The Challenge
Heathrow Airport is in the midst of a huge expansion, with turnover exceeding £3.6 billion and a third runway on the horizon – yet, despite this, they were struggling to embed their values (The Strategy House) within their existing team and new hires.
The Strategy House underpins everything Heathrow stands for as an organisation, making it critical that employees recognise, understand and apply it in their day-to-day roles. Challenger Experiences was tasked with developing an engaging, immersive learning experience that would bring the Strategy House to life and help employees truly connect with it - not just understand it.
The Solution
As always, the project began with our facilitated creative workshop, bringing together key stakeholders to fully immerse ourselves in Heathrow’s Strategy House and understand both the project KPIs and the operational logistics that would shape the experience.
From this, Unlock the Strategy was born - a 40ft ISO container housing two identical Escape Rooms. Every touchpoint, narrative, puzzle and solution was designed to embed Heathrow’s Strategy House and its key learning outcomes.
From interactive challenges that required participants to optimise passenger flow through the airport to improve customer experience, to physically collecting and assembling components of the Strategy House within a multi-dimensional finale puzzle, participants were immersed in the strategy from the moment they entered.
The 45-minute experience accommodated up to 10 participants at a time across the two rooms and featured seven strategy-focused puzzles. Key moments included a bespoke voiceover from the CEO welcoming participants into the experience, real-life Heathrow passenger stories woven into an audio puzzle, and a bespoke touchscreen interface that forced participants to engage with the relevant literature and answer questions relating to the Strategy.
The set itself was built to replicate an airport terminal environment, with every detail reflecting Heathrow’s brand - from replica terminal flooring to vinyl wall graphics displaying the view from windows of the airport terminal.
The Success
The experience was installed in Heathrow’s head office car park for 9 weeks, during which 260 teams participated. Over 200 messages of positive feedback were sent directly to Heathrow stakeholders, highlighting the impact the experience had on engagement and understanding.
The success of the project has since led to discussions around developing a bespoke tabletop version, enabling the Strategy House experience to be rolled out to employees across the wider organisation.
Updating page...