Enabling Success

Nigeria is a country daily plundered of her resources by leaders who should know better. It's no surprise she ranks 148 on the corruption index. For that reason, the average Nigerian has little or no faith in the government, corporations and politician. And this pessimism pervades almost every aspect of their lives. They are quick to doubt their parents, their friends, artisans... everyone
So, when Union Bank, a financial institution that had become the reference point for all things archaic and outmoded, decided to reposition itself as a simpler, smarter bank, the move was met with sneers and cynicism.
Nigerians are a religious group of people, and even today, morning devotions and prayer sessions are a daily occurrence in many corporate organisations.
So, we came up with a campaign that leveraged on this cultural reality.
The name, “Thomas” was an existing cultural reference for doubt derived from the disciple of Jesus Christ who doubted the news of Christ's resurrection.
Building on that, we created an antithetical character and scapegoat called Uncle Thomas. Doubting Uncle Thomas, based on the insight that says that deep down, Nigerians don’t really want their disappointments to turn them into obvious pessimists, in other words, they don’t want to be doubters like Thomas the disciple.
The idea being that while doubt and cynicism are sometimes legitimate emotions in a challenging nation like Nigeria, we still should not give in to pessimism and apathy.