1The Challenge
What was the challenge?
Having run the "Show You Care" format in Gurugram, Marks & Spencer brought it to their Bangalore team — a larger group of 57, and a fresh set of relationships to build.
The theme set the terms. This was not about competition or performance; it was about people leaving the room knowing their colleagues better than when they walked in, having done something thoughtful for them. Scale made that harder rather than easier. In a group of 57, it is entirely possible to spend a full session in the company of the same three people you already sit next to. The experience needed to work against that instinct — to give participants a concrete reason to reach beyond their immediate circle and pay real attention to someone they hadn't yet.
2Our Solution
What solution did we design?
The Bubble Blend Challenge builds connection into the mechanics rather than the messaging. Teams craft personalised soaps — selecting scents, colours, and designs — but each one is made for a specific colleague, tailored to their preferences and interests.
That constraint is what makes it work. A generic soap is easy; a soap made for a particular person is not. To get it right, you have to ask questions, listen to the answers, and notice things. In a group of 57, this turns what could have been a pleasant craft session into a structured excuse for 57 people to become curious about each other.
The challenge rests on three principles. Connect with clarity — every soap reflects its recipient, requiring a specific, deliberate connection to be formed. Collaboration — teams work together to create meaningful gifts, and the shared effort strengthens bonds across the group. Care, affection, and empathy — crafting something by hand for a colleague expresses genuine care, creating a warm and supportive environment that carries beyond the session.
Speed Networking ran alongside the Bubble Blend Challenge, widening the circle of connections early so that participants had a broader pool to draw on when the crafting began.
3How We Did It
How was the programme delivered?
The 57 participants were divided into teams and briefed on their mission: craft personalised soaps for their colleagues, in keeping with the "Show You Care" theme. Speed Networking came first, moving people through a rapid series of introductions across the room — so that by the time teams reached the workbenches, participants had already met colleagues well outside their usual orbit.
The session was delivered by a facilitator and co-facilitator, the same pairing across both activities, which kept the day continuous and allowed the Bubble Blend Challenge to build directly on the connections Speed Networking had opened up. Facilitators circulated throughout, keeping the craft moving and drawing out the conversations that made each soap specific to its recipient.
The debrief tied the making back to the meaning: what it took to create something genuinely personal, what participants had learned about people they'd only just met, and what it feels like to receive something made with you in mind.
4Key Outcomes
What were the results?
Marks & Spencer's Bangalore team left with a soap made for them by a colleague — and, more valuably, with the conversation that produced it.
Across a group of 57, the session did what large gatherings rarely manage: it got people talking to colleagues they wouldn't otherwise have found, and gave them a reason to actually listen. Participants experienced how quickly a room warms when the goal is care rather than competition. The soaps went home; the connections stayed at work.
Following the Gurugram programme, this was Marks & Spencer's second "Show You Care" session with The Thought Bulb.