How Indeed reached millions with its video on unequal pay
At The Drum Awards for Content 2022, Indeed Creative won in the Best Creative Content Idea Using Video category for its ‘Indeed’s Pay Gap Social Experiment’ campaign. Here, we find out more about what went into this successful campaign.
Indeed equal pay video
The brief
In 2018, Indeed conducted a nationwide survey on salary satisfaction, revealing that not only are women paid less, but they are far less likely to push for a higher raise. Of all raise-seekers, 48% of women ask for a 5% or higher bump in pay compared to 65% of men. And despite a desire to be informed about fair pay, many respondents say they do not discuss their own salary information. Notably, 44% of men report having shared their salary information with a coworker, compared to only 31% of women.
Motivated by this research, Indeed’s women-led creative team set to work on developing a campaign that would not only raise awareness about the importance of wage transparency but also promote submission to Indeed’s Salary Calculator - a comprehensive hub of salary ranges broken down across hundreds of industries and regions.
The idea
The women-led creative team cast 64 real workers across industries and got them on a group Zoom call. Then, starting high and going lower, participants were asked to turn off their cameras when their salary range was called, ultimately revealing the lowest earners left on screen – who were almost entirely women and minorities.
Then came the final ask: “Turn your camera on if you’d be willing to share your salary to help close the pay gap.” 96% of participants did.
The video premiered the hero video on Equal Pay Day with the hashtag #IndeedPayGapChat across social - where it jump-started conversations about wages. In one day, this hashtag reached 1 million users organically. Indeed’s PR team secured over 341.5 million impressions. There was a 400% increase in equal pay-related conversations associated with Indeed that week.
The results
- 50 million people reached in the US in one day on YouTube, while being 12.5% below CPM benchmark
- 35 million impressions on SnapChat and 8 million impressions on Twitter
- The Pay Gap SnapChat Lens was 38% more efficient than Indeed’s Super Bowl spot
- Indeed’s PR team secured over 341.5 million online impressions (70% towards Indeed’s research about pay)
- In total, the Pay Gap Experiment generated 500m impressions
- Most importantly, Indeed saw strong viewer interaction, with CTR & VCR well above Masthead benchmarks - driving a click-through rate 9000% above the benchmark
This campaign was a winner at The Drum Awards for Content 2022. You can see all the winners here. The Drum Awards for Marketing are currently open for entry. Find out how you can enter now.