Bright Ideas. Inspiring People.
British Library
Purpose
- Transforming organisations
- Building brands
- Creating journeys
What we did
- Campaign
When you think of your local library, you might not think of startups. The British Library’s Business & IP Centre set out to change that. Its mission is to bring free business support into the beating heart of communities, nationwide, to reach and empower those who often lack the confidence to start their own business – minority groups, women and disabled entrepreneurs. We worked with the British Library team to rewrite the blueprint for accessible and inclusive business support.
Starting a movement
Our central idea was to create a movement of business owners who inspire others like them. Movements, versus campaigns, self-perpetuate and can spread into the cracks where people have fallen through. We pinned the movement on three key principles: 1) Smash barriers, 2) Build confidence, 3) Create ambassadors.
To smash barriers, we rewrote intimidating business jargon into everyday, understandable language. The name, Business & IP Centre, was found to be a barrier in itself – so we rewired the acronym to ‘Bright Ideas, Inspiring People’. To build confidence, we humanised every part of the service and put people front and centre of the brand under the simple premise of, “If they can do it, so can I.” These brand heroes became our BIPs, ‘Bright and Inspiring People’. To create ambassadors, we empowered the community and networks with a toolkit for celebrating each other and themselves.
And finally, to give our movement a kickstart, we created a multimedia campaign that rolled out across print, film and radio.
Empowering societies
The new BIPC brand has been an enormous success. By humanising the unfamiliar and making it relatable, it calls to those who are othered in our societies that this is something for them. The new brand has helped the British Library reach and support these new audiences, deepen relationships with existing ones, and deliver on its mission to make information accessible to everyone.
