2022 Winners & Shortlists

THE INVISIBLE SALARY GAP

BrandLECRAN
Product/ServiceTHE INVISIBLE SALARY GAP
EntrantPUBLICIS MIDDLE EAST Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
CategoryNot-for-profit / Charity / Government
Idea Creation PUBLICIS MIDDLE EAST Dubai, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES
Additional Company LE CRAN Paris, FRANCE

Why is this work relevant for PR?

The Ethnic Salary Gap has been an unspoken issue over the years: unheard and unseen. To this end, the “Invisible Salary Gap” was activated on Twitter. However, through Twitter closing our account and still struggling to be heard, our second account caught the attention of journalists who reopened the debate of ethnic inequality on national television, inspiring action by mass media and governments. Overall, we succeeded in getting $10M earned impressions and became a trending topic on French television and mass media (international news outlets).

Background

The Situation: Louis-Georges Tin, President of the Black Associations Representative Council (CRAN) had previously collaborated with Emmanuel Macron on causes such as the restitution of stolen African treasures from French museums. His government and media connections were key factors before embarking on his current cause: the Ethnic Pay Gap. However, he needed the agency’s help in raising awareness on the issue before he could approach Macron, his relevant government and mass media. The Brief: Raise awareness on the Ethnic Pay Gap, a rising, unspoken issue with data to support it (in France, the ethnic salary gap is 26.25%) with a pro-bono zero budget policy. The Objective: Raise awareness and gather public opinion and PR to where the topic of the Ethnic Pay Gap could be discussed amongst government officials in the hope of drafting policies and creating ethnic statistics to affect change.

Describe the creative idea (20% of vote)

As one of the most "political social media platforms", Twitter was the ideal home for the Ethnic Pay Gap to have a voice. Seen as an invisible issue with no previous campaigns or funding, the ethnic pay gap was a rising concern - so if no-one was going to speak about it, it would speak about itself. The Ethnic Pay Gap was personified on Twitter, where it created thought-provoking tweets to shed light on its loneliness and the injustice surrounding its existence. After Twitter suspended its initial account (for unknown reasons ), a great deal of persistence was shown in reopening another Twitter account - and this time, we changed the tone of voice slightly. This time, the Ethnic Pay Gap was angry, and refused to back down. The second Twitter account led to even more awareness than the first, encouraging more audience engagement and journalists attention.

Describe the PR strategy (30% of vote)

After extensive research and data gathered from different markets, we have come to realize the underlying issue of Ethnic pay gap globally: 26.25% in France; 23% in the UK; 25% in the US. The bigger problem was that no-one was talking about it, leading to very little awareness around the issue: 39% awareness only, compared to 67% awareness of gender pay gaps. We needed to target people at mass; and make this invisible issue, visible to the wider audience. The perfect opportunity was to capitalize on Twitter, the most effective medium to spread news and spark conversations. But we had to do it smartly, and give ‘change’ itself a voice, for credibility and bigger impact. The aim was to spread enough awareness to attract the attention of journalists and news outlets who would eventually officialize the topic and position it as a global crisis that needed a solution.

Describe the PR execution (20% of vote)

Since we couldn't get celebrities on board (who were wary of publicly lending their support) and Twitter didn't support us either (they suspended our first account), our PR strategy was clear: television. Television in France is a big deal with big reach. We reached out to prominent journalists and brought both the cause and our client onto political debates, discussing ethnic inequality in the workplace and leveraging on our client's expertise in activism and debates. Some of these channels (Sputnik TV, Le Monde) had a global reach, and soon was seen and heard by officials in French governments. Our cause was finally given a voice and on 7th December 2021, Le Cran via Claire Hédon (Defender of Rights in France, appointed by Emmanuel Macron), officially brought up the issue in governments, urging them to reopen ethnic statistics in France.

List the results (30% of vote)

Our brief had been to simply raise awareness. Our results surprised even us. With precisely zero budget, we succeeded in getting $10M earned impressions and became a trending topic on French television and the cause sparked conversation in mass media (international news outlets). At the peak of the campaign, Black Associations Representative Council reported a noted 200% increase in donations. Before the campaign’s launch, media impressions on the ethnic pay gap topic were only 2M. After the campaign, it reached up to 146M. Our biggest result was the exposure we got for the client, Louis-Georges Tin and the cause on national French television, re-opening the debate of ethnic inequality in the workplace. This led to what we consider our most impactful result: French government started a conversation on ethnic inequality, urging to create and release ethnic statistics in an attempt to solve France’s racism problem.

Credits

Name Company Role
Rafael Augusto Publicis Middle East Executive Creative Director
Mohamed Bareche Publicis Middle East Creative Director
Warsha Jamnadas Publicis Middle East Art Director
Kyra Mathews Publicis Middle East Copywriter
Akhil Dileep Publicis Middle East Multimedia Designer
Jala Fawaz Publicis Middle East Planning Director
Elias Karam Publicis Middle East Strategic Planner
Karl El Hitti Publicis Middle East Social Media Director
Louis-Georges Tin LeCran Client
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