Herschel’s Bank of Creativity Helps Supports Creatives When Traditional Banks Can’t

Creativity and finance are often at odds. It’s hard for even the most established artists and creators to receive funding from traditional banks because it’s hard to put a guaranteed ROI behind creative work. For young creative entrepreneurs, it's nearly impossible. 

Design-driven global lifestyle brand, Herschel Supply Co., wants to change that. 

The Herschel Supply Bank of Creativity is a space where established New York artists provide emerging creative entrepreneurs with mentorship and tools to help launch their careers.

Rather than bank advisors dolling out generic financial advice, Herschel partnered with established creatives Olivia Rose (interdisciplinary artist and founder of Original Rose, a plant design studio), Danny Cole (interdisciplinary artist and founder of Creature World) and Sophia Wilson (photographer) to provide personalised mentorship to 18 up-and-coming creators with the goal of helping them elevate their creative careers. Rather than loans, Herschel equipped the creators with tools of their trade that the applicants pinpointed as being critical to their career growth. For the vast majority of the creators, Herschel’s support with art materials, camera equipment and studio space means less time working additional jobs to fund supplies for their craft, and more time dedicated to their creative pursuits. 

Located in the former Brooklyn Bank in Brooklyn, New York, the activation took place over two days. Each advisor-creator session was approximately one hour long, and concluded with a grand reveal of their equipment and supplies in the bank vault.

The brick-and-mortar experience is supplemented by a long-form OLV and short-form cutdowns which will run on social from August 16th to September 28th, intended to drive brand awareness in the US and continue to build an emotional connection between the brand and its target audience of young, professional creatives by encouraging them to put themselves out there.

Herschel’s Bank of Creativity is a physical embodiment of the brand’s latest platform, Put Yourself Out There, which was introduced in the fall of 2021. 

Creative was led by Rethink. The activation was brought to life by XA, The Experiential Agency Inc. Production was handled by Rethink, and media by Herschel Supply Co.