The Art of the Possible
The Brief
The course meant to prevent harassment was causing offence.
Every Deloitte US new hire takes anti-harassment training, and everyone else refreshes it annually, because state law demands it. The off-the-shelf course ticked the legal boxes and little else. Learners called its scenarios offensive, its coverage incomplete and its tone political. Training that people resent doesn’t just fail. It backfires.
The Solution
Stop listing what’s forbidden. Show what’s possible.
A 60-second animation that opens every annual refresher and every new hire’s anti-harassment training. Not a list of prohibitions, but a picture of a workplace free of harassment and discrimination, and what that makes possible for the people in it. Simple shapes, lines and colour carry a heavy subject lightly. It starts with the culture, not the complaint.
There’s a story behind the story
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There’s a story behind the story
This case study is under wraps. Enter the password to see the full work — or drop us a line and we’ll let you in.
or get in touch
Thirty years of harassment training. Much of it hasn’t worked.
Anti-harassment training is a legal requirement for Deloitte US. States from California to New York dictate content and frequency. So the firm bought an off-the-shelf course and ran it every year, for everyone.
The course was compliant. But training on respect that people find offensive isn’t neutral. It costs the firm credibility exactly where it can least afford to lose it. Deloitte’s own verdict: it didn’t feel like Deloitte.
The EEOC, the US equal employment regulator, found that thirty years of harassment training had largely failed as prevention: built to limit liability, not change culture. A course people resent proves the point.
Deloitte didn’t need a new course; the state-mandated material had to stay. It needed a way in: sixty seconds to set the tone before the compliance content began.
Deloitte — The Art of the Possible
Our Approach
Lead with the case for respect, not the case against harassment.
Most harassment training opens with the worst case. Prevention research points the other way: a positive approach handles the subject’s complexity better and engages people rather than accusing them. We started from what a respectful culture looks like, not where it breaks.
The story builds in three movements. First, the culture: an inclusive, respectful workplace and the value it creates. Second, the individual: what it means to be an active bystander and an ally, the role the research singles out. Third, the firm: Deloitte’s commitment standing behind both.
The visual language needed lightness without flippancy. Simple geometric shapes, lines and colour tell the story. Isolated black and white reprographic imagery holds the sensitivity. Playful movement, deliberate imperfection and clever transitions bring the warmth.
The result: an emotional topic made simple, accessible and compelling, without a single wagging finger.
Key Project Assets
The 60-Second Animation
A single film that opens both the annual refresher and new hire training, resetting the tone of mandatory anti-harassment learning before the state-required content begins. The art of the possible, in a minute.
Three-Part Narrative Arc
A script structured as culture, individual and firm: each part building on the last, so the viewer moves from recognising a respectful culture to seeing their own role in protecting it.
Geometric Visual Language
A system of simple shapes, lines and colour that lets the film explore a sensitive subject in an unfettered spirit, carrying meaning through form and movement rather than scenarios anyone could take offence at.
Reprographic Imagery
Isolated black and white reprographic imagery that surfaces the gravity of the subject at key moments, so the lightness of the animation never tips into trivialising what’s at stake.
Impact
Deloitte got what the off-the-shelf course could never give it: an opening that finally feels like Deloitte. The response from its team was immediate and warm.
Project Insights
From warning to welcome
Off-the-shelf compliance training exists for a reason: the law sets the content, and nobody wants to rebuild it every year. The trap is assuming that legally complete means culturally fine. It doesn’t. Every mandatory course also teaches people what the firm thinks of them, intended or not.
You can’t change what the law requires. You can change what comes first. Done with craft, the opening minute of a compliance course says what no policy can: this is who we are, and this is how we treat each other. Everything after it reads differently.
Brilliant! Thank you for a beautiful, effective product. It was a pleasure working with you all.
Amy Scott, Talent Development Senior Manager — Deloitte
