Escape rooms can be found in all larger towns, sometimes located in a library, sometimes in an industrial building. The goal is always to work together as a team to find clues, use them to solve a wide range of puzzles and escape within a given time limit. Baloise has taken up this concept and has been considering how it can be implemented at various locations throughout the Group. It soon became clear that multiple stationary escape rooms would be far too complex and costly to set up, so the company got together with the brains behind escaperoomspiele.com to find a solution to this puzzle. The result was a suitcase packed with a range of tools and an app that can be projected conveniently on the wall for a mobile escape room that can be set up in any meeting room.
Strategic communication is often perceived as abstract, and can seem unwieldy. There is a need for new approaches to inspiring employees and conveying the most important elements in an entertaining way. One solution is to break away from the office routine, a world far away from screens, presentations and Excel sheets. As with the Sarah’s Vision board game, Baloise is taking a playful approach with the escape room. “Employees immerse themselves in a completely different world, and forget their daily office routine despite the familiar surroundings. They automatically work together on their mission, exchange ideas, become curious and take responsibility. These are exactly the values intended to make the difference in Season 2 of the Simply Safe strategy”, says Marc Kaiser, Head of Corporate Communications & Investor Relations. Completing the escape room involves building a bridge between the worlds of work and play. One of the most important insights is that working together is fun, even when time is in short supply.
Suitcase, meeting room, app: the employees don’t yet know which world they’ll be entering. The nautical theme continues – in Season 1 Baloise became a ship, followed in Season 2 by a lighthouse on a floating island – in keeping with the strategy. A storm is brewing, the lighthouse is only supplied with emergency power and the beacon urgently needs to be relit so that the ships, representing our stakeholders, can navigate to the safety of the floating island. The players are on the lighthouse and need to solve all the puzzles as quickly as possible. The clock is ticking, and the app shows the players’ progress. This escape room has been named after the beacon that needs to be lit by the end of the game.
The aim of the game is not only to light the flame, but also fire employees’ enthusiasm for Season 2 of Simply Safe.