← Back to the work
Case Study · Internal Communications

Inform. Inspire. Entertain.

Internal comms at Cisco. Agency thinking, captive audience.

Most internal comms treats employees like a captive audience. They are. That's exactly the problem and exactly the opportunity. A captive audience tunes out faster than any open market if you don't earn their attention. I've spent eight years at Cisco earning it. Three examples of what happens when agency thinking meets an intranet.

01 2019 Change Management

This is Bob.

A stick figure in a Cisco hat, a Duo authentication crisis, and the highest-performing piece of content Cisco published that year.

The Brief
Get Cisco employees to adopt YubiKey hardware security keys as a backup authentication method.
The Problem
Nobody reads security mandates. Especially not ones that ask them to go order a piece of hardware.
What I Did
Borrowed the "This is Bob. Be like Bob." format. Made the protagonist a stick figure with a Cisco hat, a mobile phone he keeps losing, and a tone that felt like a friend explaining something, not IT assigning it.

"Be like Bob. Get a YubiKey. Securely log in 4 times faster."

#1
Most-viewed content of the year on CEC
5,000+
Clicks through to ordering instructions
Sold out
Entire global YubiKey inventory
Ongoing
Still cited as the Cisco template for IT change management
Bob, a stick figure wearing a Cisco-branded baseball cap
"This is Bob. He just got a YubiKey." · Published Jul 2019, CEC Read it →
02 2018 CEC Relaunch

The Cisco Store Takeover.

Reintroducing the redesigned employee intranet to 80,000 people by taking the digital into the physical. Literally.

The Brief
Promote the redesigned Cisco Employee Connection to 80,000+ employees. Drive adoption of the new UX and personalization features.
The Problem
Engagement with the old intranet was low. A new URL and a new UX wasn't going to fix that on its own.
What I Did
Noticed the physical Cisco Store layout mirrored the new CEC almost exactly. Proposed taking the site into the store. Wall wraps, floor decals, four custom animations alternating with Cisco commercials on the store screens, branded napkins in Cisco cafés worldwide, and renamed cafeteria items. Timed to the Cisco Beat event for maximum visibility.

"The new CEC. Your ultimate workday hack."

80K+
Employees in the audience across 190 countries
Global
Offices participated through shared activations
Accelerated
Adoption of the new intranet
New playbook
Store Takeover became a standing vehicle for Global Communications
Cisco Store physical takeover showing the new CEC intranet branding with wall wraps, screen displays, and 'Your ultimate workday hack' signage
Cisco HQ, San Jose · Globally activated via cafés and coffee carts
03 2020 Pandemic Editorial

On Mute. Not on Pause.

A stakeholder asked for a calendar mention. I wrote an editorial instead.

The Brief
A "Mark Your Calendar" mention for an upcoming CEC event on communication during the pandemic.
The Problem
Calendar mentions are the wallpaper of corporate comms. Nobody reads them. The moment deserved more than that.
What I Did
Wrote an editorial. "You May Be on Mute, But Your Body Language Isn't." About how to read the room when half your team is in boxes and the other half is on phones. Took a brief for 50 words and turned it into 500 that earned its place.

"Make eye contact across the etherverse."

#1
Highest engagement of the quarter
Exceeded
Event attendance targets
100+
Editorial pieces authored for Cisco's newsroom
Hands holding a phone on a video call, representing the muted-but-visible dynamic of remote communication
"You May Be on Mute, But Your Body Language Isn't" · CEC, 2020 Read it →
The Through-line

Employees deserve the same craft as customers do.

Three different briefs. One principle. Bob proved entertainment can move mandatory behavior. The Store Takeover proved a launch can be an experience, not an announcement. On Mute proved a calendar mention can be editorial if you treat your audience like readers.

All three started the same way. Stakeholder sends a brief. I ask: what would make someone actually want to read this?

More from the Cisco years

100+ editorial pieces · 8 years
The Human Behind the Login
Security culture editorial
Latest Two-Ton Webex Device
Product storytelling
NFL by the Numbers
Scrollytelling partnership story
Holiday Roundup
Customer stories, reframed
Mentee to Inventor
How I became an inventor
View Cisco author page →
Julie Flannery Allen · flanneryallen.com