Brief Explanation

To demonstrate the idea of The Longest Wait, we firstly targeted VIPs because they’re normally given a red-carpet treatment (they’re also the biggest donators due of their healthy account). We created a special ticket machine that dispensed queue tickets with a waiting time of 8.5 years. The machine was placed at the entrance of the VIP section, with bank attendants that were instructed to ignore walk-in VIP customers until they approached them. During the entire activation, we captured VIPs reactions via hidden cameras and compiled them into a video. With our VIPs consent, we shared it on social platforms for regular bank customers to access and find out more about the campaign. It didn’t take too long for news portals to pick up our idea and featured it on their front pages.

Execution

In China, the waiting time for the visually impaired to own a guide dog is up to 8.5 years due to the lack of donations. So instead of a traditional donation campaign, we made people experience the problem faced by the visually impaired. This has never been done before by any bank because VIPs are normally given the red-carpet treatment. But we put our VIPs in the shoes of the visually impaired and made them wait for 8.5 years. Our desired outcome was to see VIPs being told to wait for 8.5 years, getting frustrated, and eventually purchase an investment product that donates a portion of sales to the cause. Initially, we were apprehensive because of the possible backlash, but eventually agreed to take the risk because of the potential impact.