What is the background and context?

Standard Chartered Bank is ‘Here for Good’. A brand’s promise to improve the communities it operates in. And they walk the talk: In 2017, they signed the Fair Pay Charter, pledging to pay men and women equally. In 2019, they were recognized on the Bloomberg Gender-Equality Index for the fourth year. Beyond supporting female empowerment initiatives within the bank, they wanted to raise awareness for gender pay equality in the UAE. An outrageous circumstance that persisted for too long.

Who is our target audience?

SCB had three main target audiences it wanted to reach.

Cynical Consumers: Millennials don’t trust banks. They find banks to be dishonest, ambiguous and money hungry. To fight the skepticism that surrounds it as a bank, SCB needed to project an authentic selfless image to them.

Hater Media: SCB had been suffering from a negative media outbreak. Type “SCB under scrutiny” on Google and discover a myriad of titles like “Standard Chartered: The Iranian Connection” or “Standard Chartered fined $1.1 billion for violating sanctions.” This case was also one more effort for SCB to overpower the negative news with positive ones.

Broader Public: As the focus of this CSR initiative was the gender pay disparity in the world, the brand wanted the word to spread. In addition, when it comes to social challenges such as gender inequality, it is important to integrate all layers of society so that everyone can think of solutions to create a more equal society for all.

What was the challenge?

In a situation where SCB does not have the audiences’ goodwill to listen about gender gap, how could SCB make a point?

What was the insight that unlocked our strategic approach?

One alarming fact surfaced: A global study led by the University of Oxford highlighted that works by women artists sell for 47.6% less than those by men. The press reported it. But the world moved on. Gender pay equality stories are always about percentages, never human interests. Many global knowledge centers acknowledge the disparity of gender pay in the world across different industries, but it’s always hard to grasp. So, let’s paint the gap for everyone to see.

What was the creative idea?

SCB Art Gap: an exhibition featuring female artists’ paintings that were 47.6% incomplete – the exact gender pay gap disparity percentage in the art world. If they were going to get paid half they would paint half.

Why did this campaign succeed?

The Art Gap activation was so direct and shocking that people couldn’t help but question why those paintings were incomplete. And the answer was SCB’s precise message: the paintings are half done because it’s unfair for women, in arts and in any business.