Project Giggles builds community spirit inside and out.

Established by the Humour Foundation, a national charity that promotes the health benefits of humor, Clown Doctors is a program that operates in major children's hospitals all over Australia. Performers don white medical coats and colorful props to parody the hospital routine, providing much-needed laughter and fun to sick patients. Thirty-two Clown Doctors affect the lives of more than 60,000 people a year. The program currently seeks more funding to increase visitations from two days a week to seven. To help, Cadbury Schweppes embarked on an initiative called Project Giggles that sought not only to raise funds for Clown Doctors, but also to unite colleagues and boost morale during a time of difficult and significant corporate change.

Intended audiences

The primary audience for Project Giggles was all Cadbury Schweppes employees in Australia, from senior executives to factory workers.

Everyone at the company had experienced a challenging year of change that included leadership restructuring, a substantial cost-reduction program and job losses. Cadbury Schweppes had also merged two separate businesses, Confectionery and Food & Beverages, and was working toward building a shared identity.

Goals and objectives

The main goals of Project Giggles were to inspire employees to enjoy their work and to support the company's efforts toward building a global community.

Cadbury Schweppes identified six main objectives related to these goals:

* Inspire employees to make a difference in the community.

* Build an internal community spirit.

* Boost morale and spirits in times of change by giving employees "permission" to have fun at work.

* Raise between AUS$20,000 and AUS$30,000 for Clown Doctors through employee fundraising and a dollar-match scheme.

* Create support for the merger.

* Demonstrate senior commitment to the cause.

Solution overview

Cadbury Schweppes launched Project Giggles with a unique, groundbreaking internal campaign designed to secure involvement from managers and employees. Individuals were empowered to generate and implement their own ideas for the program.

Cadbury Schweppes engaged a group of key senior managers from several sites to help implement a multisite launch that would generate excitement. Events held at each site led off with a video message from Cadbury Schweppes' managing director, Mark Smith, that showed Clown Doctors at work in the hospitals and "Dr. Big Wig" (Smith) joining in the fun.

Senior managers were encouraged to create Clown Doctor personas and outfits. Colleagues were treated to a party with balloons, streamers, bubbles and party whistles. Everyone was served a variety of Cadbury Schweppes products, including cakes, muffins, jellies, chips, drinks, chocolates and lollipops. Those who could not attend were shown the video at team briefings, and some sites included activities for their meetings to further promote the initiative.

During the launch, the managers announced a national employee fundraising challenge, whereby volunteers were chosen to lead site fundraising activities. These fundraising teams were called Smile Committees, and they found novel ways to raise money for Clown Doctors and bring more smiles into the workplace. A "Giggles Gallery" intranet page was set up to display information, including a tally of funds raised to date and photographs of the many events that were taking place around the business. Ongoing messages of appreciation and encouragement were sent to all colleagues via e-mail from the managing director. The response to the launch was overwhelmingly positive, with managers and employees enjoying the opportunity to take time out and have fun at work. Fundraising events kicked off quickly.

Implementation and challenges

Prior to the launch of Project Giggles, Cadbury Schweppes wanted to maintain secrecy to make sure that employees were genuinely surprised by the initiative. The program's launch team hand-selected a group of managers to be the drivers at each site and spent considerable time personally briefing them to ensure they were on board and prepared for the event. Since certain senior leaders were not initially interested in the project, Smith's support and leadership were crucial to the program's success. By the launch, all senior managers had agreed to dress as Clown Doctors and enter into the spirit of the event.

The launch came just two and a half months after a major cost-reduction exercise involving job losses. Cadbury Schweppes therefore needed to position Project Giggles carefully in the minds of employees so that it would be perceived as an efficient, rather than costly, measure.

Measurement/evaluation

Project Giggles surpassed expectations and became a hit:

* Employees raised AUS$65,000 in just 12 weeks, which the company matched through a dollar-for-dollar initiative.

* 120 people volunteered their time and talent to lead their sites' fundraising initiatives. They contributed approximately 1,000 hours of company time and countless additional hours to workshop ideas and running events.

* Project Giggles identified a strong community spirit among colleagues and garnered strong enthusiasm for continuing fundraising efforts.

As a result, the Clown Doctor cause became top of mind among Cadbury Schweppes employees, with many looking at opportunities to include Clown Doctor awareness or fundraising programs into other business initiatives, both internally and externally.

Funny business

In developing Project Giggles, Cadbury Schweppes identified several critical elements necessary for a successful launch:

* Contain an element of surprise and be different from past programs.

* Be engaging for employees at all levels and sites.

* Be uplifting and promote fun and laughter in the workplace.

* Motivate employees to be involved with the cause on an ongoing basis.

* Align the company's core purpose of creating brands people love with a cause that people would also love.

Key messages going forward

In 2004, Cadbury Schweppes built on its successful Project Giggles launch with workplace giving programs and promotions for a National Smile Day event. The company created some key events to generate more fun in the business and encourage further contributions. The primary messages for the launch were that Cadbury Schweppes:

* Has a commitment to growing value in the communities in which it operates

* Has consolidated its energy and investment behind a major community partner

* Aligns well with the company's core purpose and provides opportunities to engage the energy, creativity and talent of colleagues

* Like Clown Doctors, brings a smile to people's faces

* Is a fun place to work.

Karina L. O'Meara is corporate communication manager, Asia Pacific, at Cadbury Schweppes in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. The team also included Robyn Newman, employee communications manager, and Gall Charles, community relations manager. O'Meara can be reached at [e-mail] or +61 3.9520.7421.