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Trends and Insight in association withSynapse Virtual Production
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Contented Quarterly: Trends, Tangents & Talking Points Making Work & Life Better

19/04/2018
Creative Production Studio
London, United Kingdom
14
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Issue One: Play. This issue is all about how 'play' is informing how we work, learn and communicate

"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation." - Richard Lingard

 

The quote above, paraphrased from a 17th century pamphlet of advice to a graduating student, is as relevant now as it was then and succinctly captures the theme of this, our first guarterly. Our aim with all of our quarterlies is to equip you with knowledge that will make your day better and might just make you sound smarter at your next conference, meeting or trip to the pub.

 

The theme of our inaugural quarterly is play and how it runs as a vein through much of our work. We believe that if you can introduce elements of playfulness into the everyday, you can make your life, both personal and professional, more fun and rewarding. The importance of play for childhood social and cognitive development has long been acknowledged and encouraged but why not for us adults and particularly why not at work?



Over the past year we have worked on two very different projects, an assessment tool and a content marketing campaign, that both had play at their heart and it has inspired us to explore this theme further. Many more businesses are now finding that activities supported by play are enabling their people to develop in new ways and collaborate more effectively. Employers gain valuable insights into people’s learning styles, values and how they approach decision making. And it’s fun,which all the newly minted Chief Happiness Officers will be happy about.


"Work and play are words used to describe the same thing under differing conditions." - Mark Twain

Dr.Stuart Brown, the founder of the National Institute for Play, has classified seven types, each with unique, transformational qualities. At Contented Brothers we believe the following three are useful when creating impactful content:

 

Pretendplay. This is key to innovation and creativity. Make believe, role play and other forms of acting develop key skills, tests judgement and allows people to experiment with boundaries and responsibilities in a safe context.


Here's a heart-warming story of pretend play in action from GE Healthcare, which is truly changing lives.

 

Narrativeplay. We make sense of the world around us by telling and listening to stories, even if they are to ourselves. It is how our minds work.As John Yorke tells us in his wonderful book on the nature of narrative structure, Into The Woods “Storytelling is an indispensable human preoccupation, as important to us all - almost - as breathing.”

Creativeplay. By transcending reality we can conceive new ideas using playfulness to innovate and create.

"Play is the highest form of research." - Albert Einstein

The two Contented Brothers projects that best demonstrate the inclusion of play are the Ticket to Ride with Max campaign that we produced for Asmodee and the graduate assessment tool that we developed in conjunction with L'Oreal.

As a worldwide publisher and distributor of tabletop games, Asmodee know a thing or two about play and incorporate in their working day.


Keith Anderson, VP Marketing - Europe at Asmodee Group said: “The work environment inspires us, and colleague relationships help motivate us. Games in the workplace help channel both these positive aspects – making the work environment fun while aiding creative thinking and helping colleagues problem solve together.”

Our campaign to build upon thesuccess of one of their leading titles, Ticket to Ride, saw us bring acharacter from the game to life and send her off on an adventure across Europe.As Max played the game with people she met in character it further brought theinvention of the game to life.

Ticket to Ride

As an actual game the play connection with Ticket to Ride may feel obvious but how many people associate graduate recruitment programs with play and fun. Luckily the smart people at L’Oreal did when we collaborated with them to create an immersive assessment experience for their grad program.

Launched in November, the VR experience immerses candidates in a hyper-real workplace environment and introduces them to actual team members in order to assess if they share L’Oreal values. Importantly the experience is fun and rewarding for the candidate aswell as the potential employer. Featured in The GuardianRecruiter and OnRec.

L'Oreal


Alex Bennett, Graduate Talent Manager at L’Oréal UK I took part in our first “Path to Contentment” interview. The Path to Contentment is a series of short interviews designed around our values, allowing us learn more about the people who we work with.

Alex reveals that if she was to start a family business, it would be with her brothers. “One is creative,entrepreneurial and an out of the box thinker, the other is logical, proactive and a crazy fast learner (I hope they don't read this, it will inflate their egos too much!) I am the practical, hard worker with a bit of innovation thrown in. And thankfully we all get on.”

Alex finds most rewarding part of her job is the development of students who are hired through the L’Oreal intern programmes. She says “Seeing the progression from nervous 'first dayers', to confident, knowledgeable, and passionate individuals who secure a place on our Grad Scheme, and ultimately a long term career at L'Oréal one of the most rewarding aspects.”


Read Alex’s interview in full here.


Please do tell us what you thought of our first edition, we are always looking to improve and produce the best content possible. If you’d like to chat further, come and play a game of Ticket to Ride with us and see how you can incorporate play into your everyday.

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