Manchester-based production company, Standby Productions Ltd, recently worked with My Clever Agency to produce and deliver a campaign for The Co-operative Bank to mark the 25th Anniversary of its customer-led Ethical Policy.

Working with My Clever Agency, Standby produced a 30” ad to be distributed across TV and online, along with a series of supporting films for online and social media channels. All focussed on the reasons why The Co-operative Bank’s real customers continue to choose them after all this time.

Alistair Pegg, Marketing Director, The Co-Operative Bank said: This campaign is really poignant and shows how invested our customers are in the values and ethics of the Bank and how much it means to them that we continue with the good work that’s taken place over the years. Our ethical difference remains unique among UK high street banks, and our campaign is designed to remind people of the importance of this difference, and thank customers for their contribution.”

“We think hearing first-hand the comments of customers who joined the Bank because of its ethical difference and seeing how the Co-operative Bank’s ethical approach helps local communities is a really powerful way to speak to people across the country who want a bank that is different and demonstrates the importance of values and ethics to our customers.”

“Working with Standby and My Clever Agency enabled us to reflect the importance of our values and ethics in the view of our customers with the combination of studio and on location shoots, bringing out the authenticity of our campaign.”

MY CLEVER AGENCY: “To create a suite of films with such disparate themes but that work together to tell one cohesive story is no mean feat, but one that the Standby team achieved with aplomb. From conceptualisation to delivery, the entire team fell in line as an extension of our own – overcoming the same obstacles to orchestrate three fantastic shoots in an impossibly short timeframe. To have such an outstanding end result is testament to Standby’s can-do approach, brilliant talent, and appreciation of what we were trying to achieve. I wouldn’t hesitate to commission Standby for our next project, or to recommend them to anyone embarking on large scale campaigns or smaller, more intimate film projects.”

The customers give real and authentic accounts of how much they value the Bank and it’s Ethical Policy, which Standby support with a series of interesting portrait shots. Accompanying these, Standby included a short sequence based around their normal day-to-day life, adding emphasis to the ‘real people’ aspect of the ad.

Simon Owen, Standyby Productions: “We were very excited to be working in partnership with My Clever Agency to deliver a whole suit of films for The Co-operative Bank. It was quite a difficult brief to highlight 25 years of their Ethical Policy as it covers so many important pillars, but one thing was for sure – we wanted to have a very real and human feel to the adverts. With this in mind we wanted to use real customers and hear first hand what they had to say about The Co-operative Bank’s Ethical Policy. What was genuinely amazing, was how passionate their customer base was about choosing the Bank over other banks because of the Ethical Policy.”

“Here at Standby Productions we produced 15 individual films for TV, YouTube and the Bank’s Social Media channels. We’re very proud of the films and both My Clever Agency and The Co-operative Bank have been really complimentary of our work.”