In late 2019, the Marketing and Human Resources teams came together to discuss ideas for recognizing employees, particularly those who had been with the company for several years. The solution needed to be cost-effective, and needed to have a strong sense of the ClearCorrect's unique identity.
ClearCorrect had been through some growing pains. Shortly after being acquired by Straumann Group, we began selling in more than 20 additional markets, including Brazil and most of Europe. Ramping up to support all of these new territories was a challenge for the entire company. Add to that the stress and uncertainty inherent in any acquisition, and the change in branding after many years of stability. We wanted to recognize our employees for making all of it happen, in a way that honored their work, made them feel seen and invested in, and helped them understand their own journey in ClearCorrect.
After a brainstorming session or two, the team landed on the idea of drawing analogies to an actual journey, like a trek through the wilderness. Along the way, you gain skills and items to help you along. The idea instantly reminded us of Scouts, who gain merit badges to mark their skills and achievements. For our stalwart office-goers, we thought collectible enamel pins would be received better than patches (and they were), but the imagery was familiar: we selected concepts and items that could be encountered in any long journey. For instance, year one references the long road ahead and invites the employee to carry on and see what’s over the next rise. The 2-year pin depicts a canteen; year 3, a backpack; year 4, a campfire, etc.
1x Senior Designer (Ariel Elliott)
2x Human Resources
2x Culture Committee Members
Art direction, creative writing
We thought of years 3, 5, 7, and 10 as milestones, and we chose to design those somewhat differently—using gold instead of silver—to bring further distinction to those years and more interest to the colleciton as a whole. Each pin also came with a card that explained the metaphor for the item chosen for the pin, fleshing out the idea of an employee's journey at ClearCorrect.
Finally, we also presented each employee a 5x7 certificate and frame to display at their workstation. Again, the milestone years were designed differently to create more distinction at a glance.
After a tumultuous time in the company's history, the generation of employees that had stepped up to secure ClearCorrect's future felt recognized, and employees across the organization could feel the investment of effort and attention that went into these materials. Perhaps just as important was the fact that there was now a physical token of employees' commitment to the company. Throughout my time at ClearCorrect I worked on ways to make the invisible more visible; employees' history with the company and dedication to their work was one of my favorite examples of that.
