How do you get employees of a financial firm, hit by the recession, to embrace the firm’s marketing?

It’s no small feat.

For iShares, leaders in the ETF space, we put together an internal campaign that mixed equal parts humor, inspiration and fun—along with some twists.

Posters and clings reminded everyone that the company tagline, Keep Evolving, was a means to a larger end; a 22-page graphic novel was perhaps the world’s first brand guidelines book to be read cover to cover; finally, we created a contest, asking people to come up with ways they could Keep Evolving.

Participation was so remarkable, upwards of 90%, that we decided to capture it in a video.
The video subsequently aired in iShares offices worldwide, to ovations.

SOCIAL MEDIA. USE YOUR POWERS FOR GOOD.
There’s a blog born every half-second, according to CNET. (Nearly as often as School of Thought tweets.)

So when iShares asked us to help develop a social media campaign, our first question was: does the world really need another blog, Twitter and Facebook page?

In this case, yes—because tens of thousands of investors look to iShares for financial insights.

Sixty days later, iShares had a social marketing strategy and campaign up and running. Within six months, a company that, prior to our involvement, had no blog, was voted as the top blog in the financial services category*.

Proof that, when clients and agencies work as a team, great things can happen quickly.

*Kasina, Top 5 Social Media Leaders in Asset Management, May 2011.