2018-Sep-21
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#ISpeakCisco
BY DMITRY LESKOV · PR MANAGER · RUSSIA
красивая игра. Yes, "beautiful game."
Whether you call it soccer, football, futball, or fußball, the game is understood throughout the world. Fans travel the globe to support their team, but the language barriers can often be a challenge for visiting fans.
Earlier this year, with the World Cup in Russia fast approaching, football fever was rising every day among employees in the Moscow office. The Cisco team wanted to show visitors how hospitable the people of Russia could be by helping them overcome the language barrier while also helping to enhance the country’s image.
The desire to help sparked a great idea by one of the local teams: Let visitors know that they spoke English and could help with questions and advice. And, so, the #ISpeakCisco campaign was born.
Finding volunteers to take part was easy as everyone was keen to assist. Not only did Cisco employees participate, but so did people representing Cisco partners across Russia.
The volunteers wore t-shirts with the message "I speak English, ask me for help." They gave foreign visitors directions around the streets of Moscow and other cities so they could get the most out of their visit.
Signing up was simple — participants added themselves to a WhatsApp group and gave their t-shirt size. In the first two days, all 300 of the volunteer t-shirts were allocated, so the rules were changed to allow the extra volunteers to participate in a regular Cisco-branded shirt.
The games took place during workdays and weekends, so Cisco employees were able to use their Time2Give hours. The team of volunteers was diverse. It was a mixture of people of all ages from different cities, departments, and specialization, united by one goal — to make everyone during the World Cup feel at home during their visit. Many volunteers shared photos of themselves with supporters with the event organizers.
The campaign was a huge success and was actively covered across social networks: VKontakte, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Employees uploaded their photos wearing their #ISpeakCisco t-shirts with visiting fans. This not only helped spread the word about the campaign, but thousands of World Cup guests saw how Cisco and our partners were helping people from around the world feel welcome in Russia.
#ISpeakCisco in numbers:
- 300 Cisco volunteers and partners on the streets during the games.
- 5 cities where volunteers participated during the campaign.
- 226 photos on social networks with the hashtag #ISpeakCisco.
- 331 post across social networks.
- 670 positive comments.
- Hundreds of grateful visitors during the World Cup tournament.
The desire to volunteer at such a large event connected us together, and it also gave us the opportunity to meet people from all around the world. Our Russian employees were honoured to be a part of the Word Cup and offer their help whenever and wherever needed.
In the future, we hope that employees in hosting countries take the opportunity to connect through football and become part of such an amazing event.
Помогайте тем, кто в этом нуждается, и играйте в футбол — Always help those who need it and play football.
Спасибо за чтение – Thank you for reading.
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