Portugal is going through a huge economic crisis. Talking about Portugal is bringing up the issues of deficit, financial bailout and unemployment. As a result the Portuguese have become depressed. They have lost hope. But there are some signs of a comeback.

How could BES, Portugal’s largest private bank, amplify the good news, put out an optimistic message and show what they have been doing to help the country get back on it’s feet?

The challenge was greater being a bank. In a crisis context banks are seen as the bad guys. This was a matter of reputation. The issue had to be approached with sensitivity.

In Portuguese the word for hope is “esperança”. The Portuguese have lost it and BES found it. It’s a small village in the heart of Portugal that is actually called “Esperança”. With the support and the enthusiasm of the population and local administration we got to rebuilding hope: we refurbished the church, the healthcare centre and social housing.

We made Esperança a metaphor for the country and brought to the village everything BES has been doing to help the Portuguese: volunteer work, support for the poor, workshops addressing financial literacy, a solidarity run, a photography contest to get more attention to the region and a line of credit for businesses that created employment in the region.

BES spent more money in their actions than on the campaign and it still got the media’s attention and the Portuguese people’s hearts. The government and the President, that took time to visit the village, debated the regions troubles and spoke highly of the campaign and BES’ efforts.

BES was enthusiastic about the idea and early in 2014 they started meeting with local administration to assess the region’s greatest needs. Simultaneously we started structuring the campaign that would tell the country we were rebuilding Esperança and all of BES’ efforts towards helping the population, institutions and businesses.

Although there was some investment in mass media all the information was centralized at recuperaraesperanca.pt (translates to rebuildinghope.pt) where we had information about everything that was being done at Esperança and what BES was doing all around the country. We worked exclusively with local companies and private contractors.

Most of the budget was spent on work in Esperança and not on the campaign. The media attention came mostly through a partnership with Portugal’s largest media group that contaminated all other national media.

A very harsh critic of advertising and communication in general wrote: “What a good idea: go to a beautiful, isolated, poor and honest village to practice giving by restoring the church, fixing the streets and helping people. That was what BES did and put the village on the map.” (in Jornal de Negócios, April 2nd, 2014).

We think we didn't just fix “stuff”, but also feelings. And that is impossible to put a number on, the gratitude of people whose lives got better. What will live in history, besides the involvement of the locals, are the tv and radio broadcasts made from the village, the gathering of local administration and national government and the very special visit of our President, Cavaco Silva, to the region and the village of Esperança.