1. A film dedicated to Capgemini’s founder

It’s been emotional. Why? The founder of Capgemini, Serge Kampf, sadly passed away last year at the age of 81. He didn’t live to see the anniversary.

This is why it was important to dedicate a film to Serge Kampf and to have those who knew him to recall their favorite memories: administrators, early companions, Paul Hermelin obviously, but also rugby players and his grandchildren. Pascal Gadeau was chosen to direct the film. We had very few pictures of Serge Kampf. He was quite reserved and rarely appeared in public. We decided to reconstitute the past. Choose an actor. Make numerous trips to Grenoble. Cigarettes. Serge smoked.

A 25-minute film emerged. Instead of six. Call it a case of Stockholm syndrome between zealous teams and the object of their work. We fought, flared up. Worked late. Rewrote the script a good 20 times.

We finally got it down to nine and a half minutes. It’s still long. We might do a shorter version in the fall. Once the filmmakers have the heart to slice out a part of their baby! Thankfully, I’m fairly sadistic. I love cutting.

Anyway, here’s the result:

It also exists in French.

2. A motion design on 50 years of Capgemini

Honestly, when our creative director (Jean-Pat) told me that he was going with motion design, I wasn’t so sure. It’s usually so boring! But this time, he pulled out all the stops. This was going to be one hell of a video!

So here you go. Yeah it’s a bit long (Stockholm again…) but do me a favor and at least watch the beginning. It rocks!

3. A special website

We also created a cool website to mark Capgemini’s 50 years: capgemini50.com. I encourage you to spend some time checking it out.
Here are the highlights:

• « Don’t torture yourself, torture Sogeti » : Go back in time with Sogeti’s yesteryear advertising campaigns and posters.
• Head in the cloud, conquering real time, beyond modern times, the end of cash, the holy grail of customer experience, towards zero risk, do connected objects have a soul, of robots and men, green IT or IT for green, business models: happy break-ups… these are just a few of the groundbreaking projects from their past 50 years.
• 45% of respondents think we might be living in underwater cities in 50 years’ time… what about you?

4. A ’50 years’ booklet

A “50 years” booklet with 45,000 copies. It traces the biography of Serge Kampf and the highlights of Capgemini. Notably their conquest of the world through key acquisitions. We had the pleasure to collaborate with the historian Tristan Gaston-Breton.

15,000 copies were distributed with the annual report. The rest were set aside for employees, as well as career and trade fairs.

28 pages. Short but intense, including a story about how Serge Kampf was torn between three career paths: tram driver, fighter pilot and journalist.

5. A ‘Move50’ internal sports challenge and employee advocacy

Move for education. And it sure did move. Employees covered 418,000 km—more than the distance between the Earth and the Moon—in five months for three projects supporting education for children in India, Guatemala and France. Although we would have loved to show you the trailer, it’s only available internally!

And there’s more. Employees who wanted to contribute in other ways were able to publish #capgemini50 posts on social media. The enthusiasm shown was exceptional. Both by the sheer number of posts but also the quality of the content posted. Here are a few examples.

The 200,000 employees who posted had a social media reach of nearly 300 million, including a world record in India. Check out some of the photos from the challenge:

6. A gala evening for 1,000 guests at the Orangerie of the Chateau of Versailles.

Sorry guys, it was invitation only. But let’s just say that the gala exceeded our expectations. What a surprise that you can spend 16 months planning an evening and still be amazed when the big moment finally takes place. When all the small details that you tweaked at various stages come together to reveal something exceptional, serene, and generous.

From friezes on the ‘Les Fontaines’ campus and a portrait of the founder in every site around the world to spade-shaped chocolates and the Innovators Race 50 prize ceremony, we had it all covered!

Thanks to the entire Capgemini team working under the inspired guidance of Philippe Grangeon: Thomas Hirsch, Virginie Régis, Emmanuel Lochon, Marie-Laure Soulié, Hervé Leroux, Christel Lerouge, Andrea Fedderson, Michaele Beaudoin, and Tania Castillo-Perez. A big thanks to all our partners, and especially to Chateau de Versailles.

Special thanks also to ENGIE who had entrusted us with the 50^th anniversary of their LNG business, and Michel Batard in particular, who gave us the bug for corporate storytelling.

Here’s to another fifty years!