Risky Business: Changing Employee Behaviour
AustralianSuper needed their investment team to better understand risk. They opted for a series of animated videos to educate, and along the way a mascot was born.
The Problem
Making superannuation fun is a tough ask. And communicating the principles of measured risk within the superannuation world is even more difficult.
But that was the challenge that AustralianSuper set us. How to educate the investment team on when to take risks, what parameters to adhere to, and how and when to report incidents are all important—but boring—messages to get across to the entire team.
At a Glance
- Project: ‘Risk Matters’ Animated Video Series
- Client: AustralianSuper
- Delivered: 2019
- Duration: 12 months
- Category: Finance, Explainer Video, Motion Graphics
A Process for Excellence
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Discovery
During this phase, our famous Empathy Forecast workshop will help us understand your audience, your key message, as well as getting everyone aligned.
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Concept
Our professional scriptwriting team will work with you to turn insights from the initial workshop into a snappy script that communicates your key points.
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Create
In this stage, we explore character development, themes, and visual storytelling, captured as a storyboard for you to review and help us refine.
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Magic
Once the words and pictures and signed off, we’ll book a date in our studio where voiceover, music, sound effects, and post-production animations come together.
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Launch
In this final step, we’ll deliver your finished product and any supporting assets, and optionally work with you on a roadmap for hosting and promotion.
Our Approach
We worked with AustralianSuper to create a series of animated videos that illustrated these concepts in a way that was light-hearted, but still accurate and carried the gravitas required for these big topics.
Our first step was to establish a character that could be used across multiple stories. Having a recognisable face would provide for continuity and create anticipation with each new story released.
The character we created was “Wriskers”, a mouse. This choice of animal came from the popular “cheese model” that is prevalent throughout the world of risk. The concept stems from the holes that occur in Swiss cheese, and when we proposed the idea during the proposal stage, the client fell in love with it immediately.
Given the client had well established brand guidelines, it was important that Wriskers—and every other element created for the video series—fit in with the rest of the existing brand colour palette, style, tone, and choice of language.
Our Solution
The videos that we created for the Risk team at AustralianSuper are those of which we are most proud. The combination of challenges made for an extremely rewarding project, namely:
• Adhering to brand guidelines
• Navigating internal approval processes and timelines
• Garnering stakeholder buy-in
• Communicating complex financial topics in a way that is fun as well as accurate
• Telling a story that is compelling as well as educational
The Outcome
The “Risk Matters” internal campaign was a huge success. After the first video in the series was published to the staff intranet, inquiries began about when the next in the series would be released. Pageviews of each video reflected a high degree of engagement, and the team capitalised on “Wriskers” becoming the local office mascot by extending his presence to other marketing collateral.
The Risk Matters animated videos from Sketch Group were such a hit, and the team were wonderful to work with. We had too many cooks in the kitchen, but they were incredibly patient and delivered something that we are really proud of. I can’t wait to partner with them on another project soon!
Julianne Dowse Change Manager, AustralianSuper
