Client
Well One,
Tower Hamlets Council

The brief
Tower Hamlets has one of the highest rates of social isolation in London. A large coalition of community organisations, health services and local authority partners had come together under the Connection Coalition with a shared goal: tackle loneliness in the borough. They had the ambition and the partners. What they didn’t have was a clear creative direction that everyone could get behind.

That’s where the creative brief started.

The insight
Putting anti-isolation resources in community centres only reaches people who are already connected. Lonely people, almost by definition, aren’t walking through those doors.

The campaign needed to go to where people already were, not where we hoped they might turn up. Supermarkets, libraries, train stations – the places everyone has to visit regardless of how isolated they feel. And rather than posters telling people loneliness is bad, the approach needed to model the thing it was trying to encourage. A genuine human moment, not a health message.

The concept
The original idea was a mobile coffee bike with two armchairs, parked outside the places everyone visits. A volunteer sitting with a giant chalkboard asking a simple question in whatever language felt right: “How long have you lived in the area?” or “Come and tell me about your pet.” Just a way to start a conversation. From there, a warm chat, and if relevant, a leaflet with local resources to take away.

Low budget, high warmth. Meeting people where they are, literally.

The campaign brand grew from the same thinking. Just Say Hello. A name that is the whole message. The speech bubble logo, the waving hand, the “Just Say…” poster mechanic that could flex across dozens of different prompts and scenarios. Photography commissioned using real Tower Hamlets residents, which local focus groups told us resonated precisely because they looked like actual people, not stock image models.

What got made
The campaign ran across the borough with billboard and bus stop placements, digital content, a full launch event for coalition partners, and community spaces across Tower Hamlets setting up Just Say Hello corners, a library display or community café with bunting, posters and a place to sit and chat.

Branded campaign packs were also produced and distributed to community organisations, containing the Wheel of Friendship, campaign materials and resources. The coffee bike concept evolved into this more distributed approach, with community spaces becoming the anchor points rather than a single mobile presence.

The “Small Gestures, Big Difference” and “Connect with your community one hello at a time” lines became key parts of the campaign, sitting alongside Just Say Hello as secondary messages.

The outcome
The campaign was well received by residents and partners across Tower Hamlets and was subsequently adopted by neighbouring boroughs. The campaign is now in its third year, which is probably the best endorsement a social isolation campaign can get.