2015 Winners & Shortlists

Brief Explanation

Any company bragging about their CSRs is distasteful. And so, the 'tone-of-voice' was the main challenge. How do we make the recipient who has nothing to do with the bank's CSR, a part of the drive…and in the process inform him about the not-so-well-known advantages of tree planting. In Kenya, trees are looked at as firewood. This calendar hopes to involve, inform, educate!

The Brief

National Bank planted over 2 million trees in 2014. It is part of the bank's CSR undertaking. Instead of telling people about this in a blasé advertising campaign, can make people a part of this drive. Involve rather than merely inform. The medium chosen was the desk calendar. And the communication objective was to let people know the advantages of planting trees.

How the final design was conceived

A key design objective laid down was: 'Make the recipient plant trees…and feel good about every tree he plants.' Many traditional and non-traditional options were considered. We even considered handing out tree seeds. When we asked people, we realized no one was going to take the effort to plant a real tree. That drove us to the idea of making the calendar recipient plant 'virtual trees'.

Indication of how successful the outcome was in the market

These calendars started as corporate handouts. Children at home got excited about it. And soon, the bank received requests from several schools for the calendars. A huge extra run had to be printed. The most heartening outcome of all this is that real tree-planting became programmes with several schools. And most importantly, there has been a subsequent drive educating rural folk on preserving trees.

National Bank has accompanied Kenya in the country's progress march from independence to it's current status as the East African hub. The bank embodies the spirit of the Kenyan people, and cuts across the various socio-economic strata of Kenyan society. A key brand value that forms part of the bank's essence wheel is: 'Responsible'. Responsible for national betterment. Responsible for a better society. And responsible for a better environment.