Allen Develops Global Brand Education Program for HP

Drawing on innovative techniques in gamification and personalized learning, Allen is building brand education programs for organizations to effectively improve the customer experience.

SALT LAKE CITY (October 28, 2014) Allen Communication Learning Services (Allen)—expert in learning and performance development, has created a brand education program for HP, a leader in global technology products and services. Targeted development in the areas of gamification and personalization are driving the learning program’s success by influencing employee motivation and ultimately driving behavior change. The program has spread virally throughout the organization, achieving 250,000 voluntary course completions (10 times more than any previous training initiative in the client organization’s history), as well as measurably improved customer satisfaction ratings.

The objective was to develop an innovative brand strategy that enabled employees to turn brand knowledge into behaviors that measurably improve the customer experience. At the start of the project the organization was in the middle of a company-wide turnaround; they needed a highly creative solution that would deliver results at a rapid pace. To meet the challenge, Allen conducted an extensive needs analysis—along with careful use of performance mapping—to ensure that all design and technical innovations aligned directly with business goals and brand champion behaviors. The in-depth analysis led Allen to focus on custom gamification and personalization strategies to meet the business objectives.

Allen designed an open scenario game based on the Net Promoter Score (NPS), a tool adopted by the organization to gauge the customer experience. Various learner paths are featured in the game to allow employees to practice new brand promoter skills in a relevant and challenging format. The game incorporates highly-branded interactive media and simulates the impact that daily decisions make in creating brand promoters. Allen emphasized that though the game can be addictive, it was not created for entertainment value (as happens often with ineffective learning games), but it was created to allow learners to transfer an understanding of content into specific behaviors.

The incorporation of personalized elements was also vital to the project’s success. Allen integrated an engaging learning portal with multiple courses into the client’s existing brand portal, allowing learners to define themselves throughout the learning experience and share success through social interaction. Advanced tracking allows the learning portal to serve the audience personalized content based on roles and choices made throughout the course.

In addition to producing record-breaking results, the course is receiving high-praise from executives, management, and learners. One learner said, “It really inspired me to take personal responsibility for customer experiences and challenged me to identify the touch points I can influence along the customer experience journey.”

Ron Zamir, CEO of Allen, said, “Brand is one of the biggest tools an organization has. We are very proud of our work to enable our clients to leverage their brand strength through a solution that transfers brand knowledge into valuable behavior. We will continue to invest in creative and unique learning strategies and technologies, such as gaming and personalization, in ways that effectively impact our client’s business objectives.”

HP’s Brand Education Program was featured at Masie Learning 2014 Conference in Orlando, Florida. HP and Allen co-presented “Learning Gone Viral: Inside the Most Successful Learning Program in HP’s History.”

About Allen

For more than 30 years, Allen () has led the learning industry, providing pioneering educational strategies, technologies, and analytics. Allen offers award-winning expertise in brand education and instructional design. We provide innovative educational strategies focused on improving human and business performance. Follow Allen on Twitter@Allencomm, on LinkedIn, and on Facebook.

About HP

HP creates new possibilities for technology to have a meaningful impact on people, businesses, governments and society. With the broadest technology portfolio spanning printing, personal systems, software, services and IT infrastructure, HP delivers solutions for customers’ most complex challenges in every region of the world. More information about HP (NYSE: HPQ) is available at http://www.hp.com