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Support your COVID-19 full Infectious Disease Preparedness and Response Plan with free, responsive educational interactive videos from Real Heroes Connect.
Yes, you’ve taken steps to make your workplace Covid-19 compliant – but are they enough? Or can they be enhanced by the implementation of a digital intervention, such as Talent Brand’s Real Heroes Connect?
As South Africa stepped up to prepare for Lockdown Level 3, workplaces around the country made sure that they were equipped with sanitizer, rearranged their spaces to allow for physical distancing, supplied masks, hosted workshops and invested in collateral to promote awareness of the coronavirus.But are these educational measures sufficient? This is a valid question, given that infections continue to climb – a sign that companies are perhaps battling to provide information that ‘sticks’ with their employees.
I would argue that the answer is ‘no’. Quite simply, we live in a world where we are constantly bombarded with messaging, so it’s not surprising that an announcement on a board completely escapes notice.
Digital edutainment
So, what’s the answer? Again, it’s simple: we need to communicate with people where they are. Increasingly, that’s online. This is why digital messaging is so powerful. As Candice Goodman of Mobitainment explains, online videos are the most effective channel for transmitting information: according to a February 2020 report by We Are Social, 98% of all South Africans watch online videos. This case study proves that technology is a great enabler and can be harnessed for the greater societal good.
Mobitainment (along with TTRO), are my partners in an edutainment platform I recently launched with a discretionary grant from the Health and Welfare Sector Education and Training Authority (HWSeta). Real Heroes Connect is a tool to help employers reach their staff – whether in factories, the corporate sector or even schools – with information that they will actually absorb and internalize.
It’s Real Heroes Connect’s format that makes it so effective. We have produced a series of nine short, animated videos in English, Afrikaans, isiZulu and Setswana, covering topics such as physical distancing, when to self-isolate, safely travelling to work and how and when to get tested. These videos are available in a static format, which can be flighted at key sites on employer premises, such as canteens and meeting rooms. But more important, in terms of ensuring the message reaches as many individuals as possible, is the interactive video format: individuals are invited to send an SMS and in response they receive a link to download the video on their mobile device. This link contains a code, which allows employers to track how many times the video is viewed and whether it is shared. This is what differentiates Real Heroes Connect: instead of daydreaming through a workshop they are required to attend, employees are able to select when and how they access content that they wish to learn. Moreover, employees who complete the video and take part in the testing mechanisms that have been included to gauge their understanding of the content, and share the video are eligible to enter a daily draw to win a share of R3 000 in air time.
Transcending communication barriers
There are three key features here which make this tool so effective: firstly, we’ve used a reverse billing process to make sure that users don’t incur any costs when downloading the videos, thus removing one critical obstacle to use.
The videos leverage gamification, so that points are earned every time an individual watches a video to the end, every time they answer a question in the quiz that follows correctly, and every time they share the video with someone else.
The video series also stands out for its inclusivity. The use of visuals and voiceovers, rather than text, has enabled us to overcome language barriers and reach a wide audience, while accommodating the many different ways people learn.
Finally, by incentivizing the use and sharing of the videos, we have created a mechanism to ensure that Real Heroes Connect goes viral (a goal supported by links to social media), while the downloadable video link makes it possible for employers to profile viewers, creating a record of key demographics such as geography, workplace and gender, while tracking the journey at each step in the process provides valuable insights into South Africans’ understanding and behaviour around the virus. For instance, it’s possible to see which topics are most viewed, which language is the most used, and the highest scoring answers.
Those employers who wish to augment the video campaign with traditional communication will find an easy to download toolbox on the Real Heroes Connect website, containing customisable templates that can be used as part of any mail drop/poster-driven initiative.
Many employees have voiced their concern about returning to work, because they worry that their employers haven’t done enough to ensure their safety. Engaging with Real Heroes Connect is a simple, free added value educational campaign to let your employees know that you are looking after their wellbeing and help you maintain a coronavirus free environment.
Customer adoption
The initiative has already been embraced by several organisations, including the likes of Tiger Brands, Distell and Rich Products Corporation, as well as Twinsaver, and the Adcorp Group. These users attest to the effectiveness of the videos: as Mandy Jones, Group Marketing Officer at Adcorp, says, “Over lockdown there were various suppliers that took to the challenge of creating content to ensure that employees were educated around COVID-19 before they returned to the workplace. The collateral created by Real Heroes Connect stands out because it is designed for a wide stakeholder group; the videos were captivating, interactive, easy to understand and are available in multiple different languages. One of our biggest challenges with digital content is ensuring that our employees have sufficient data to view it. Being able to access this dynamic content for free through reverse billing is a real bonus.”
Nevashnee Naicker of Tiger Brands echoes this sentiment: “If Covid-19 has taught us anything, it’s the undeniable relevance of technology-based platforms to drive messaging in simple and engaging formats. Talent Brand’s high quality videos in different African languages has been invaluable to sharing accurate, relevant and relatable content, while coupling the content with competitions will help drive engagement with and penetration of the message.”