Merck

Activate Curiosity

Laughing in the face of curiosity barriers

Activate Curiosity is an online program that shows Merck employees how to use curiosity for more innovation in science and tech. But how do you pitch it to busy employees with little time? In a word (or three): humour and empathy...

Challenge: Find ways to avoid the "Great, another training program" face...

Idea
Find funny ways to reveal the barriers we face when trying to be more curious at work.

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Stuck in your ways: Breaking routines is tough


Execution
Four tongue-in-cheek campaign films expose the main culprits: overconfidence, routine, resting on laurels, and fear of change.


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Cocksure: Overzealousness in business

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Risky business: Chastising change

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(Resting on) laurels: Too big for your boots?

Curious in a Giphy: We created a Merck channel on Giphy to let employees share film GIFs with colleagues. So far it's racked up over 41 million views.

- 9 Images

GIF me more: Feast your eyes on all the motifs...

Curiosity poster child: As well as badges, stickers, and Microsoft Teams wallpapers, we also created editable print templates that Merck teams across the globe could localise easily.

Reception & Effect
Curiosity in science and technology is a serious subject. But its communication shouldn't be. Using humour to create an entertaining gateway paid off. So much so that the films were later re-worded and re-used to promote a different internal initiative at the company. Result 👍🏻

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