Case Study: How Rev Graham Long won Bravos Brave Client of the Year for The Wayside Chapel’s ‘Love Over Hate’ campaign via UrsaClemenger
Case Study: As part the Bravo presentation of Global Awards last Friday night, The Rev Graham Long, CEO and Pastor of The Wayside Chapel, won Brave Client of the Year for Wayside’s “Love Over Hate” Corporate Identity, created by UrsaClemenger.
How did he do it?
Says Long: “Not many organisations in the world are comfortable using the word “love” and no-one ever wants to use the word “hate” in a statement of their mission. But “hate” is the right word.
“We constantly see people age 10 years in 6 months. Ultimately we stand with people who usher themselves into an early death. Self hate, self loathing is the best way of understanding the evidence of our eyes. Damaged people, punish themselves.
“Love is only to look into a face and to see what is yet beautiful. It is to stand with someone; be with someone. The place where love and hate intersect can be a tumultuous place. It’s not a place where we seek to just comfort people in their isolation but rather its about calling people out of isolation and into the risky, healing place that we call community.
“Our team loved the logo from the first sighting. Wayside is a place for gentle compassion but it is no place for wimps.”
In Chapter 7 of Graham’s book, “Love Over Hate – Finding life by the wayside” he explains how he sold in the idea.
Says Long: “One of the trickiest meetings our Board has ever had was the night we adopted this new logo. I really needed Board approval because there was loads of serious advertising already in place for the next day and to pull the campaign would have been a most embarrassing exercise. A couple of Board members seemed to lock horns and there didn’t look like there was any hope to unlock them. I think the key issue was our use of the word ‘hate’.
“The heat in the room built, with arguments on both sides. I began to think a great and wonderful idea – one that I strongly believed was the right idea for us – may be delayed or perhaps lost all-together.
“It was one of the moments I saw Ian’s (board director Ian Martin) leadership at it’s finest. Ian doesn’t raise his voice, but if he raises his finger you had better be paying attention. Ian raised his finger and said, “This discussion can’t really progress beyond this point. I’ll tell you what we will do. We’re going back to Graham because he hasn’t made too many mistakes so far. Next item.”
“To my astonishment, we moved straight to the item on the next agenda.”
Says Denis Mamo ECD of UrsaClemenger: “We consider ourselves very lucky to be working with Graham and his team. When we were asked to create a positioning and identity for The Wayside Chapel, Graham was truly the inspiration. If you read his weekly Inner Circle newsletter, and I encourage everyone to subscribe, you’ll see Love over Hate in every line and thought he delivers. So it’s no surprise to me that he was also just awarded NSW Local Hero in the Australian of the Year Awards. He is a remarkable leader.”
Organisation: The Wayside Chapel
Client: Rev Graham Long
Client: Laura Watts
Agency: UrsaClemenger
Executive Creative Director: Denis Mamo
Senior Art Director: Helen Shortis
Senior Copywriter: Geoff Fischer
Campaign Director: Richard Wylie
Managing Director: Mardi Le Page
1 Comment
Outstanding UrsaClemenger.
The “Love Over Hate” work is powerful and born from Graham Long’s unique philosophy of meeting and not fixing. Well done Richard and the team. An important partnership.
And peeps – subscribe to the weekly Inner Circle email. The perfect anecdote if you’re sitting at your desk, suffering from advertising’s ‘poor-me syndrome’.