We set in motion a simple email chain-reaction, using an Out Of Office auto response email template. Asking people to switch on their Out Of Office for the day, saying that they would not be working for the rest of the year. A symbol of solidarity to recognise Equal Pay Day and show support.

No-one had ever used a mundane bit of office software as a media channel before. We took this everyday platform and turned it on its head. With a powerful message that was impossible to ignore when it bounced into an inbox.

While people support equality many are unwilling to speak openly about it. The Out Of Office auto response email helped us to start a subtle movement, where people could protest from their desks. It was a brilliantly simple and relevant way for the office workers to take part, without even leaving the office.

We had no budget for this, so had to create a media platform which was free. The Out Of Office email auto response was a free way to get our message out in the world. Along with the Women’s Equality Party we reached out to our own personal and professional networks, and used social media to get the email chain rolling.

This was an unusual campaign, in that it ran for just one day on 10th November 2017. But the impact was huge. We started an email chain in an Out Of Office auto response email. A standard office tool, used in a completely innovative way, with a message that is anything but ordinary. No-one had ever used a mundane bit of office software as a media channel before. We took this everyday platform and turned it on its head. With a powerful message that was impossible to ignore when it bounced into an inbox. We created a movement, a way for people to protest from their desks. A brilliantly simple way for office workers to take part, without even leaving the office. It started with an email chain of 48 people, but after the major nationals picked it up, the campaign had a total reach of over 1.2bn.

With every office worker receiving on average 121 emails a day, every individual who took part spoke directly to over 100 people.

It spiralled on social media, with people taking to Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn with impressions of over 2 million and trending on Twitter by the end of the day.

We saw coverage on the BBC, The Sun, The Guardian, the Evening Standard, Metro and Glamour magazine, reaching a combined readership of over 1.2bn. Being shared thousands of times on social channels.

Involvement from people at EY, Mars, Airbnb, Moneysupermarket, BT, and Aviva amongst hundreds of other high profile organisations.

People now felt comfortable publicly supporting gender equality, driving awareness and affinity towards The Women’s Equality Party who saw a 275% spike in website traffic.

It gave people a way to explain the cause to non believers and raise the issue within their own workplaces.

We took the humble Out Of Office email auto response and created a new media channel on Equal Pay Day. We had no money, but using this channel was a way of directly targeting a specific audience with a clear and poignant message - if women aren’t getting paid, why should they work? With absolutely no budget, we created a simple way of directly reaching these people with a message that they couldn’t ignore. Engaging them through a medium that actually reinforced our message: if women aren't getting paid, they shouldn’t have to work. They should be Out Of Office.

While most people will support equality, many simply aren’t aware of the extent of the gender pay gap. And this isn’t the sort of thing that can be easily explained in traditional media channels, and certainly not a poster. We needed a platform that would not only engage our target audience who were working women, but also gave us the space to explain an incredibly complex issue to the world.

So we took the ordinary Out Of Office auto response email and used it to engage them directly through a medium that reinforced our message: if women aren't getting paid, they shouldn’t have to work. They should be Out Of Office.

We asked them to switch on their Out Of Office on 10th November as a sign of solidarity, saying that they would not be working for the rest of the year.

The gender pay gap in the UK is 18.4%. So November 10th is the day the average woman effectively stops getting paid for the rest of the year. We had a brief that asked to not only drive awareness for Equal Pay Day, but to encourage participation with an often passive office workforce, and engage a disinterested and disbelieving public - for a politically sensitive, and hugely misunderstood topic. On behalf of the Women’s Equality Party, we set out to engage female office workers in the UK, to get them to help us explain the gender pay gap in a novel, engaging and participatory way. We wanted to reach these women in a way that was poignant, relevant and almost impossible to ignore and give them a platform to speak out about equality. And we had to do all this, with no money.