We took a ton of dry facts, figures, and data points and brought them to life through a stunning visual display that simplified and humanized the information, spread awareness, and pointed the way towards a solution.

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JPMorgan Chase’s brand purpose is to “Make dreams possible for everyone, everywhere, every day,” but the reality is that this dream is not possible for many - 1 in 3 Americans are held back from pursuing their ideal employment by criminal records. As a large and well-respected financial institution, this is an issue that JPMC is uniquely positioned to help solve. They sought to make dreams a reality, by raising awareness around the need for Clean Slate Legislation, thereby helping people overcome obstacles in expungement.

We took the same legal paperwork currently preventing people from clearing their records, and used it to make 38 statues, one for each state yet to pass Clean Slate legislation. Together they represent the millions still waiting for their records to be cleared. The statues were part of The Waiting Workforce exhibition displayed at Independence Hall in Philadelphia, PA. This was the first state to pass legislation so we used the location as a means to show the positive change it can bring to others yet to pass it. It went live in April, Second Chance Month, and launched the same day we hosted the Second Chance Business Coalition conference at Wharton business school to attract our audience. In the event itself, we were able to get the NBA, ConEdison and others to join the 50 total members of the coalition committed to Second Chance efforts. This event showed how creating pathways to sustainable employment for formerly incarcerated individuals can lead to a stronger economy.

Despite 8.8 million job openings nationwide, the unemployment rate among those with criminal records remains alarmingly high at 27%. This costs the US up to $87 billion in lost economic opportunities. Our goal was to bring attention to the situation and get people talking about Clean Slate Initiatives as part of the dialogue around the 2024 federal elections taking shape, and ultimately, to remove barriers for people with past criminal records so they can get back into society and find meaningful employment.

To address these issues, we created twenty eight 500 pound statues, made from 1.2. Million pages of the legal paperwork holding so many Americans back. The exhibition occurred in front of the Constitution Center on Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and lasted the entire month of April 2024.

As a financial service company, JPMorgan Chase strives to create economic opportunities for all communities. That’s why they committed to removing employment barriers for those with criminal records. They have a long record of initiatives and progress actions to further this cause, they have founded and lead the Second Chance Business Coalition, have helped other businesses and states approve the “ban the box” initiative (employers to not ask in job applications if the applicant has a past criminal record) and 10% of their new US hires are people with criminal records.

The target audience is the public, who might then pressure their political leaders to change the law. Beyond that, we focused on business and thought leaders, cultural influencers, news media, and the politicians themselves.

38x 500 pound statues made from 1.2 million pieces of actual, redacted legal paperwork. We looked for an artist to convey that statistic of 38 states, then took images of real people in poses of waiting or frustration and brought them to life with the paperwork. We saw illustrations, then miniatures, then prototypes, refining the look at each stage to ensure that they conveyed the emotions of the original subjects. These were based on the medium of statues (signage, information leaflets, the installation itself) and the usual elements of a multimedia campaign (social media, OLV film, static posts and a microsite).

38 x 500 pound statues, 2 million pieces of paperwork, 10.6 tons, inside a glass space cube of 40x25x11 feet, installed in a high-traffic, prestigious part of one of America’s oldest cities, Philadelphia, in the state of Pennsylvania, which passed the first Clean Slate legislation.

In the second week, without any paid media promotions, the campaign amassed total of 77.8M+ PR reach across media including national TV and radio with 51K+ unique views across the press, and 22.1M+ national coverage reach from news sites such as nba.com, generating $728.5K+ Advertising Value Equivalency with 2x awareness growth. The campaign gained a total of 2.34M + potential impressions across earned social. As a result, The Waiting Workforce campaign shifted more positive sentiment around JPMC Corporate Social Responsibility moves with 178% net sentiment growth from online conversation over a month and successfully spiked “Clean Slate Act” search term index by 1,029% compared to the month before the launch as well as the term “Second Chance Act” mention has increased by 143.9% compared to pre-launch. The impact successfully has nailed our objective of getting people to talk more about the Clean Slate Act.