#girlsinvest took on the Gender Wealth Gap like no other financial institution in Norway has ever done before. The conversation around money has long been a hot topic, so we knew this campaign would get the public’s attention. As predicted, the conversation grew out of commercials and right into news channels and social media comment fields. Disruptive activations provoked action, and creative placements made their own headlines. The #girlsinvest campaign become the most talked-about commercial campaign in Norway in 2019.

Norway is ranked best in the world when it comes to gender equality. But as progressive as we might be in some areas, there is one important issue no one seem to be talking about - the overwhelming difference between men and women when it comes to money. Equal wage has long been a discussion, but it’s what people do with the money their earn that results in the true wealth gap. Working with DNB, Norway’s biggest bank, we found an extremely imbalanced economical gender distribution. Men invest far more of their money than women, which has resulted in a Gender Wealth Gap now equal to the entire state budget of Norway (NOK 1216 billion) Having the role of Norway’s biggest bank, DNB wanted to spark an important conversation around gender inequality in Norwegian investments – and in that way inspire and engage women to start investing.

Insights: While working through the insights with DNB, we found that Norwegian men have almost an entire Norwegian state budget more in wealth than Norwegian women (NOK 1216 billion). Norwegian men own 80 per cent of all private equity values on the stock exchange, and last year 80 per cent of all share dividends went to men. Even if all wages were equal tomorrow, men would still earn 53 billion more than women. The ones who run the world, are the ones who own it. And Norway is certainly not owned by women. To give Norwegian women a serious wake-up call and hopefully spark an actual change, we put our insights to good use and launched #girlsinvest: A full-scale integrated campaign aimed to engage, inspire and motivate women to invest more of their money.

As the statistics in themselves were eye-opening enough on their own, we made the facts the centre of the campaign. We gathered all our insights, and used them directly as the communication itself. The strategy became about where to say it. We carefully orchestrated a media strategy based on creating as much of a conversation as possible. The result was #girlsinvest: an insight-based integrated campaign with startling findings to help shatter the illusion of Norwegian equality - and the first ever commercial message to shed light on the Gender Wealth Gap we have in Norway. Through inventive and non-traditional media channels, we were able to reach the right people at the right time, resulting in massive social debate that was seen, shared and discussed on every imaginable platform.

To start the conversation, we made a film where we got Beyoncés approval to strip the word “girls” from the world’s most iconic female anthem “Run the World”. The message was supported by #girlsinvest - an integrated campaign aimed to engage, inspire and motivate women to invest more of their money. We made a website where women could educate themselves in the investment world and get a full understanding of the Gender Wealth Gap. We also teamed up with Norway’s equivalent to Forbes, Kapital magazine, where their annual list of Norway’s 400 richest this year included a twin magazine from DNB – the exact same list, but without all the men. As the conversation grew, every other major Norwegian bank wanted to take part in #girlsinvest. We published all our findings in a public Gender Wealth Report and distributed it to journalists and politicians, including the Equality Minister of Norway.

The #girlsinvest campaign sparked a massive conversation. Every major news outlet in Norway discussed the topic – resulting in #girlsinvest becoming most talked-about commercial campaign in Norway in 2019. As the conversation grew, every major Norwegian bank published their support for the initiative, and joined DNB in order to work together to help close the Gender Wealth Gap. And most importantly, the insight-driven campaign also drew women to invest. In just the first three weeks of the campaign, total investments made by women went up by +30%, and it’s still growing to this day. 83% increase in new female investors compared to the previous year. 53% increase in total. And for the first time in Norwegian history, there were more women than men who started to invest in funds.

DNB have commited to the UN Sustainability Goal: Gender Equality. Equal wage has long been a discussion, but it’s what men and women do, or don’t do with the money they earn that results in the true wealth gap. As one of the richest countries in the world, many look to Norway in how we distribute and earn our wealth. So when we’re supposed to also be best in the world when it comes to gender equality, there needs to be change in how women and men relate to each other financially. Having the social role of Norway’s biggest bank, DNB wanted to call out for an important conversation around gender inequality in Norwegian economy.