HEVĒ CEO, Chris Hercik discusses the SHRM – Together Forward At Work campaign.
Let’s be honest, 2020 rocked the workforce. Alongside COVID-19, issues of workplace bias, discrimination, inequality and other social injustices were brought to the forefront.
As the voice of all things work, workers and the workplace, The Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) wanted to play its part in helping to combat racial inequality in the workplace and wider America, and looked to HEVĒ to help.
We asked ourselves, what if we only focused on hands? The hands that built America’s workforce. The hands that fight to make us better. The hands that clasp to hold us together?
A passionate call to action, the A Show of Hands spot encouraged Americans to move forward together, to build a nation of inclusion and a workforce that is as diverse as the hands that built it. Because now more than ever, it takes many hands to change the world of work into a world of work that works for all.
HEVĒ’s core creative idea was derived from this and spoke to the notion that our hands don’t need to look the same to be together.
We subsequently launched #TogetherForwardAtWork, a multi-channel campaign that aims to encourage SHRM’s audience of executives, HR professionals, people managers and emerging professionals to commit to eradicating racial inequality in their workplaces, and provide them with the resources to do so. HEVĒ executed the creative ideation and development, script writing, direction, and video production support to create a :60, :30 and :15 spot to be used across linear, web and social.
We carefully selected a diverse cast of 15 hand models to feature in the spot, who quite literally showed their hands.
Artfully captured in partnership with renowned photographer James Macari (Vogue, GQ, The New York Times Sunday Magazine, Glamour, Marie Claire, Elle UK) over one day at Butter Tree Studios in NJ (shot during COVID-19, we ensured strict protocols were adhered to throughout the day), the hands carried messages such as ‘break barriers’ and ‘stand together,’ while others leveraged props including LGBTQ wristbands. They showcased the diversity of our workforce and acted as a true representation of what one nation really means.
The A Show of Hands spot has seen 76.2M+ impressions across linear networks & OTT placements includingCNN, ESPN, ABC – Good Morning America, Fox News, Fox Business and CNBC.
Read the entire case study and watch the spot on Brand Storytelling TV here.
