THEBIGWORD'S MYSTERIOUS MANNEQUINS

I have decided the time has come to finally share the truth about thebigword mannequins. Although I had originally intended to keep it top-secret, complaints from the night staff along the lines of: “They’re just so creepy” and “the red ones keep looking at me” have forced me to come clean.

Earlier this year I visited the West Coast of America and stayed at a particularly trendy hotel. In the foyer were 15 white mannequins mounted against a black background with spotlights pointed up at them; the whole installation was pretty dramatic, if not surreal.

When I returned to the UK we were in the process of moving to our new headquarters and acquired some mannequin rejects that were destined for the crusher from a famous high street store. We sprayed each figure one of the four colours of our ‘thebigword smile’ logo with a view to dotting them around the building. We initially felt that the mannequins would serve as a practical security measure by making the building appear occupied at night, as their silhouettes were visible behind the tinted glass windows.

I am aware that some people view the mannequins, particularly the fact that they are undressed, as a bit silly or (rarely), culturally insensitive. However, I also believe that they embody a fundamental and often undervalued aspect of thebigword’s business ethos: personality.

It’s all well and good to talk about how these different colours relate to our corporate message: red for passion to deliver industry-leading services; green for our environmental concern and commitment to our CSR policy; blue for freedom of expression, and yellow for promoting diversity in all areas of the business, but it is equally as important to make people think and engage with thebigword as a brand.

It is our unique ability to build and maintain strong relationships with our clients that differentiates us from the competition, and that is down to our people. thebigword employs people from 30 different nationalities and five continents in its Leeds headquarters alone; a fact that I am particularly proud of.

So, hopefully I have allayed the fears of the evening staff by reassuring you that although they may have been rejects, our mannequins once stood proudly in the windows of Harvey Nichols in a former life (albeit with more clothes on), and definitely don’t come alive after midnight - so have a little respect for them please!

Have a great weekend.