Jim Milke

The key insight behind these morale-boosting in-house posters came from one customer who said, "I knew I would speak to someone, but I didn’t know it would be Monique _______."

Every poster highlighted how its namesake call center employee had stood by a customer in a difficult moment, and turned a bad situation into a good incident of kindness, professionalism and empathy.

Hundreds of corporate call centers in Tucson, Arizona and Sault St. Marie, Canada compete for the best phone bank employees. These newspaper ads highlighted the big differentiator of CCAS jobs, ones that often pay less, but reward people with the authentic and gratifying satisfaction of knowing that they "make a big difference" in other's lives, every day.

Assignment: attract local part-time help (usually moms, students, retirees) by highlighting how CCAS jobs offer flexibility, a secure income, the opportunity to help others, and the prestige of being known as "the best in the business".

There was good news and bad news at that year’s annual company meeting. The bad news: bonuses would reflect the deep 2009 recession. The goods news: every employee could be proud to have "given back" to the community in real and significant ways. This poster underscored the company’s caring nature and gave a theme to the meeting. The caption under the visual of the Company’s Founder as a boy: "Sidney Wolk. Chairman of the Pony, circa 1945."

There was good news and bad news at that year’s annual company meeting. The bad news: bonuses would reflect the deep recession of 2009. The goods news: every employee could be proud to have "given back" to the community in real and significant ways. This opening slide show established the meeting’s theme and made for buoyant conversation at the cocktail reception that followed.