CASE STUDY

Stump Cross Caverns:

Orchestrating a creative expedition to humanise the balance sheet

Overview

To transform NatWest’s brand perception from an impersonal, traditional lender into a trusted partner for the UK’s most unique entrepreneurial spirits. By "unearthing" the human story behind a 250,000-year-old family legacy in the Yorkshire Dales, we aimed to reverse the trend of SMEs seeking funding outside major banks.

    • Art Directior

    • Creative x2

    • Copywriter

    • Still Photographer

    • Motion video Director

    • Director of Photograhy

    • Grip x2

    • Producer

Role:
Art Direction, Creative

Client: NatWest Business Banking 

Sector: Tourism / SME FinTech

Deliverables:

3-Minute Case Study Film

5 Social Cut-downs

Conversion Carousels

Suite of Photography

The Challenge

NatWest faced a critical market reality: while SME lending was technically growing, repayments were outpacing new borrowing, and over 60% of SMEs were seeking funding outside major banks.

The Growth and Scale Realities: The business was not profitable five years ago on 20,000 visitors, but with NatWest's support, this has already grown footfall to 45,000, with a clear trajectory toward 70,000 annual visitors.

Interviews

We arranged a Zoom call with Stump Cross owner Oliver Bowerman to find an angle that allowed us to leverage the unique nature of the business, transmit the feeling of community and Yorkshire pride, to give the case study a distinctive tone of voice, given its great family-oriented origin story.

"The other banks didn’t understand our business. NatWest did…"

Conceptualisation:
Storyboard to Actualisation

We used AI to rapidly produce a series of storyboards, exploring potential narrative flows across all deliverables.

Once we established an agreed story arc, we retained a traditional rendering style to avoid the client being stuck or influenced by ‘detail’, allowing us to fine tune the story structure for the main video and supporting deliverables. The next phase would see us produce more fleshed-out renderings of the story to get the client's buy-in with the concepts.

case study storyboard.png
case study real stills.png

Visual Strategy:

Where possible, I wanted to make the cave itself become a lead character by leaning into its inherent sense of drama, adventure and trepidation. We also wanted some of the local intimacy and pride to come through to inject a little ‘underdog spirit’ present in the origin story, which had the potential to create some areas of tonal contrast from a narrative point of view, helping to shape this as a relatable, multi-generational story.

Production Challenges:

With a two day timeframe, there were a number of challenges we faced when it came to shooting on the Stump Cross site, which meant that shooting the proposed scenes took longer than anticipated, which in turn had some effect on a number of creative decisions we had to make compromises with both motion and still photography.

  • These constraints placed "great pressure on getting the planning phase right from the get-go," as the delicate nature of the site restricted the scope for traditional production flexibility.


    Environmental fragility: The cave system is an active, 500,000-year-old environment containing delicate formations that are 20,000 to 30,000 years old. Crew size had to be strictly limited in specific areas.

    • Environmental realities: Despite communications and online research, the reconnaissance visit revealed some practicalities that would undoubtedly affect speed in both film and static image setups during the tight 2 day schedule we had to shoot.

    • Technical Infrastructure: There is no electricity or natural light within the caverns. This necessitated the use of external generators and specialised lighting setup, which made decision-making critical due to finite power availability,

    • Scheduling and Public Access: The production had to be balanced against the site’s ongoing operations. For example, the Monday shoot coincided with the caverns being open to the public and a pre-booked school visit.

    • Communication Barriers: The subterranean setting meant there was no phone signal or Wi-Fi available during the shoot, complicating coordination for any crew members needing to communicate swiftly with the surface.

The Result:

The Visionary Hero Film

A 3-minute case study film using the "Hook, Line, and Sinker" framework to grab attention with professional cinematography and land the emotional benefit of a banking partnership.

Consideration Assets (LinkedIn)

A series of short, emotive films focusing on the "Why"—fueling passion and family history to build brand empathy with professional audiences.

Conversion Carousels (Facebook/Instagram)

Harder-working assets like "The Dream" and "Cave Mum" carousels that used "Nudge Tactics"
(e.g., "Apply Today") and tangible outcomes to drive immediate action

Project Learnings

Simplicity is Strength: In a world of jargon, the human story is the most effective differentiator.

Prioritize the MVP: Creating a strategic plan to launch high-impact assets first prevents project derailment.

Seek Feedback Early: Aligning with the SME owner upfront uncovered the "X-Factor" that data alone would have missed.

Next

NatWest Intermediaries