Can you tell us a little about the Unbound Greyhound campaign and what you hoped to achieve with it? 

Yeah, of course. So Unbound the Greyhound is formed with nine animal welfare organisations, including grassroots groups that have really been on the ground in Scotland for years campaigning for this, animal welfare organisations, and an all-party parliamentary group. We even have an international animal welfare organisation on board, Grey2K USA Worldwide. 

We came together to create this coalition because greyhound racing is dwindling in Scotland, and there's just one track left, and it's completely unlicensed. All the licensed tracks well, they're no longer in operation. And that's a tiny population of people still racing greyhounds. On top of that, our coalition partner in Scotland against greyhound exploitation, Sage. Their petition to ban Greyhound Racing in Scotland is the most signed in Scottish parliamentary history. We picked up that there was a parliamentary appetite for change as well. So we decided to form a coalition to bring everyone who's been active in this to work together to create change. We really do believe that there's immense power in collaborative work. And so that's why we were formed. And the goal was to end Greyhound Racing in Scotland, essentially, through parliamentary action.  

OneKind in itself has powerful branding; it's very recognisable. What made you decide to brand the Unbound the Greyhound campaign in its own right?  

We wanted to brand the Unbound the Greyhound campaign separately from OneKind because it is a coalition campaign. We wanted something that wouldn't immediately be identified as just OneKind but rather represent all nine groups in the coalition. We also wanted something very original and eye-catching that wouldn’t touch on similar branding and would immediately be recognisable as the Unbound the Greyhound campaign. 

"the storytelling was crucial because we can bring people into the conversation and go into more depth if appropriate."

The campaign that you created with Bold is fantastic. It's very bright, with illustrations that have a softer touch than similar campaigns. When you were going through the process with Bold, how did you find it? You did a brand workshop with them, and going through that process, how did you and the partners find the process of trying to decide what that brand identity would look like?  

It was fascinating. I have to say that from the minute we met Bold, we were able to discuss the issue in such depth, and then they came back to us with two really great ideas. 

We decided to go down the route of the illustration and the animation. That was for a few reasons. One, I'd mentioned that we wanted something original. We didn't want to have to reuse the same photos, the same high-quality photos that we've made and need to take from the photo bank. We didn't want it to look like any other campaign that had been done before. So, the appeal of the illustration was that it was completely original and could be connected to the Unbound the Greyhound campaign. 

Secondly, there's always a challenge in communicating animal welfare issues to a broader audience. So, we wanted people to know what's going on but at the same time, some of the stuff in the Greyhound racing industry has been so gruesome. For example, greyhounds are killed at the track and their body goes into a freezer there. Which is very upsetting and there is a place to show these photos and educate people. However, with Unbound with Greyhound, we were aiming to bring in a new audience: people who were sympathetic to animal welfare but perhaps weren't aware of the issues of Greyhound racing. We often speak to these people when we're out and about with the campaign who maybe didn't even realise it was still going on or hadn't thought about it but would lean towards knowing the issues and thinking, well, that's something I wouldn't support. It opens the conversation for us to tell them how to get involved. 

We also didn't want to go in with heavy images because we planned to have them posted around the city on buildings and bus stops, etc., and we didn’t think they would lend themselves to this sort of campaign; it might put people off rather than engage them. Whereas with the illustration, we thought that was a fantastic way to bring people into the story, and the storytelling was crucial because we can bring people into the conversation and go into more depth if appropriate. 

Buchanan Street display

When you're out talking to people and trying to engage with them, was it much easier to do with the illustrations? Did they want to find out more? easier to do with the illustrations? Did they want to find out more?  

Yeah, I would say so. We also always bring greyhounds along, and having dogs there definitely helps! People see a dog and want to pet it. But yes, the illustrations also helped, especially engaging people with children; although the illustrations and animations do have shocking text and depict the injuries and abuse the dogs suffer, having that in an illustrated format does make it more approachable. So, I do think it worked in that sense. 

When we launched the campaign, we launched it in Glasgow, on Buchanan Street, and we had a lot of people stop by with kids and their families and that was lovely. We used the animations to help them understand the severity and the bits that are not so nice to talk about.  

Changing perspectives - public meeting the Greyhounds

Did it allow you to discuss that naturally with them and didn't act as a barrier? Were they ready for those conversations as well?  

Yeah, definitely. I cannot think of a time when people didn't want to know about it when we went down those routes of those conversations. 

It's just common sense to read the room. I won't discuss something graphic if I'm chatting with someone with a small child. I should also say that you usually don't have to. I think people know the stats of deaths and injuries, and we're a nation of dog lovers, so we don't often have to go down that route.  

It worked because it gave us that door into engaging with the public, but it didn't hinder raising awareness so they wanted to act.  

Talking about taking action, what was the final number for the open letter? It was insanely high.  

Yeah, we surpassed our target of 20,000 signatures. 

Our final number was more than 20,600 signatures, and we secured that in quite a short period of time compared to other actions we've taken. So yeah, it was high numbers, and we were really delighted with them. We were able to hand that over to the Scottish Government in March of this year, which was brilliant. 

Outdoor Advertising

Do you think it would have had the same impact if you hadn't branded it? 

Yeah, I think the branding was crucial. I think it was a vital part of the campaign's success. It was the branding, storytelling, and having the set of assets that was provided to us. And I think it really helped spark our imagination and what we could do with it. For example, we had the ads around Glasgow and Edinburgh, and we projected text onto buildings throughout Glasgow and Edinburgh, too. It felt like a natural progression of things we could do with the assets. And I think that was very beneficial, having creatives who provided such high-quality work that could then allow us to sort of run with it.  

Unbound the Greyhound takes over Lush

It sort of makes it easy. Because you're not always thinking, what do we want to put out there to tell the story?

The story is there, as you say, the assets are there, and you're like, well, I want to put these out here. We had so much to say because of them.

On the topic of Assets, Bold created a series of different little illustrations, as we have discussed. Some depict the dogs on their own, some with injuries, and what have you. Do you have certain assets that are your favourites that you constantly want to use for things?  

Yeah, so one's the scratchcards they created for us. They look like, I suppose, gambling, the scratch cards you would have bought at the racetracks. They were repurposed for banning Greyhound Racing. I thought that was incredible. And it's perfect because when we launched, people from shops came out to us.

For example, Doc Martins came out and said, we want to take some to hand out. Lush very kindly did the same. There are a couple of businesses, including local businesses around Glasgow, that also took them. I have one on me now. I always have one on me, just in case. And it's easy to hand out to people to take action.But I love the idea of reclaiming that for the end of greyhound racing. 

Interviewer: It's close to Scottish mentality because we all love scratch cards. ‘So I can scratch this off? It's for good. Great.’  

Eve: Yeah, exactly. I must also mention another highlight, which was the Unbound Greyhound jackets. Greyhounds need to wear an extra layer because bless their hearts, they've got such thin skin and also rain jackets because they hate rain. When we handed in our open letter to the Scottish Government, Will from Bold organised to get some Unbounded the Greyhound branded jackets. I think that's incredible. My dog's a larger greyhound, bless his heart. His is a bit tighter, but we'll get him a bigger one. 

But we also had people reach out who saw those on social media. An group that works to ban greyhound racing in Ireland got in touch to inquire if they could borrow some to raise awareness.  

Interviewer: That's brilliant. We were recently at an event and thinking about the sort of practical merchandise we could get for events. We all get our tote bags, pens, mugs, etc, at these events, but we all said that if someone was to have something that had the messaging and it was for a pet, it would be brilliant.  You never really think of free merchandise for pets, but it’s a clever idea because they're out and about all the time, and they'll have your messaging on it.  

Eve: Exactly. They are just fantastic. We get stopped all the time. 

"...we saw an increase across everything: engagement and followers increased. It boosted our social media, not just for Unbound the Greyhound but also for all our other campaigns."

Bob the Greyhound tries on his new coat at Bold Studio

Do you think you would go through the branding process again for another campaign? It was something that you enjoyed, and would you recommend it to others?  

Yeah, absolutely. I would love to work with Bold again on another campaign. It was, it was a fascinating experience, to be honest. It was unlike something I'd ever worked on before as a campaigner. And I would a hundred per cent recommend it. We had a great first meeting with Bold, and then what they could do from the information we gave them blew my mind, especially how they could pick up and run with the ideas. And they always provided options and alternatives. They always had such a strong package, and also, if I ever had to go to them for anything else, it's never been an issue. So yeah, I would 100 % recommend working with a creative agency on a campaign. I think storytelling is crucial for campaigns and agencies like Bold can support organisations in creating this through branding. 

Interviewer: Fantastic. And we are seeing more people coming to Bold now for campaign work, and they're seeing that benefit. I think there's a long-held idea that branding is the pretty pictures and the nice text and stuff like that. And people don't realise how it can propel something forward, especially in such a competitive market where we're saturated with so many things, so standing out from the crowd is more difficult now. And if you can, it does make a change.  

Eve: Yeah, I totally agree with that. And just to say as well, we noticed, for example, the impact that had on our social media. I'm not the social media officer, so I don't have the stats to hand, but we saw an increase across everything: engagement and followers increased. It boosted our social media, not just for Unbound the Greyhound but also for all our other campaigns. And as you say, which was what we've been discussing as well, and is an excellent point, is if things are so saturated, you know, your scrolling through social media, there's so much content, and we wanted something that would make stop and say what's that? The animated video and illustrations did work to make people do that.  

Interviewer: We used it on our social media, and it was one of our most shared and commented-on pieces. So, I can agree. It just captivated the hearts of so many people. And it's that cheeky little face of Bob’s looking back at me that's almost saying, are you going to do something? And I like that! 

Eve: I think we're lucky to live in a society that values animals, especially companion animals. As you say, just being able to show something to people made them stop and take action because people care. It's about what people can take in when everything's so saturated. That's how you break through the noise of society almost. 

Interviewer: Well, thank you so much for coming today. We have loved chatting with you. Bob's not here today; he's at home, but we look forward to seeing him soon. 

Eve and Rachel from OneKind accepting The People's Choice Award at The Smiley Charity Film Awards