Exposing High Street Banks Climate Greenwashing

Client: The Co-operative Bank

With a history of ethical banking and the best ESG score of any UK high street bank The Co-operative Bank couldn’t stand by and let other high street banks greenwash the world to death.

The challenge was to end years of brand marketing hiatus and get consumers to switch to the only high street bank with a customer-led ethical policy. But, with the big retail banks outspending us by 10 to 1.

Research by The Co-operative Bank showed that over two-thirds of UK adults (70 per cent) are currently unaware of what their bank invests in, but that most would be willing to switch to a more ethical bank.

The strategy was simple:

1)Stop people in their tracks with broadcast media (TV and Outdoor) and make them aware of what banks are actually investing in

2)Use new voices including Bank.Green and TikTok creators to provide more education and understanding about climate credentials. Meanwhile, business owners were served specific messaging in relevant, high indexing podcasts.

Results: +3 pts Ethical Perception +3pts (Q3 – Q4 ’22) +5pts Awareness (84.5% to 89.5%) TA campaign peak 131% increase in campaign web traffic vs average