Be Curious
The Brief
Build a learning culture inside a firm that already thinks it knows
KPMG’s Deal Advisory team was losing ground. The learning landscape had become fractured — employees were unsure what opportunities existed, and engagement with development resources had dropped. In a market where cutting-edge client insight depends on continuous upskilling, the gap was starting to affect capability. The challenge was to make learning feel exciting, not obligatory.
The Solution
Start with a fact so extraordinary it rewires the brain
A campaign anchored by a high-impact film featuring space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock, shot inside Winchester Planetarium. The hook: no deck of cards has ever been shuffled in the same order, anywhere in the world, since the beginning of time. A mathematical certainty that opens the door to the joy of curiosity.
Background
The learning landscape had become fractured and misunderstood
KPMG wanted a campaign to reinforce the mindset of a continuous learning culture. They needed employees to understand that learning is lifelong, and a growth mindset opens new opportunities to provide cutting-edge insight for their clients.
Initial research revealed a fractured landscape: employees were unsure what learning opportunities existed, where to go, or how much time to invest. The shift to hybrid working had made the problem worse.
With site traffic to the Deal Advisory Business School well below target and no consistent learning culture to speak of, the team needed more than a campaign. They needed a reset.
The brief was clear: devise a simple message, tell it in an engaging way, and deliver it across KPMG’s internal channels in a way that genuinely piqued curiosity.
Be Curious — Feature Film
Our Approach
Make curiosity feel like a gift, not a directive
We wanted to lead with wonder. Few things are more curious than the cosmos, so we asked charismatic space scientist and broadcaster Maggie Aderin-Pocock to present the film from Winchester Planetarium — the perfect visual signifier of open, boundless thought.
The film opens with the shuffled deck fact: a piece of information so genuinely mind-blowing that it primes the viewer for discovery. From there, it connects the joy of curiosity to working life and continuous learning, emphasising the sheer scope of what’s possible when you stay open.
To enhance the campaign, we created teaser content around extraordinary fact questions — “How many miles until you reach outer space?”, “Can you really taste garlic with your feet?” — designed to surprise, delight, and funnel audiences towards the film and the Deal Advisory Business School.
Key Project Assets
Hero Film — Be Curious
A high-impact film presented by space scientist Maggie Aderin-Pocock from Winchester Planetarium, using the cosmos as a visual metaphor for the boundless potential of continuous learning.
Social Teaser Campaign
A suite of extraordinary-fact social assets designed to spark genuine curiosity, surprise viewers, and drive traffic to the main campaign and the Deal Advisory Business School.
Internal Communications Toolkit
Content and imagery for Yammer posts, teaser trailers, and channel-specific activations — all built to sustain curiosity over time, not just launch week.
Impact
The campaign didn’t just meet its targets — it obliterated them. More importantly, it shifted how KPMG thinks about learning as a core part of their employer value proposition.
Be Curious — Insights & Impact
Project Insights
From obligation to wonder
The problem with most learning campaigns is they start by telling people they need to learn more. That’s not a message — it’s an instruction. We started with something that made people actually curious, and let the learning conversation happen naturally.
A deck of cards, a planetarium, and a charismatic scientist. That’s all it took to shift the culture. Sometimes the most powerful learning intervention isn’t a platform or a pathway. It’s a feeling.
Award-winning work that proved curiosity is contagious
Winner at the Cannes Corporate, Digital Impact, and Lens Awards for creativity and impact.
This campaign has helped put learning right at the core of our employer value proposition, and how we want to look after our people.
Caroline Prendergast, Chief Learning Officer — KPMG
