The New Equation
The New Equation
The New Equation
The New Equation
Overview
Launched in 2022, the Global New Equation campaign was the first exciting opportunity for PwC to showcase the human-led consultative approach, enabled by our tech-powered alliance's technology.
PwC’s global strategy The New Equation positions the organisation as a human-led, tech-powered firm highlighting the value of blending the ingenuity and business knowledge of our teams with powerful technologies that help our clients address their challenges.
Marketing Objectives
Primary: Build awareness of our technology position via brand campaign activity centred on the concept of human-led, tech-powered.
Secondary: Grow consideration of our technology offering via stronger alignment with our Platforms providing evidence of how we build trust and deliver sustained outcomes.
Challenge
The Creative and Visual Design team were approached to develop the creative for the second phase to push the boundaries of the pixels and photography through motion considering how to build upon the success of the first campaign, ensuring it complemented it but felt fresh for the go-to-market strategy.
Results
Early data. Only 2 month into the camping
- 26 million impacts (opportunities to see ads) across 53 Out of Home screens between 23-31 Jan (excluding programmatic locations)
- 3,687 individuals coming to our TNE landing page 9 days post-launch
- (+44% vs. October 2021 launch) 10 live paid media channels - our largest paid media activation to date
- 9 large format digital screens across Liverpool Street, London Blackfriars, London Cannon Street, London City Thameslink and London Fenchurch Street
- Social media posts shared by big companies such as Microsoft
- Advertised on big digital platforms such as The Guardian, FT, New Scientists and more
Marketing Week Awards 23’
Categories:
Brand building excellence in B2B
The Marketing Week Awards are an annual document of highly effective marketing. Have your work showcased to the global marketing community as an example of best practice marketing within your channel and sector. It's more than marketing excellence. It goes beyond best practice. Marketing Week award the work that combines creativity and innovation with effectiveness – setting new standards for the industry.
2022 - 2023
1.
The underlying grid of squares (pixels) is the foundation to the creative approach. The pixels at the start of the animation descend from the top of the asset to resting stage (not from the bottom upwards). This effect is a homage to the binary data streams of numbers reminiscent of the building of structure and underpinning mechanics of the matrix animation.
2.
On animating in from the top, pixels will elongate and stretch to snap into the resting stage.
This stretch differs depending on the format of the asset whether it is a vertical or horizontal.
3.
Pixels can pass behind title copy but only when the title is just finished forming (or near as), once the title has finished animating and has had time to be read then the only pixel to pass behind it is the drop movie pixel that on completion of its vertical descent will as it expands on either side trigger the title to fade out.
4.
On the vertical Display ads the final pixel set descend from top but where the pixels would intersect the sign-off and CTA we have opted to have these form below this text set (below sign-off and CTA).
5.
This has two reasons, one is that the display adverts have very short run time, descending from top to bottom position overly complicates the aesthetics with being overly busy. The second reason builds on from this, in that it distracts from the viewers main focus which is the sign-off and CTA messaging.
6.
OOH animations have hard cut offs but where an animation loops the following applies, first set of pixels come in top to bottom elongating, these are replaced by the second configuration which animate the same way. However at the end, this second set do not elongate out to base, they however stay in position and shrink in scale on their vertical access to 0%.
Parallax animation
From 2D to 3D Parallax Cinematic scene.
Parallax technique is the process of separating a photograph into layers, opening the layered file in a compositing program like Adobe After Effects, and then arranging the layers and zooming a camera “into” the picture. It’s an animation technique that turns a simple 2D image into an animated multidimensional scene.
Main campaign hero
The new hero photography was based on the concept of being human-led and tech-powered. The creative direction was centered around our community of solvers coming together in unexpected ways.
The hero shot had been developed to tell one overall story from three sub-stories (from which we had also created sub-hero shots), including a coding story, a working with alliance partners and client's story, and a problem-solving/collaboration story, to demonstrate how PwC delivered The New Equation.
It was important that the photography demonstrated how that diverse community solved problems, felt distinctly PwC, authentic, innovative, and human. The photography was a central asset that brought our tech position to life.
Supporting heroes
It was important that the photography demonstrated how that diverse community solved problems, felt distinctly PwC, authentic, innovative, and human. The photography was a central asset that brought our tech position to life.
The photography was used initially in high-impact channels – including out-of-home, TV and digital touch points – to create a distinctive PwC feel: diverse, authentic, innovative and human.
Campaign
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Interactive
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Planning
Reportage photos
Our secondary reportage photos for both print and digital assets captured the essence of our brand's ethos – human-led and tech-powered. The creative direction revolved around showcasing our diverse community of problem solvers coming together in unexpected ways.
Out of homes
One of the key highlights of the campaign involved the strategic placement of out-of-home digital banners across the entire UK. This aspect of the campaign played a crucial role in maximizing visibility and engagement. The decision to utilize digital banners in out-of-home settings underscored the campaign's commitment to reaching a broad audience and making a significant impact.
- London Bridge Motion - Full motion (*P)
- Canary Wharf The Screen - Full motion (*P)
- Canary Wharf Network - Full motion (*P)
- London Euston - Full motion
- London Kings Cross - Full motion
- London St Pancras - Full motion
- London Victoria - Full motion
- London Waterloo - Full Motion
- Manchester Piccadilly - Full motion
- Edinburgh Waverley - Full motion
- Liverpool Lime St - Full motion
- Newcastle Central - Full motion
- Trafford Tower - Static
- Birmingham New Street - Full motion
- Edinburgh Tower - Static
- Reading Lights - StaticCardiff Lights - Static
- Shaftsbury Square - Static
- Bristol Station - Full motion
- Liverpool St - Full motion
*P - programmatic OOHs
Display banners
A pivotal aspect of our campaign was the strategic use of display banners on major websites such as The Guardian, Financial Times, Quantcast, Wired, and more. We employed various formats like MPU, DMPU, Billboard, and Page Takeover for maximum impact. This diverse approach aimed to reach a broad audience, leveraging the credibility of reputable platforms to effectively convey our message and create a memorable online presence.
- The Guardian - Fabric Banner (Desktop) (jpg.)
- The Guardian - Fabric Banner (Mobile) (jpg.)
- WIRED - Responsive home-fill (HTML5)
- WIRED - Double sky (HTML5)
- WIRED - MPU (HTML5)
- New Scientist - DMPU (HTML5)
- New Scientist - Billboard (HTML5)
- New Scientist - MPU (HTML5)
- New Scientist - Sticky Banner (HTML5)
- New Scientist - Homepage Takeover (jpg.)
- FT - Billboard (HTML5)
- FT - DMPU (HTML5)
- FT - MPU (HTML5)
- Quantcast - Wide Skyscaper (HTML5)
- Quantcast - Rectangle (HTML5)
- Quantcast - Mobile Leaderboard (HTML5)
- Quantcast - Halfpage (HTML5)
- Quantcast - Billboard (HTML5)
- Quantcast - Video (mp4)
- Nano - 5x video in banners (HTML5) (*P)
*P - rich media programmatic display ads
Landing page
The campaign landing page was a central hub for our promotion, offering a seamless and engaging experience. Designed with user-centric navigation, it effectively conveyed key messages through visuals and interactive elements. With a responsive design for various devices, the landing page played a crucial role in driving engagement and achieving campaign objectives.
Social media
Our social media strategy included a noteworthy collaboration with LinkedIn, enhancing our professional network outreach. Additionally, we were honored to have the esteemed BBC presenter, Hannah Fry, as part of our campaign. Through strategic posts and live sessions, we leveraged these collaborations to amplify our message and engage our audience with influential voices in the industry. This unique partnership brought added credibility and resonance to our campaign, contributing significantly to its success.
Events branding
We seamlessly extended our brand identity across a multitude of events and collaborations, forging impactful partnerships with industry giants including Microsoft, Salesforce, Google, and numerous others. Consistency in visual elements, messaging, and brand tone ensured a cohesive representation across diverse platforms. By aligning our identity with these influential brands, we not only bolstered our credibility but also created a unified narrative that resonated with a wide audience.
This successful application of our brand identity in various collaborative ventures underscored our adaptability and ability to maintain a strong and recognisable brand presence, contributing significantly to the success of these partnerships and events.
CTO Series PwC UK
We knew for our new positioning to be relatable, we had to show how our human-led, tech-powered approach runs through everything we do. We developed a content series that brought it to life while integrating topics and examples relevant to our platforms and industries.
The CTO Series paired a business expert with a chief technology officer from each line of service in six two-minute videos, demonstrating how PwC’s skills and capabilities combine to create results for our clients.
HL, TP Series with LinkedIn
While the CTO Series laid out how we work, we then looked for opportunities to build brand association with external technology experts and a well-regarded technology platform. We developed another video series, in association with LinkedIn, convening panels of business leaders, inspiring thinkers and PwC experts to consider a specific issue and the optimal human/technology balance to address it.
The series of five 15-minute episodes, entitled ‘Human-led, Tech-powered’, was hosted by Hannah Fry, whose high media profile as a science and technology author and broadcaster, helped position this content alongside the kinds of engaging factual programming our audience consume.
Print publications
Our print publications played a pivotal role in extending our campaign's reach, with prominent placements in esteemed publications like the Financial Times and The Guardian. These influential platforms provided a tangible and authoritative presence, complementing our digital efforts. Through thoughtfully curated content and impactful visuals, our print advertisements conveyed the essence of our campaign to a diverse and sophisticated readership. The strategic decision to advertise in these reputable publications underscored our commitment to reaching a high-profile audience and further solidified our brand presence in the print landscape.
Internal branding
Our comprehensive branding strategy was meticulously applied across all our offices throughout the UK, both internally and externally. This encompassed a range of elements, including external digital walls, internal plasmas, interactive boards, screensavers, email and newsletter banners, and various internal communication channels. This uniform implementation ensured a consistent and visually compelling brand presence across all locations, reinforcing our identity and values throughout our organizational network.
Behind the scenes
One of the key highlights of the campaign involved the strategic placement of out-of-home digital banners across the entire UK. This aspect of the campaign played a crucial role in maximizing visibility and engagement. The decision to utilize digital banners in out-of-home settings underscored the campaign's commitment to reaching a broad audience and making a significant impact.
Spotted by people
One of the key highlights of the campaign involved the strategic placement of out-of-home digital banners across the entire UK. This aspect of the campaign played a crucial role in maximizing visibility and engagement. The decision to utilize digital banners in out-of-home settings underscored the campaign's commitment to reaching a broad audience and making a significant impact.
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