What was the original brief for this campaign?
Brexit is a disaster for the UK, fashion and Jigsaw. Let's not stay quiet about it.
Tell us about your role in the creation of this work.
I created it.
What inspired you to approach the campaign this way?
Honesty. An honest conversation with the client about the problems Brexit had brought to their business, and an honest conversation with the customer about how we felt about this, and in particular immigration, which had become a toxic rally cry for brexiteers.
How difficult was it to sell the idea to Jigsaw?
At no point did I ever feel we were ‘selling’ to our client. 'heart immigration' was just the sharp, provocative, creative interpretation of our longer conversations. We work very openly and collaboratively with all our clients at The Corner, so there was no ‘big reveal’ and Peter Ruis (Jigsaw CEO) was onboard the second he saw it. He wanted to make an impact.
What was the biggest challenge you faced during the process?
Holding our nerve. The longer we lived with the idea, the more reasons we imagined to not do it. Bricks through windows, staff abuse, terrorism act while the campaign was live... thankfully none of this happened and the response was breathtakingly positive.
What did you learn from the experience?
Trust your instincts. There's no data or insight that can prove an idea like this work. Sometimes you just have to do what you think is right, and I'm very proud we did this campaign.
What’s a “behind the scenes” story that only you know about?
At the last minute we considered making the big white poster black, in case people tried to scrawl abusive comments on it. But we decided to trust in humankind to do the right thing, and two weeks later the huge ‘whiteboard’ on one of London’s busiest tube stations was still completely spotless.