D&AD Studio Brief Runner Up
BRIEF
How does HSBC credibly promote its sustainability ambitions and goals in a balanced and authentic way?
INSIGHT
Education is the path to redemption.
IDEA
Create a legacy program to connect HSBC with communities and educate them through community gardens.
ROLE
Art Director, Strategist, Designer, Copy Writer
In October 2022, the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld a complaint about HSBC UK advertising that highlighted
environmental commitments made by the bank. They judged that future marketing communications should include enough information to make it clear that HSBC does not have – and is not claiming to have – a wholly positive impact on the environment.
THE THOUGHT PROCESS
To get a better understanding of who exactly we were talking to, we took a deep dive into the community forum to experience this empathy and mutual giving first hand. We put a random selection of forum messages into a word cloud, and it showed us which words and phrases came up the most.
We wondered, how many members knew that giving to and supporting others was giving to themselves?
A recent five-year study from the University of Notre Dame surveyed 2,000 Americans and found that those who described themselves as “very happy” volunteered at least 5.8 hours per month. It’s because regularly talking and listening to others helps to put your own problems into perspective. It increases happiness, confidence, mental sharpness and forms a strong sense of belonging.
To raise awareness about the impact of we time, our campaign would replicate traditional surface-level “Me Time” ideals and show how they can fall a bit flat. We plan to do this by using sound and lengthy pauses to emphasize that sometimes, a few hundred dollars spent on candles isn’t the answer. But spending a few hours a month connecting with members of your community could be the answer you’re looking for.
EXECUTION
Around the nation, we’ll host pop-up We time stands to collect real-life examples and stories about times when people helped others, and how that helped them. We want members to see the value of the gift of stories, knowledge, and advice in a community, so we’ll reward them with giffgaff goodies for sharing.
We will then turn these stories into an inspirational community thread for members to refer to and learn from, giving them examples of how they can help other giffgaffers, and in turn, help themselves.
Within the Community, we will demonstrate that helping others out - whether it’s answering a techy question or giving a bit of life advice - benefits them both mentally and in the form of giffgaff goodies too.
We have created the We time tracker, which tallies up the amount of time members spend helping others out. As members spend time writing out advice and sending kind messages, their progress bar rises.