Exploring the world of financial futures through speculative fiction.
INTEGRATED CAMPAIGN | DIRECT | DIGITAL | PODCASTS
UPSHOT
Brief
Riscura is a financial intelligence firm advising major investment banks. Despite their behind-the-scenes influence, they remained
virtually unknown. With a modest budget, we were tasked with raising awareness and putting them on the map.
Solution
Every day, financial institutions make decisions that impact the lives of ordinary South Africans. But the truth is that most see numbers,
not people. We wanted to bring the human need of care to every facet of investment influence. Introducing Upshot – a collaboration between the 100+ investment intelligence team of Riscura and world-renowned authors to turn financial concepts into not-so-far-fetched stories about our future.
We created an anthology of six short stories which was turned into a book, a digital version of it as a website, as well as three audio books of the most compelling stories.
These were shared with media and influencers, who helped us amplify the visibility. It was also supported by a digital campaign which included audio ads that were written and produced by AIs (we did this in early 2020, so it was well ahead of its time.)
The book was featured on evening news and had a substantial readership, especially given the subject matter.
Results
Upshot was read enough times to make the New York Times Best Seller list
The book
The book was a key part of the campaign and was be delivered to the campaign’s most important audiences.
It features seven stories, delivered by six authors, all curated by international best selling author Lauren Beukes. Both Lauren Beukes and Tade Thompson are Arthur C. Clarke Award winners (one of the world’s most prestigious literary awards for speculative and science fiction). Some of the other writers include young new voices out of Johannesburg, to best-sellers based in London.
Each story is also preceded by the investment concepts which inspired them.
Several hundred of the books were made available, and were sent to key potential clients, as well as the media and influencers who helped us build the lore around it.
Audio books
We turned three of the books - Pre-loved, Undercurrency and Last Shot - into audio books which were released across Podcast platforms like Spotify, as well as being accessible from the campaign site.
Audio campaign
To drive awareness of the audiobooks , we ran an Spotify campaign consisting of six ads. (Please keep in mind, this was 2020, and ubiquitous use of AI was still many years off.) To produce them, we used various AI software which did the scripting, provided the voice for each ad and composed and mixed the audio. Can you believe that this felt foreign and a stretch at the time?
Website
The campaign website formed a fundamental part of the campaign, giving access to all the stories. (Globally, we reached over 7 million people, making the anthology a best seller at a global level.)
Cover illustrations
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Loerie Awards (Creative)
Print crafts: writing - Gold
Branded content - radio and audio - Bronze
Out of home crafts - Craft certificate
Direct mail - Finalist
Radio and audio crafts - Writing - 3x finalistsCreative Circle (Creative)
Out of home - direct - 1st place
Out of home - 1st place
Radio and audio - 3rd placeBookmark Awards (digital)
Breakthrough on a budget - finalist
Best use of programmatic media - finalistNew Generation Awards (Digital)
Integrated - FinalistVector (UK literary awards)
Top 10 of 2021 - Science Fiction from Africa -
Agency: DUKE
Executive Creative Directors: Mike Beukes | Suhana Gordhan
Account Management: Michelle Bekker | Kate Wilson | Di Du Toit | Cherna Misrole | Carla Tyack | Rachelle Momberg
Agency Art Directors: Brinke Stemmett | Pieter Janse van Rensburg | Jean-luc Boulanger
Agency Producers: Nino Naidoo | Di Fraser
Book editor: Helen Moffett
Brand Representatives: Malcom Fair | Courtney Atkinson | Andrew van Biljon
Creative Directors: Pieter Janse van Rensburg | Dallas Du Toit
Designers: Pieter Janse van Rensburg | Brinke Stemmett | Dallas Du Toit
Illustrators: Pieter Janse van Rensburg | Brinke Stemmett
Recording Studio: We Love Jam
Sound Engineers: Arnold Vermaak | Graham Merrill
Strategists: Steve Miller | Tracy Jones
Writers: Lauren Beukes | Mike Beukes | Sam Beckbessinger | Angela Makholwa | Charlie Human | Tade Thompson | Bongani Kona | Mohale Mashigo | Leon Strydom | Anna-mart Fourie