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Meet The Economy-hero

World Gold CouncilMeet, The Economy

Insight

With a millennia-spanning legacy, gold is an investment asset with both proven credentials and contemporary flexibility.

Periods of growth and recession have alternated throughout the world’s economic history. The events of 2020 led to unprecedented impact, sparking a resurgence in alternative investments as a substitute for traditional investments.

Gold’s proven legacy was absent from headlines, and the growing advertising volume and future-facing nature of alternative investments triggered some investor’s desire to deviate from fiat currencies, stocks and shares.

Idea

Meet, The Economy, a character with the authority to advocate the benefits of gold as a modern investment asset.

The World Gold Council’s role is to provide analysis, insight and wisdom rather than sell. Diversification, Liquidity and Returns are all proven benefits of gold as an asset, while the ability for it to be traded digitally without the need for physical storage – often more quickly than other alternative digital currencies – is a less well-known benefit.

A person with brown hair, seen from behind, closely observes a large framed painting of colorful flowers, including tulips and roses, on a dark background.

A timeless embodiment.

To communicate these messages, a proxy has been imagined to tell the story for the World Gold Council through film. A personification of The Economy itself; a timeless embodiment of humanity’s past, present and future of trading.

A man with wavy dark hair and a beard gazes thoughtfully at the camera, his hand resting near his lips. He wears a dark, textured turtleneck sweater against a plain, warm-toned background.

A universal voice for the brand.

Across three films for the World Gold Council, The Economy acts as narrator to speak to both an institutional and retail audience. A familiar character present around the world, voicing the story of gold and the prowess of investors alike.

Evolution

Extending the story from gold to those who use it.

In the second film of the series, The Economy narrates the skill of an investor curating and crafting a portfolio of varied financial assets and products, with gold as the glue that binds and secures the portfolio.

A woman with short brown hair, dressed in a white suit, examines a translucent, futuristic object with architectural designs, set against a softly lit background with a warm glow.
A woman in a white suit holds two torn pieces of paper with hand-drawn cartoons of business and money symbols, obscuring most of her face.

The Kintsugi Investor.

Inspired by the traditional Japanese artform of Kintsugi, the campaign’s second film celebrates the skill required to assemble a delicate and interconnected financial portfolio. As with Kintsugi, gold makes a small yet critical contribution to the whole to bind each component.

A large egg sculpture with visible golden cracks and blue architectural sketches sits on a white pedestal against a soft, gradient background with a horizontal glowing line.

Across the films, the character of The Economy describes the turmoil of present times, recounts the highs and lows of centuries of fluctuations, celebrates gold as a tool of equal importance to an investor’s skill required to succeed, and shares with us a truth we all recognise – that it’s the companions we cherish the most that carry us through the toughest of times.

The third film in the trilogy, our investor enters Mr Economy’s world. The changing landscape of the markets provides both opportunity and risk. Gold guides the way forwards, hedging risks to the investor’s portfolio.

Navigate the Unforeseeable.

Filmed on location in Slovenia, the brutalist architecture becomes a character in its own right in this Escher-like landscape of unexpected twists and turns. In an environment where moving forwards is the only option, yet where nothing is truly certain, a guardian against risk is worth its weight in gold.

A woman in a white shirt and black pants stands in profile under large, angular concrete columns in a dimly lit, industrial setting.
A man in a long dark coat walks through a modern, unfinished concrete building, casting a long shadow on the sunlit floor. He looks to the side and appears calm and thoughtful.
I had a love affair with tulips once. Lived through the crash of ’29 and early dot-com hype. Watched mortgages play the villain beside a true Greek tragedy.
- The Economy

With over $185 billion of gold traded globally every day, gold is both The Economy’s and an investor’s closest and most reliable companion. An ally that has provided a safe haven for investments for millennia, weathering centuries of hype and financial bubbles whilst modernising at every opportunity.

The films include many visual clues to The Economy’s identity and relationship with gold. From the gold-detailed watch kept close to him throughout, to the green and red candlesticks of economic charts. From the rich golden light to the suggestion of supernatural age as he reminisces on Tulip Mania – the world’s first burst financial bubble during the 17th century.

Told rather than sold.

Deeper information to explain the benefits of gold as an investment asset are shared on a dedicated website, providing data and analysis from third-party sources. Sharing information rather than instructions allows the reader to come to their own conclusions on whether gold is appropriate for their portfolio.

Two smartphones display financial articles about gold investment; one shows a man in a suit with the headline Why investors turn to gold, and the other shows a woman gesturing to a globe, discussing golds competitive returns.
A woman in a light coat looks ahead with a serious expression, while a man in dark clothing stands behind her in shadow, both positioned against a background of tall, blurred architectural columns.

Impact

An initiative that delivers balanced insight in favour of a sales message.

Building upon the first film’s delivery from brief to broadcast in only 30 days, the project became reality through the combination of a clear conceptual vision, collaborative working methods and a network of award-winning creative talent.

A person takes photos of a detailed architectural model of a building complex with trees, under dramatic lighting that highlights the model’s features.
A man with dark hair and a beard sits on a gray sofa in a modern, minimalistic room. A camera is filming him. A lit candle, cup, and book are on a nearby glass coffee table. The background features concrete and wooden walls.
Two people wearing face masks stand and talk on a film set, surrounded by cameras, monitors, and equipment. One gestures with his hands while the other listens. A crew member sits in the background.
A close-up of a womans face appears on a monitor during a film shoot in a studio, with film equipment and another monitor in the background showing the same image.

  • Served over

    1.2b

    times to a global audience

  • Three day-shoots

    146

    unique assets to share the story

  • More than

    2.3m

    clicks through to the online content

  • Insights given to

    4.2m

    visitors to new invest.gold website

The campaign’s tone serves as an informed alternative to brash cryptocurrency volume, rather than a direct response to it. The films and website reinforce a new brand direction for gold and the World Gold Council. One of confidence, reassurance, trust, and the unquestionable legacy to provide safety and returns through any economic environment.

A woman with short brown hair wearing a cream blazer and white blouse looks to her left against a light, neutral background.
A man with wavy dark hair and a beard stands in dramatic lighting, casting shadows on his face. He wears a dark coat over a ribbed turtleneck sweater and looks pensively into the distance.

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