WE’RE SMILING⎟ Thank you for shaping the attitudes of your employees and customers.
We are very glad that the campaign resonated with your company and that you have joined the initiative. With the ideas and recommendations on this page, we want to help you get the most out of this initiative.
HOW TO ENGAGE EMPLOYEES?⎟The goal is to shape employee attitudes
How to engage employees?
EXPLAIN
After joining the campaign, inform your employees about it right away.
Message to employees (some ideas):
- “We joined this positive initiative to stay positive after the summer.”
- “We want to encourage our customers to be more positive.”
- “We want our employees to feel more confident in customer interactions, regardless of the customer’s mood.”
- Prepare your employees to respond in good spirits if a customer reacts negatively to the campaign and says, for example:
- “Why did you suddenly start smiling?”
(You could answer, for example: “We enjoy it, … give it a try too! :)”) - “But you’re not even smiling!”
(Answer, for example: “You know, it’s quite an art – I’m still learning :)”)
- “Why did you suddenly start smiling?”
DISCUSS
Involve employees in discussions during the campaign month, for example in meetings, round-table conversations, or training sessions.
Discussion topics with employees (some ideas):
- “What do you think – how does a smile affect the customer?”
- “How does smiling at a customer affect you personally?”
- “Please observe and see how the customer responds when you smile at them. (Do they smile back? Keep a small tally.)”
- “Try it out – how does your own mood feel when you smile at a non-smiling or even an arrogant customer?”
- “What do you think – is keep-smiling necessary?” (the right answer is no :).)
- “Why is it important to smile at the customer especially at the start of the interaction?”
ENCOURAGE
As a manager, maintain a positive atmosphere. Encourage employees to give feedback about their first customer of each day, either via the QR code or a link placed on the checkout screen.
What to do (some ideas):
- As a manager, be positive yourself and smile at your colleagues.
- Set an example during customer interactions when they arise.
- Ask specifically from time to time how things are going.
- Recognise when you see it being put into practice.
- Instead of saying “come on, come on … smile, smile!” simply smile yourself and don’t create discomfort.
If you can’t think of your own message right away, you could send something like this to your team:
— — — —
Dear colleagues
Just a quick note to let you know that in November we are participating in a fresh and positive campaign called “We’re Smiling – Thank You For Smiling Too!“. The campaign highlights the importance of both employee and customer attitudes. The customer also has a role to play in creating a pleasant and human service experience. You can read interesting discussions about the importance of smiling on this page: https://naeratame.ee
Our key message – regardless of what the customer does, we stay positive.
Although the campaign has its specific focus in November, we of course want to keep smiling all year round. 🙂
With warm regards and a smile,
[Your name]
Send your employees the link to the page below and ask them to read how the campaign can help them do their job better. From that page, employees can also watch the campaign kick-off training (30 min) video.
HOW TO SPREAD THE WORD?⎟Amplify the positive message and tie it to your brand
How to incorporate the campaign into your company’s marketing messages?
WEBSITE
After joining the campaign, place a campaign badge on your company’s website homepage. For example, small and elegant in the footer section.
Choose a suitable badge from those listed below, or design your own badge according to the campaign guidelines and use that.
Please add a link to the badge image that leads to the page explaining the essence and benefits of smiling: https://trendline.ee/naeratus
That page contains a positive message about the value and benefits of smiling for all parties.
You don’t need to remove the badge after November if the message continues to align with your vision. In November we simply measure. We smile at customers permanently 🙂
Trendline will also add participants’ logos and active links to our page to drive traffic to your websites.
SOCIAL MEDIA
Support the Trendline posts published after you join, in which we tag you and introduce the campaign message and goals. (Inform your social media manager accordingly).
After joining, use one of the campaign badges on your own platforms, which you can find at the bottom of this page, and let your customers know that you are investing in developing customer-friendly and relaxed customer interactions.
Feel free to use the campaign message “We’re Smiling!” and campaign badges alongside your marketing messages to make them more positive.
Tag the campaign hashtag #wearesmiling and the organiser Trendline Analytics in social media posts referring to the campaign. This connects the message across the internet and all participants benefit.
Trendline will also add appreciative references to campaign participants in our social media posts and tag your company to drive web traffic to your platforms. Follow these posts and feel free to engage with them.
EMAIL SIGNATURE
A refreshing idea is to add a campaign reference or badge to your company’s email signatures for the campaign month. This once again links your image with the positive message of the “We’re Smiling” campaign. (We can help design this if you wish).
BLOG POSTS
If your company’s website has a BLOG, ADVICE SECTION, or NEWS section, use it to spread the campaign message. Reference the campaign organiser Trendline with an active link in the blog post.
Here are some ideas for articles and short stories to write:
- Why is striving for top-level customer service important to us?
- Why are we participating in this campaign? (The goal of strengthening customer service standards)?
- Why do we believe a smile is so important?
- We want our customers to feel good.
- We want to know what our customers think. We care.
- We want our employees to feel good. (Useful info and a reference for job seekers).
- We recognise great service employees who are valued by both colleagues and customers.
- Feel free to use quotes and ideas from this page: https://naeratame.ee
- Feel free to use ideas discussed here or in our other relevant blog posts. Please reference Trendline as the author where appropriate (https://trendline.ee)
AT YOUR LOCATION
During November, display the campaign message on screens, posters, stickers (these will come from us), campaign message or feedback QR on receipts, invoices, flyers, and optionally on employee T-shirts, badges, etc.
If you can’t think of your own blog post, here’s an example that would already work well:
— — — —
We are participating in the “We’re Smiling – Thank You For Smiling Too!” Trendline initiative.
We support fostering warm and human customer interactions. With this campaign, we want to uplift our employees while also gently nudging our wonderful customers – showing both sides that everyone can do their part to make the interaction fruitful and pleasant. You can read interesting discussions about the importance of smiling on this page: naeratame.ee
We understand that a smile is not merely a facial expression – it reflects certain inner attitudes. And that is exactly why we want our customers to feel cared for, and even if they arrive feeling stressed, to leave with a good emotion and a positive feeling.
Although the campaign has its specific focus in November, we of course want to keep smiling all year round. 🙂
So – smile too!
Useful articles from Trendline’s blog
Trendline is a development company with over 20 years of experience. Our training programmes and mystery shopping services help develop sales and service companies across the Baltics. We also map customer feedback, create service standards and training videos for companies. Here is a link to our blog, where you’ll find opinion pieces and articles describing our vision, approach, and priorities.
CAMPAIGN BADGES⎟Use whichever ones you prefer
CAMPAIGN BADGES (electronic badge, stickers, and pin badges)
Campaign participants may freely use the electronic campaign badges shown here (one or more) across as many channels as you wish. Click on the image and a full-size version will open in a new window – save it to your computer from there. Participants may also keep the badge in their environments after November ends, as long as you continue to support the campaign’s goals. In November we simply measure. The badges are designed without a year number so there’s no awkward feeling that you smiled in 2015 but no longer in 2025. 🙂 There would be no point in bragging today about being in peak shape 10 years ago. 🙂 Keep it for as long as this is your outward message and a clear goal to remind both customers and employees of.
The badges below have been created by Trendline and we are continuously adding more. If you have a specific preference regarding colour scheme, font, or design, feel free to submit your suggestion – we always consider them. All campaign participants are welcome to use the badge variations we have created.
You may also create additional marketing elements for the campaign (such as posters, social media post templates, audio or video clips, badges, T-shirts, stickers, placards, etc.) with your own marketing department for your own environments and company, so the design matches your visual identity and branding precisely, for example by adding your LOGO. In that case, the badge must include, among other things, the three core campaign phrases: “We’re Smiling!“, “Thank You For Smiling Too!“, and in small text “naeratame.ee“. Feel free to use the campaign message and fresh idea.
By clicking on a campaign badge below, the full-resolution badge file will open, which you can use as a design element in your materials. You can resize the badges as you wish. Some badges look better smaller, others larger.
CAMPAIGN SCREEN DESIGNS⎟Use designs that match your badges
SCREEN DESIGNS (formats: landscape 1920×1080 and portrait 1080×1920)
Click on the design image to open the full-size file, which you can save to your computer. The designs have a blank circle left for adding the local department’s QR code – i.e. the code for the location (department) where the screen is placed. We will send these unique (QR) codes directly to each company by email. The same codes are also pre-printed on each department’s table stand. You may also add your logo or anything else you feel fits your style to these designs.
CAMPAIGN IDENTITY MARKS⎟Choose the one that matches your website
MICRO BADGES
The campaign micro badges below are intended for use on the websites of companies that have joined the initiative. For example, in the website footer. Feel free to use whichever design and style of badge suits your website design. Please add the link https://trendline.ee/naeratus behind the campaign badge. This link leads to a page explaining the importance of smiling and will undoubtedly create a positive feeling for the reader. The campaign badge thumbnail can remain permanently in your website footer if you continue to support the initiative’s ideas. Since the campaign is annual, we will measure and activate customers and employees again next November.
PNG:
SVG:
If you would like an SVG version of any of the badges above, please write to svg@trendline.ee