Institute of Customer Service
Service with Respect

The Challenge
The Institute of Customer Service is an independent professional membership body for customer service that counts many of the UK’s top banks, retailers, utility firms and government departments amongst its members. With first the pandemic lockdown, and then economic recession triggering an increase in instances of customer abuse, we had to act to protect frontline service workers and highlight the critical role customer service plays within the UK economy.
The Solution
We developed “Service with Respect”, a campaign that successfully called for the government to introduce a new offence for those who abuse, threaten or assault customer service professionals. Alongside this we encouraged businesses to equip staff with the necessary training and tools to handle the increased requirements of their role. We worked with the Institute's Public Affairs team to hold regular APPG meetings and briefings with MPs to highlight the issue and used research and case studies from frontline workers, alongside thought leadership pieces from the Institute, to capture media and public attention.