Sanofi
Building an Influencer Community
After undergoing a rebrand in 2022, Sanofi needed to drive global awareness for their “Pursue progress. Discover extraordinary.” proposition and shift candidate perceptions. In just two months, we needed to recruit and engage 250-350 colleagues across six regions, as we needed to show them why employee advocacy matters, what’s in it for them and how they can do it – on top of their day job!
Previously, Sanofi had trialled something like this before, so we knew it was vital to talk to those participants to understand what worked. So that’s why we ran three focus groups with 32 people, carried out social media listening and analysed several competitors.
We found that the majority of Sanofians were uncomfortable posting on social media, for fear of disclosing regulated information or to be seen as self-promoting. They also lacked the confidence in what they had to share and they needed to feel empowered. So, that’s why the Influencer Programme became the Influencer Community, to inspire and bring together everyone involved.
To begin with, we needed a bold rallying cry to encourage sign ups: “Calling all influencers”. Not the people selling flat tummy tea, the other kind. The original influencers. We are here to celebrate those unexpected pioneers, without whom none of the progress Sanofi makes, or miracles we create, would be possible. Once we found our influencers, we hosted six global training workshops, launched a personality quiz to help Sanofians uncover their superpower, tailored assets for their regions, cheat sheets, a buddy programme and much more. At every touch point, we ensured our influencers had everything they needed to keep sharing their stories beyond the programme.
The recruitment campaign was live throughout August and September 2023. And together, we recruited a total of 455 influencers across the globe (from a target of 250-350).
What’s next? This is only the beginning of the Influencer Community — we want to encourage more Sanofians to find their voice and share endless stories with the world. And we’re already planning what’s next!