Challenge

The Together Coalition wanted to launch The National Conversation: a major UK-wide listening initiative designed to understand how people across Britain experience community life, trust and belonging. The challenge was to encourage participation at national scale, reach a broad and diverse audience, and frame the conversation in a way that felt credible, inclusive and politically neutral.

Approach / Solution

M+C Saatchi Group UK developed a campaign that invited people to take part by sharing their personal experiences of community life. The creative approach mirrored the openness of the questionnaire itself, encouraging people to “try on” different points of view and recognise that understanding begins with listening.

The campaign used a visual system inspired by online search suggestions, with each execution presenting contrasting perspectives alongside a more moderate view. Led by the phrase “I feel”, the work encouraged responses rooted in lived experience rather than ideology. Themes included safety, policing, access to green space, diversity and religion.

A simple black-and-white identity, including a logo built from stylised text boxes, helped create an accessible, apolitical and human feel. The campaign ran across donated out-of-home media and social channels, directing audiences to complete the University of Oxford survey or host group conversations in their own communities.

Results

The campaign helped launch one of the UK’s most ambitious public listening exercises around community, trust and belonging. It generated strong early momentum, delivering 10,000 sign-ups in the first 48 hours and helping The NationalConversation move quickly towards its goal of hearing from 100,000 people across Britain.