Scottish Widows launch disruptive International Women’s Day campaign to drive attention to the Gender Pension Gap
Scottish Widows
The Big Idea
Scottish Widows have launched an International Women’s Day campaign to drive awareness to the fact that women are retiring with half the pension income of men.
With a bold media strategy led by Zenith, and creative managed by Adam & Eve, the campaign aims to disrupt media in a way that has never been done before.
On International Women’s Day, Channel 4 will run a bespoke Scottish Widows ident that interrupts targeted programmes on TV and VOD, including C4 News, Gogglebox, George Clarke: Amazing Spaces and 24 Hours in A&E. During each show’s half-time break, the familiar Channel 4 announcer will tell viewers that the show is now concluded only for female viewers. After allowing a pause for shock, the VO continues, “Frustrating? What’s more frustrating is that on average women are retiring with only half the pension of men.” View the ident, created by Recipe, above.
This will be supported with a Mail Metro cover wrap and high-impact press formats, along with Twitter domination through Twitter’s ‘first view’ takeover, meaning Scottish Widows’ message will be the first thing users see when they open the app.
The disruptive campaign aims to educate people on this inequality and drive attention to the fact that the average 20-year-old woman is on track to have £100k less in her pension pot than a man, equivalent to a monthly income of £700 less*.
The campaign will run until 9th April aims to deliver disruption and bring pension inequality to the fore and, in doing so, showcase Scottish Widow’s credentials as the pensions expert, offering women guidance with their pensions savings to overcome the gap.
The campaign will be supported by PR activity and paid content across Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
Natalie Cummins, CEO at Zenith UK said: “The work Scottish Widows have done on the Gender Pension Gap in recent years is one of the best examples of ‘purposeful’ advertising. It’s been a fantastic experience building 2022’s activity with Channel 4, Metro and Twitter: our media partners didn’t disappoint in bringing fantastic media and creative solutions to the table. We believe this campaign will stop women and men in their tracks this week, forcing us all to think about how unfair it is that women have to retire with half the pension of men.”
Making it Happen
Victoria Appleby, Head of Sales at Channel 4 said: “We are thrilled to work with Scottish Widows on a campaign which shines a light on such an important issue through creative, attention-grabbing marketing. It serves as a perfect example of how TV advertising can be used as a tool for positive change.”