraorchestra. Where’s yours?”.  

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New day, new project.

In our creative department, each day brings a new challenge. From branding to strategy, from a simple wireframe to the final development, the whole process of corporate communication involves plenty of decisions, and rounds of feedback before a project is approved. That’s business as usual for all agencies.

But at the heart of each new design project there is something in common: the germ, the essence. It’s that moment when the core idea germinates as the team brainstorms around different ideas and concepts. Collectively there’s a “wow that’s IT!” moment when we all see the main concept floating in our minds. In that moment, we feel really good because we know it’s the right one for our client.

From there, the process accelerates. Design, development, construction, editing, broadcasting, etc. The project starts to have a life of its own and things (new ideas?) just happen all around you.

Watch out: this is potentially the most dangerous moment when the so called Frankenstein Effect can occur. Read more

We have been getting very excited about infographics here and have discovered a lot of great models for beautifying and clarifying information. If the term is new to you, here is a simple definition from wikipedia: “infographics are graphic visual representations of information, data or knowledge. These graphics present complex information quickly and clearly…” Watch the below video for a comprehensive description of what these newfangled graphics do and when to use them. Read more

We all love telling stories. It’s how we pass on wisdom, wit and gossip, it’s how we build relationships, and it’s how we influence one another. It’s an intensely social activity.

Yet, in an online world dominated by social media, so many corporate websites are narrative-free zones. No stories, no storytellers, nothing. Just the usual information about products or services, and maybe a few press releases or a stuffy old annual report written by committee.

Why not inject a little life? Tone is everything when communicating, especially when you’re trying to reach outside your organisation to connect with the public.

Some simple changes can help turn your website (and, by extension, your organisation), into a more human, living hub. Read more