The agency behind some of this year’s most talked about ad campaigns – from Olivia Colman’s banned Amnesty International spot to the hugely impactful ‘Give an X’ general election push – certainly knows how to pack a punch.
It might be small, but impact-focused creative agency Shape History has made its name with purpose-driven campaigns that mean business.
It comes as a surprise to find out that neither of the current co-managing directors Lauren Kay-Lambert and Ed Fletcher have previous experience working in a traditional advertising agency.
Instead, the pair hail from communications backgrounds – Fletcher worked at UK-based children’s charity Hope for Children while Kay-Lambert had experience working within women’s rights organisations.
Fletcher explains that this is something “a lot of people find weird”, but also sets them apart in a crowded market.
“Obviously there are a lot of upsides to having agency experience, but I think we’ve been able to come up with lots of different fresh air buys,” he says.
While the pair had to draw on mentors and learn a lot (and fast) when they first joined the agency, Kay-Lambert highlights that their skillsets as communicators and networkers gave them an advantage. It’s this ethos that has helped define them.
“I think there’s prior beliefs within some traditional teams that you have to keep certain things from your team or treat clients as clients but ultimately we’re being paid to do a job, and we see our role as being to create as much impact as possible,” Kay-Lambert adds.
A tale of growth: From insight to impact
If the past year alone is anything to go by, they have certainly made an impact. The ‘Give an X’ election drive mentioned above is just one stand-out example of the team’s success.
Their wins include collaborating with mylifemysay and the #iwill movement on a non-partisan drive to get young people to vote across both the local and general elections this year. The result was a stylish and well-targeted campaign with sponsorship from the ever popular Lime Bikes and Ben and Jerry’s.
In total, the campaign reached over four million young people aged between 18 and 24 – and 488, 886 of those clicked through to the government website to register to vote.
Also in the past year, Shape History led an A-list Amnesty International campaign starring Olivia Colman and Adrian Lester, putting a human rights spin on the housing crisis.
Styled like a gritty drama you’d watch in your front room and shown across cinema, it was so effective that it was banned from being shown on TV by the regulator for being too “political”. Such was the success of the campaign that it was shortlisted at both the Cannes Lions and DA&AD awards right alongside the industry’s top dogs.
Associate creative director Zoë Dawson, who spotted that dramas often tackle human rights issues by osmosis, added a layer of authenticity by actually writing out multiple episodes as if she were writing a series. Equally, creating Give an X involved regular sessions with youth focus groups discussing everything from their interests, to tone, to where they hang out.
And those two campaigns are just the surface of it. Among the organisations Shape History has worked with are the World Health Organisation, End Violence Against Women, NHS Go, The Climate Vote and many others.
And for the ever-growing team there is more to come. When Fletcher and Kay-Lambert joined, the agency had just ten people who were mainly focused on video production. Now, the 36-strong team is comprised of strategists, writers, planners and more (plus they’re currently hiring for a project manager).
As well as their North London office, they have also opened a second hub in Edinburgh which has a focus on social issues including homelessness and social housing with Shelter Scotland, as well as an array of environmentally-focused charities and organisations.
But getting to grips with local issues applies no matter where the team is working — for example one Kenya-based project they are working on for the charity Girl Effect saw members of the team out there during flash floods. However, as Kay-Lambert says, they weren’t going to leave until they had a clear understanding of local context and the terminology that would be most effective for their public health message.
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Ditching silos: Partners not clients
But in a climate in which bigger agencies are struggling – what, besides a scrupulous eye for detail is behind Shape History’s success?
“We’ve been able to attract incredible talent from more traditional commercial agencies and so we’ve got that. We’ve got all the kinds of creative and strategic thinking that you might expect from a big ad, big PR or big communications agency blended with that real deep insight and understanding about the issues we’re trying to talk about,” says Fletcher.
“And we’ve created this exciting sweet spot in the middle where we’ve got the best of both worlds. I think that’s what makes us unique.”
Crucially, the pair have stepped in at a time when many commercial brands are pondering, shifting, and re-shifting again when it comes to purpose.
To keep the tone right across its campaigns, Kay-Lambert highlights that the agency purposefully doesn’t use the term clients, preferring “partners”.
“Our partners are really recognising that the way we storytell has to be authentic,” she adds.
And breaking silos has been key to creating work that does the job, after all as Kay-Lambert adds there can be “a lot of ego involved” in the industry.
“It sucks because our ultimate goal here is to create a fairer world faster, through the social impact of what we’re doing. So the only way we can do that is through collaboration and partnership,” she continues.
‘It’s going to effect the bottom line’
Meanwhile Fletcher has just become an ambassador for adland’s climate-focused group Clean Creatives which is shaking up the industry when it comes to pushing agency’s to be accountable for who they work with.
And Shape History has also shared a Plan For The Planet which details its own approach to the environment, including reducing its emissions by 50% by 2030, supporting staff with their own sustainable behaviours and initiatives, and pushing for change within the sector.
Where “greenwashing” was once the buzzword, Fletcher feels that this has been taken over by “greenhushing”.
“It’s where basically no one says anything for fear of repercussions be it from shareholders or from customers, and the way we manage it is not by mitigating, it’s by telling the full story,” Fletcher continues.
Although there is no magic recipe to purpose-driven campaigns, ultimately it’s this ability to ditch the fear that sets Shape History apart in a sea of esteemed competitors.
This is an attitude they’ve kept at the core of their operations even as they start to branch out to work with more consumer brands.
As Kay-Lambart puts it: “When we’re speaking to our partners – especially consumer brands, it’s going to affect the bottom line if they aren’t transparent. People aren’t going to want to buy from them if they’re not saying anything.”