( For 72 Point/ Grayling ) Barber Ben at Johnny’s Chop Shop in Soho.
CorpComms Awards

Most creative use of content

Winner 2021
A shave too close
Lloyds Banking Group
Agency: Grayling

When consumer research revealed that 85 per cent of men were confident that they could spot a scam (against 78 per cent of women) but that one in three Brits were unsure whether they had shared information on social media, Lloyds Bank elected to find a new creative way to raise awareness of male over-confidence as part of its commitment to fighting fraud.

But it needed to reach new audiences, that weren’t avid readers of personal finance information or media, and to educate them on the different types of fraud, particularly when it came to online. Where better than a barber shop?

Partnering with Johnny’s Chop Shop in London’s Soho, Lloyds Banking Group working with its agency Grayling undertook an experiment to show in real time how easy it was for scammers to uncover private information on social media.

The barbers scanned three customers’ profiles on social media before their appointments, then casually dropped personal information into conversation while they were sitting in the chair. For example, they mentioned to one that he had recently become an uncle, another was asked about his mother Catherine while the third was asked about recently getting engaged.

None had shared the information in their conversations and were baffled about how the barbers knew so much. They were told that all the information had been sourced from their social media profiles, which put them at risk from potential fraudsters.

The experiment was filmed and shared as a media-friendly asset. It was also shared on Lloyds Bank’s social media platforms, while retail fraud director undertook a day of radio interviews educating listeners about the risks of fraud and how to deter scammers.

Lloyds also worked with influencers Matt Farquharson and Carl Thompson to drive engagement with a younger male demographic while a ground-breaking partnership with social media publisher LADbible, which has more than 11.6 million followers on Instagram, extended the campaign’s reach, with an interactive Instagram quiz and social posts targeted at young men.

The LADbible partnership exceeded all key performance indicators, achieving 5.7 million impressions, 487 requests for more information on Lloyds’ fraud hub and almost 632,000 views of the barber shop video.

The campaign generated 46 pieces of coverage, including 32 regional titles, all of which included a key message about social media scams. Nine out of ten articles also included a link to the fraud hub.

A post-campaign analysis of 2,000 adults found that one in four had seen the film and changed their behaviours. More than a quarter (27 per cent) made their social media profiles private while 37 per cent thought twice before posting online.

The judges described A Shave Too Close as ‘a clever and creative campaign’, adding: ‘It applied creativity to communicate vitally important information about a topic (fraud) that usually turns people off. It is rooted in something everyone can relate to – giving away too much on social media – and drove clear impact with the target audience.’