Customer stories

Kantar is Seeing Astronomical Employee Engagement With LinkedIn Learning. Here’s Why.

If you want to see a great example of a company rolling-out an online learning solution, look no further than Kantar Insights, a global market research company.

Within six months of rolling out LinkedIn Learning to 15,000 employees globally in 2018, Kantar saw every employee who was assigned a license activate theirs. And, in the months following the rollout, 3,600 employees were using LinkedIn Learning every month.

Those numbers are incredible; absolutely off-the-charts. How did they do it?

Not by mandating anything – no Kantar employee was required to watch a LinkedIn Learning course. Instead, the company emphasized the empowering nature of the platform, and how it could serve the needs of the employee.

Plus, some FOMO (fear of missing out) didn’t hurt, either.

Why Kantar Invested in LinkedIn Learning: To Strengthen Their Culture with a Scalable Learning Solution

First off, before we get into how they had such amazing adoption of the platform, why did Kantar invest in LinkedIn Learning in the first place?

It started in 2017, when Avril Scott, Kantar’s Insights division global head of leadership and learning, started her new position within the company. Her aspiration – to strengthen the learning culture at Kantar.

To do that, she believed the company needed one scalable learning platform, which could serve thousands of employees worldwide. And, she believed LinkedIn Learning was the right fit, as it was, in her words: “nimble, agile, on-demand, had a huge library of fabulous resources, and would foster a culture of curiosity and self-exploration.”

So, she had her platform of choice. Now was the tough part – getting colleagues to use it.

How Kantar Rolled Out LinkedIn Learning to 15,000 Employees: A Marketing Campaign Around Empowerment (Plus, Some FOMO)

The first stage of Kantar’s rollout of LinkedIn Learning was a pilot to 500 employees. For it, Scott hand-picked 500 people she believed would be the most likely to use the platform.

“The group represented a huge cross-section,” Avril said. “It went from board members all the way to front-line employees. And I told them, I want you to try this out, explore whatever you want, and let me know what you think.”

The results were fantastic – the 500 employees in the pilot flocked to the platform and provided very positive feedback. The best part – they started telling their colleagues about the platform, which created that sense of FOMO.

“People heard about it, and they wanted in too,” Avril said. “It started to create demand for LinkedIn Learning.”

Moved by the success of the pilot, Kantar decided to roll it out to 15,000 employees. Avril’s next step – create a marketing plan for the full rollout of LinkedIn Learning.

“I partnered with our comms team,” Avril said. “I wanted a message that was clean and simple, centered on empowering people.”

The marketing campaign reflected just that. The first round of assets featured a video explaining how LinkedIn Learning could fit around each employee’s schedule and help their career. And posters were hung in every office around the globe, with tag lines like “Choose a course that works for you” and “Learn new skills when it suits you best.”

An example:

Kantar also created a second video featuring employee Young Ham explaining how he finds LinkedIn Learning empowering. “I’m in control of what I learn,” Young said in the video. “It’s helping me to grow, personally as well as work-wise. Why wouldn’t you take up the opportunity?”

The message is clear in all of these marketing materials – you, the employee, are in control. LinkedIn Learning is here to help you become who you want to be, on your own schedule.

Lastly, Kantar rolled out LinkedIn Learning over three-stages to create buzz and more FOMO. Rather than give everyone access at once, licenses were assigned over time, which created a sense of anticipation among the workforce.

“As more employees got access to the learning library, you could literally walk down the corridor and hear oh, have you tried the LinkedIn Learning course for that?” Avril said. “When people finally did get it, they were so excited to have it.”

The Results: 16,000+ Hours Watched After 6 Months

The rollout of LinkedIn Learning worked beautifully. Employees quickly embraced LinkedIn Learning, with all of them activating their license within six months.

And then there’s the engagement numbers. Over 90 days during the summer of 2018, 6,627 employees used the platform to watch thousands of hours of courses – a dazzling engagement rate.

That level of engagement of any online learning platform is astronomical for a company Kantar’s size and geography. The key to making it happen – keeping the message about learning around empowering the employee, instead of making it something mandated by higher-ups.

“People want to be able to come to things when they need it, and feel free to explore and find the things that matter to them,” Avril said. “If you allow people the opportunity to grow, people will come to it. If you put the learner at the heart of the learning, there will be total ownership.”

Post updated on April 9, 2019.

Get the latest on trending skills once a week. Right in your inbox.