LinkedIn’s vision is to create economic opportunity for every member of the Global workforce. Going into the summer of 2021, it became clear that in order to create more equity in the world of work, we first needed to create it on our platform. But LinkedIn had a problem: It did not have the necessary member information to systematically address bias on the platform. Eliminating unfair bias on LinkedIn, required getting members to share how they identify across factors such as race/ethnicity, age, gender, sexual orientation, veteran/veteran partner status, caregiving status, and disability status. This need inspired a product innovation: Self-ID. We were tasked to bring it to life with an integrated campaign.

The Primary Objective: Get members to share their personal information with Self-ID.

The Creative Idea: Privately Self-ID with LinkedIn for a more equitable world of work.

The campaign was brought to life with an integrated campaign that included video and static social and employee activation. It celebrated just how members identify themselves, using the identification framing inspired by the product experience. By telling their story, these members motivated the LinkedIn community to do the same.

The Data Gathering Approach: Getting our messaging right was critical to the success of Self-ID. As a result we employed both quantitative and qualitative research that ranged from foundational in-depth 1:1 interviews to copy testing.

The Target: We focused our efforts on connecting with Linkedin Members that visit the platform more than once a month. Research informed us that when it came to sharing their private information, they were most motivated by the equitable good it could create. This was because they largely believe in the ideals of equity, but didn’t always know how to turn that belief into action.

The Insight: While the systemic change required to create a truly inclusive and equitable world of work can seem daunting, the reality is that each and every one of us can contribute to this positive change we want to see.

When it came to executing the idea, we knew relevance and authenticity were fundamental to its success. Accordingly, the campaign was designed to complement their LinkedIn experience, not interrupt it. We did not spend even a single dollar of paid media to bring it to life. Instead, we relied entirely on owned and earned media during the Summer and early Fall of 2021. Specifically, the Self-ID campaign leveraged LinkedIn email, blog posts, and on-platform social posts from influential and diverse voices (employees, partners and the community) to reach millions of members in an authentic manner.