At the beginning of 2012, General Electric (GE) engaged Sub Rosa to help discover where innovation is born inside the organization and how new modes of prototyping and technology would impact the world in the years ahead. The aim of this massive assignment was to create a point of view that exhibited GE’s position on innovation, leadership and advanced manufacturing.

After we conducted a series of directed site visits, the brief began to take shape. We interviewed key stakeholders both inside GE and externally. The primary revelation unearthed during the discovery period on the shop floor was this: Not only is GE leading the industry in development and construction of complex machinery and software, but every step of their process involves human interaction. All told, GE products are assembled almost entirely by hand. This insight helped inform a GE-led strategic global positioning campaign, GE Works, and ultimately fed the development of large-scale advertising and marketing efforts to exemplify this position globally.

The goal was to demonstrate how GE technology and employees work in tandem to positively impact the lives of customers, communities and the world. Although people working within the energy and manufacturing industries are used to thinking of GE as a technology and innovation leader, the majority of their customers know them primarily as a household appliance brand. In order to share the GE Works story with the public, we needed to come up with an approach that would reach ordinary consumers, inviting them to experience the brand in a genuine, objective manner.

Read the full case study with juror comments here: [http://www.aiga.org/case-study-ge-garages/]

Humanizing a complex global technology and innovation behemoth is a daunting task. Many of the judges had actually experienced this entry and raved about it. I wish that more corporations would demonstrate rather than declare how they are making a difference. Our everyday lives have been inextricably linked to devices that arrive in sealed boxes but have invisible parts and functions, so re-engaging with “making” educates and inspires us all. —Alina Wheeler