Imagination at Work: Give a Broad Technology Promise a Small Participatory Form

Read the campaign story

General Electric introduced Imagination at Work in January 2003 with BBDO Worldwide. A Wharton account of Judy Hu’s later presentation describes a programme using television, print and online communication to broaden an image associated with familiar household products. The historical business portfolio in those records is not a description of today’s separately organised GE businesses. This study concerns the original corporate platform.

GE’s May 2003 release identifies Pen as an online component created with AtmosphereBBDO. Visitors could draw and send the result to a friend. The release’s interaction and circulation claims are promotional, not independently audited results. The tool and related platform expressions are not separate case counts. Later environmental messaging is treated as a related corporate-platform development rather than evidence that every advertised environmental promise was delivered.

Editorial interpretation: a participatory element can make a corporate abstraction easier to enter. Drawing is a modest activity that relates naturally to imagining something, but it is not a demonstration of engineering expertise. The strategic value lies in giving the audience a role before asking them to absorb a broad portfolio story. A good interaction should still help them understand who the company is and why the activity belongs to it.

Editorial interpretation: a diversified organisation needs both coherence and specificity. An umbrella idea can connect activities that look unrelated, while concrete examples prevent it from becoming a claim that the company can solve every problem. The communication should let a viewer move from a memorable theme to a relevant capability, with enough detail to recognise where the organisation’s role ends. That is a more demanding task than generating a warm impression of innovation.

Choose an activity that illustrates the idea without impersonating proof

A simple interaction should make the campaign’s meaning clearer, not simulate a capability it cannot substantiate. Explain what the activity demonstrates and what remains outside it. A drawing tool can invite expression; it cannot validate a company’s research quality. For an adaptation, identify the one concept participants should understand after finishing and test that understanding directly. If people enjoy the tool but attribute a false technical claim to it, redesign the bridge between the activity and the business story before adding more features.

Give the umbrella a visible route to specific evidence

List the categories the platform must cover and choose examples that demonstrate their differences as well as their shared purpose. Avoid turning the headline into a substitute for a credible explanation of each service. A visitor should be able to find relevant information without decoding a corporate narrative first. Use dated examples and describe the organisation that actually performed the work. Large brands change through acquisitions, divestments and new structures; a historical capability story should not quietly become a current availability promise.

Keep participation and circulation as separate choices

An enjoyable output does not require sending it to somebody else. Let a participant complete the experience privately, explain what is stored and avoid requiring address-book access. If optional sharing exists, make the recipient and content visible before any message leaves. Report creation, voluntary sharing and subsequent understanding as different observations. None alone establishes business demand or a causal change in reputation. This separation also improves the experience because people can explore an idea without feeling that they have become an unpaid distribution channel.

A small test for another brief

Proposed adaptation: an adult community repair workshop could offer a paper sketch exercise about improving the layout of a fictional workbench. Compare a general statement about useful ideas with the same statement followed by the sketch prompt and a clear description of the workshop’s actual services. Supply identical information and do not collect contact details, send drawings or assess real equipment.

Measure correct understanding of the workshop’s role, perceived relevance of the activity and unsupported assumptions about technical expertise. Record enjoyment separately from service interest or willingness to share.

Stop if the exercise implies certified technical advice, uses private customer material or requires a participant to promote the organisation to finish.

• Keep the exercise about a fictional, non-operational layout.
• Provide a verbal alternative to sketching.
• Show the service scope and limits alongside the activity.