NSPCC/Childline

Childline had noticed that they were losing trust and awareness among those within diverse communities. Children from marginalised ethnic groups were less likely to view Childline as a place for helpful advice and spontaneous awareness amongst young people in these communities was the lowest among all demographics. We also noticed that only 16% of overall contacts to Childline were from boys (compared to 65% girls).

With an increase in contacts to Childline around Mental Health and suicidal feelings due to the impact of lockdown, Childline needed younger people to know that they are supported and they’re not alone.

Childline focused on a broad audience approach to ensure that the topic of Mental Health was tackled sensitively but also efficiently. We would drive authentic and deep engagement with our audience through content-led partnerships fronted by relatable platforms and artists.

Originally launched in the US, Crazy Rich Asians proved to be a huge cultural moment for East Asians and a Hollywood hit. It was expected that engaging this segment in the UK would be an easy win for the campaign, however, a considerable percentage of the Chinese and East Asian population in the UK were expatriates or students. This meant that their main social media platforms were not Western social media channels like Facebook or Instagram, which posed a challenge and made them harder to reach.

By developing a deeper understanding of different East Asian segments, we identified where the biggest gap and communications opportunity was for Warner Brothers. An engagement strategy was built to help Warner Brothers create strong presence across Chinese social media and video sites whilst leveraging media partnerships to create bespoke targeted content.

Hell Cats is a fast-paced tale of 18th century girl-power, cutthroat adventure and an enduring love affair inspired by the true story of Anne Bonny and Mary Read. These characters were the most notorious female pirates of all time and this story was very niche at the outset. We needed to drive enthusiasm and engagement with a new genre-defying series.

By collaborating with PinkNews, Hell Cats’ promo was able to leverage the Queer publication’s website and social media channels to drive engagement and enhance the conversation online. Similarly, we were able to increase awareness and build trust with authentic influencer figures and talent, successfully positioning the podcast as an unmissable part of Queer culture. Talent included Charlie Craggs, Jamie Windust, Chelcee Grimes, Liv Little and Char Ellesse.

The UK Government wanted to create a multicultural content partnership across print, TV and radio that created COVID-19 vaccine awareness in multiple languages. African, Carribean, South Asian, East Asian, Middle Eastern and other ethnic communities needed to understand and engage with important communications during the COVID-19 vaccine rollout.

This was particularly crucial as these communities were of the most affected populations due to being at a higher risk of contracting and dying from COVID-19. There was also a lot of misinformation revolving the prohibited ingredients across religions which also needed to be rectified.

Co-creating 30-60 second visual and audio pieces across 20+ TV channels and 13 radio stations with trusted and familiar members (those who either host a show or are in regular programming within the community group’s media). A press partnership between 24 print publications across 9 languages was also formed to ensure main media touchpoints were covered.

Sainsbury’s Group was looking to boost their reputation as an inclusive retailer amongst their colleagues and customers by devoting some of their media spend to meaningful activism. Their aim was to become a leading brand in diversity and inclusion, so throughout October, they chose to stand united, as one multi-brand and multi-channel retailer playing an active role in leading the celebration of Black History Month.

Sainsbury’s continued to educate colleagues and customers alike whilst pushing for positive change for Black communities in the UK.

We commissioned Black creatives to share their experience as Black people in the UK through 3 influential media brands and also harnessed an opportunity with Channel 4 show – Random Acts – to showcase short films produced by upcoming Black talent created as a result of the partnership. Articles, adverts, social media posts and short films were produced.

This would deliver against each of these core objectives:

• Build a broad perception of ‘inclusivity’ in audiences old and new
• Increase awareness of diverse categories and products
• Provide a voice on behalf of community and colleagues around the need for change

In a new age of media activism, presenting HSBC’s approach to D&I in a way that was authentic was challenging, especially during the intensified hardships faced by minorities during lockdown. We needed the campaign itself to reflect the openness and transparency with which HSBC approaches the conversation around D&I and make audiences aware of what the HSBC brand stands for.

By tapping into HSBC’s past of being an ally for LGBTQ+ communities, we were able to continue to build on this sentiment. Selecting a range of queer influencers and employees from HSBC itself, we created a powerful series of Passing films and social media stories, sparking a conversation through the sharing of personal narratives and showing solidarity in online spaces for LGBTQ+ people in the context of lockdown despite not being able to take part in usual festivities for Pride.

Macmillan was looking to increase awareness amongst the UK population of their services. After careful research, we found that South Asian, African and Caribbean audiences particularly under-indexes in awareness of the brand vs. white British. There needed to be a deep dive into the understanding of the relevance behind reaching these communities and understanding the best platforms to reach them as well as when and how this might impact creative the most.

We implemented three response routes into the campaign which would deliver against each of these core challenges:

• Ensuring a diverse cast in hero assets
• Introducing Macmillan’s first ever dedicated year-long community media budget across TV & Radio
• Upweighting brand presence at key moments across the year (e.g. Eid/Diwali) and targeting moments of “togetherness” during these periods

Lidl is looking to find the ideal environment for community engagement with audiences currently not reached in mainstream events. We found that despite the South Asian, African and Caribbean communities over indexing as residents in areas around Lidl stores, they under-index as shoppers.

We were tasked to find the ideal events to target a prominent minority community in the UK.

Sponsoring Ramadan Tent Project throughout Ramadan – the most important month of the year for the Muslim community. Iftar is the main meal of each day in Ramadan where Muslims fast from sunrise until sunset. The event saw 300+ attendees each night open their fast together as well in the presence of host a speaker. Speakers at the event were usually influential pillars of the community with big social followings and PR exposure. It was an ideal environment to engage with a wide range of communities and distribute goodie bags tailored for Suhoor containing trackable Lidl shopping vouchers.