OVERVIEW
Union Bank, the second oldest financial institution in Nigeria, and at one time the biggest, had become a reference point for the incompetence that plagued the country.
Following a comprehensive transformation effort, the century-old bank had fought its way back from the brink of extinction. Yet, two years after what was believed to be a successful rebrand, we were still perceived as old and outdated. We needed to prove people wrong.
BACKGROUND
Nigerians have been let down by their leaders and for that reason, they have little faith in institutions, politicians and even each other.
However, they are deeply religious and in spite of their daily struggles and disappointments, they are hopeful people who do not want their disappointments to turn them into obvious pessimists. So, the faith they lack in their leaders, they put in God.
In this contradiction, we found our insight.
BIG IDEA
Our idea was to call out the ‘cynic’ in all of us. Borrowing the name of the doubting disciple from the Bible, we created the character of ‘Uncle Thomas’ The Enabling Success short film calls out the defeatist Uncle Thomas’ mindset in everyone.
Voiced by social activist Dede, a protege of the Afrobeat legend, Fela, the film portrays the stark Nigerian reality but concludes with rousing, prayer-like invocations, that promise a better future with Union Bank by your side.
RESULTS
The TV ad garnered over 8,764,141 views across all platforms and nearly 4 million views on YouTube to date, making it Nigeria’s most viewed ad ever
On TV, the campaign hit 95% of the target GRPs within a month
Net Promoter Scores soared from 34% to 66% within 3 months of the campaign and brand equity went up by 4.9%
New accounts increased by 20% and reactivated accounts went up by 90% monthly
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The most important thing in communication is to hear what isn't being said.
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Peter Drucker