Q&A with MGA

The winning team at MGA embraced drama in their training. In this interview, they talk about the importance of entertaining, as well as educating, in the IC profession.

‘Delivering a Netflix-style series was a completely new way to approach training’

Winner: Channels > Best Video/Animation

Congratulations on winning the IoIC Award. How did you feel to win?
Having our work recognised by an independent panel of industry experts is a huge achievement. We always believe in the work that we do, but being able to quantify this through stats and feedback from our clients, and ultimately demonstrating the impact on their stakeholders, is the real reason for doing what we do.Winning on the night is special and enables us to celebrate success with our team and clients – it was also great to receive recognition for our work in business integrity and compliance, a specialist subject of ours at MGA.

What do you think makes your project so special?
Delivering a Netflix-style series was a completely new way to approach training and was really in keeping with the way people now engage with content and spend their own time. We can all relate to the feeling that training, and in particular compliance training, can evoke, so doing this through a drama-based film captures your imagination.

What do you put your success down to?
The success of the training and campaign was down to months of meticulous planning by a truly collaborative team. The project captured our imaginations as it was something new and different, and so everyone was invested throughout and wanted to make this a real success. Key to everything was ensuring we kept the audience at the centre of our thinking to ensure the finished product not only engaged but delivered meaningful outcomes to change behaviours.

What was key to working collaboratively and successfully?
There were multiple parties involved – from our client to our training and production partners – so communication was key to ensuring all elements and requirements of the brief were seamlessly delivered. Making sure we listened to each other’s opinions and enabling these to be voiced openly, but with each partner leading within their expertise, was key to achieving the results we have seen.

What advice would you give to anyone considering entering the IoIC Awards this year?
Start to gather your results as early as possible as these are critical to your success and will take time to quantify – both quantitative and qualitative. These then form the backbone of your entry and you’ll be surprised at how much they shape it and provide the inspiration behind the story you want to tell. Also, look at and agree on the sign-off process, both internally and with your clients, so you build in time to complete this.

What do you think of when you think of IoIC?
The IoIC continues to lead the way as an industry body in both championing what we do in internal communications and the impact it can deliver. It also keeps all working within the IC arena connected, playing an important role to ensure we can see what others are doing but also draw inspiration from new learnings.

As an IC team, what would you like to achieve next?
The world of internal comms, and the challenges we are seeing, seem to be constantly growing and becoming more complex – requiring us to think differently and more strategically in how we approach every brief. Our specific expertise within the Ethics & Compliance arena is something that has grown significantly as this becomes a focus area for organisations requiring a global approach which engages and is lived by employees. We are continually developing our skillsets and knowledge in this space and hope to enable more organisations to create better working environments for their employees by using stand-out communications.