2022 Silver B2B

Agency: OLIVER and STAY HMBL

Client: Barclays Bank

Campaign Name: Black Futures

Campaign Overview

OLIVER and STAY HMBL shone a light on Barclays Black Founder Accelerator alumni; perfect examples of Black future-makers, job-creators and societal change-makers.

Strategy

To be future focused the campaign celebrated stories outside Black History Month. The initiative aimed to create Black culture, not just content, evoking feelings of #BlackJoy while celebrating #BlackExcellence.

Through social listening the team validated the insight around an opportunity to celebrate ‘Black Futures'. The campaign looked to culture, reviewing books such as 'How long till Black Future Month?'.

The insight was married with the agencies’ knowledge of the Barclays Black Founder Accelerator: as innovators, job-creators, culture-shapers, they exemplified Black Futures.

Audiences said they wanted to be celebrated all year round, not just in October. The campaign launched on November 1st, bringing fresh energy and momentum the day after Black History Month ended.

Targeting was focused on Black Founders and Allies. LinkedIn was the primary platform for reach with some activity on Facebook, as well as Black press titles such as The Voice. The campaign also leveraged owned media, such as branches in areas the audience could be reached.

The philosophy 'FUBU' ('For Us, By Us') was applied, popularised by Black US Entrepreneur Daymond John. This involved co-creating with Black SMEs at every-step: initial research with the Dope Black Dads network, speaking to Accelerator Participants, pre-testing via the Diversity Skills Council and collaborating with black creators for the campaign creative.

Creativity

The idea was to create a portrait of the mind of a Black founder: high-end, thoughtful and packed with insight, celebrating the Black contribution to business and society at large.

The team applied the FUBU philosophy in collaborating with acclaimed Black director, Simon Frederick.

Results

What started as a pilot became an enduring platform for promoting Barclays’ work with Black SMEs. Views of the film exceeded goals by 140%. The campaign contributed to 250 SMEs attending a Black Futures Day to learn more about the Accelerator, and the programme intake was up 100% compared to the previous year.

Being thoughtful also boosted the brand, with more people feeling good about Barclays - by 15 percentage points versus the norm - and more people believing Barclays were supporting Black Business, an increase of 13 percentage points.

The Team

OLIVER - Rod Sobral, Global Chief Creative Officer - Rob Kavanagh, Executive Creative Director - Nick Myers, Head of Planning - Aurelie Gadwell, Planner - Nigel Webb, Creative Director & Head of Copy - Kevin Bratley, Creative Director - Nick Burke, Art Director - Emily Woby, Group Account Director - Robin Bevilacqua, Project Manager - Hannah Eckersley, Senior Producer - Alice Windler, Producer
STAY HMBL Studios - Andy Mundy-Castle, Founder - Simon Frederick, Founder
Barclays - Paul Alexander, Director, Brand Marketing Communications - Claire Hoey, Director, Brand Marketing Communications - Natalie McClure, Marketing Manager - Steffi Browne, Social Media Manager

Contributors

OMD