Challenge:
Square, launched by Jack Dorsey in the US is a contactless payment system. When it launched in the UK with a ‘simple and easy’ campaign it bombed. Not least because we’ve used 'contactless' to pay for things here for almost a decade – ‘easy’ isn’t a compelling proposition.
Solution:
We reframed the audience, specifically targeting SMEs. 96% of businesses in the UK are small – and they’re the driving force of the economy. Yet compared to their bigger rivals they’re unfairly hit with high tax and business rates. There was an opportunity for Square to become the champion for small businesses.
We relaunched the brand as ‘Square and Fair’ with a film featuring the old wartime song ‘Thingummybob’ sung by Gracie Fields. We showed that Square is a more affordable way for small businesses to take card payments and in celebrating the vital role of small businesses in the engine of the British economy we made a hero of the Square Reader – the ‘Thingummybob’ of the title.
The film ran on TV and online, supported by specialist press and radio. There was also an engaging paid and earned social campaign. We saw an immediate impact: an instant 94% increase in website traffic and a 14% increase in brand awareness, in three months.
Winner: Drum Brave Award 2019
Director: Rob Sanders, Creative team: Luke Ashton, Matt Allen,
Photographer: Tom Hull
Square payment systems
Rebranding Square as the champion for SMEs


