Founded more than 40 years ago by trade unions, Unity Trust Bank has built its reputation on supporting organisations that create positive social and environmental impact. Today, the bank works with charities, educational institutions, healthcare organisations, local authorities and businesses that share its commitment to doing good for society. Over the past five years, the organisation has grown from around 80 employees to more than 330 colleagues located across the UK.
As Learning and Development Business Partner and Unity & Me Scrum Lead for the Banks Health, Wellbeing and Welfare Pillar, Jade Bromage plays an important role in supporting colleague engagement and learning initiatives across Unity Trust Bank. Working closely with teams across the organisation, she helps bring to life activities and experiences that reinforce the bank’s values, support colleague wellbeing and strengthen connection to its purpose as the organisation continues to grow.
Here, Jade shares her experience of working with Pellacraft and how carefully chosen promotional products have helped reinforce Unity’s commitment to wellbeing, sustainability and its core values.
As Unity has grown, maintaining a strong culture and ensuring colleagues remain connected to the organisation’s vision and values has become increasingly important.
“From day one, those are the messages we want to get across,” explains Jade. “As we continue to grow, it’s important that our values remain visible and meaningful to colleagues.”
The team wanted to find creative ways to engage employees beyond traditional communications and training methods, using merchandise and branded items with a clear purpose rather than simply distributing promotional products for the sake of it.
Jade first met Pellacraft at an exhibition in Birmingham. Having previously worked with other suppliers, she was immediately impressed by the team’s approach, creativity and understanding of sustainability.
“I really loved the way they branded some of the items. It was a bit different, and they had a really good lens on sustainability, which is important for a bank like ours. We always want to ensure that anything we source reflects our social and environmental values.”
The relationship quickly developed, with Pellacraft taking the time to understand the bank’s objectives before recommending suitable products and ideas.
“Pellacraft allow me the space to still be creative and give them ideas, but they’re also open to sharing great ideas and different approaches. I think that’s always a good relationship to have.”
The first project centred around Mental Health Awareness Week. With the theme focused on taking action for mental health, Unity wanted to provide colleagues with meaningful gifts that aligned with the campaign.
Pellacraft supplied personalised Ocean Bottles alongside bespoke wellness journals. The journals were designed specifically for Unity, incorporating wellbeing imagery as well as references to Birmingham landmarks, creating something that felt unique to the organisation.
Rather than simply adding a logo, the products were carefully tailored to reflect the campaign’s objectives and the bank’s wider culture.
One of the most significant projects involved Unity’s quarterly Town Hall event, where the focus was on celebrating the organisation’s values.
Working to a tight deadline, Pellacraft produced branded vegan sweet boxes featuring Unity’s values, icons and brand colours. These were used as part of an interactive activity designed to encourage discussion around the values and reinforce their importance across the organisation.
For Jade, this demonstrates the true value of merchandise.
“Through things like merchandise and these little touches, you can keep your values alive. They help embed the culture and keep those messages visible.”
This ability to connect merchandise to a wider organisational purpose has become increasingly important as Unity continues to grow and welcome new colleagues across the country. By weaving values into everyday experiences, the organisation can reinforce the behaviours and culture that define the business.
The response from colleagues has been overwhelmingly positive.
The Ocean Bottles proved particularly popular, reflecting both the bank’s environmental ethos and employees’ personal commitment to sustainability. Colleagues praised the quality of the products, the engraving and the ability to track their environmental impact through the Ocean Bottle platform. The wellness journals also received excellent feedback for both their design and quality.
“The bottles went down really well. People loved the colour, the quality and the branding. The journals really hit the mark too.”
Beyond the products themselves, the merchandise has helped create meaningful touchpoints that support colleague engagement, wellbeing and Unity’s wider culture.
For Unity, the relationship with Pellacraft extends beyond promotional products.
“Merchandise should always have a purpose,” says Jade. “Pellacraft understand that. Whether it’s sustainability, employee wellbeing or reinforcing our values, they’ve helped us find products that support the wider objective rather than simply putting our logo on something.”
She adds:
“There’s a strong alignment between our organisations. The focus on sustainability, social impact and doing the right thing is something we both value, and that’s what makes the partnership work so well.”
“Merchandise should always have a purpose. Pellacraft understand that and help us create products that support our culture, values and objectives. There’s a genuine alignment between our organisations and that’s what makes the relationship work so well.”
Jade Bromage, Learning and Development Business Partner, Unity Trust Bank