Background

Dentsu is an advertising company that’s “Champions for meaningful progress,” as the first thing on the Asia Pacific website says. But before doing any good for clients, Dentsu needed to do good by its people. Because the company is “committed to long-term sustainable change in society AND within Dentsu to ensure a culture of fairness, equity, and equality for all.” Due to the pandemic, UN Women suggests that “the entire equality agenda has been set back 25 years.” So in January 2021, the Women Empowerment council of Dentsu Asia Pacific met to plan for the rest of the year, with one question as the guide – “What does good look like in 2021 for Women @ Dentsu APAC?”

Describe the cultural / social / political climate in your region and the significance of your campaign within this context

In patriarchal Asia Pacific, there are already disproportionate home demands on women. But the pandemic has made it much more difficult for working women, who now have to balance work and home life while working from home. “As people spent more time at home, the amount of housework that had to be done increased. Women did most of this extra housework.” - National University of Singapore “In India, 78% of working women reported greater household responsibilities.” - Deloitte “56.3% of South Korean women have reported an increase in work related to taking care of the family.” - Korean Labor Institute “The pandemic has hit the community hard, but the impact is even greater for women.” - Ministry of Finance Indonesia But women don’t want to seem unprofessional, so they don’t let their co-workers feel this. And in Dentsu in Asia Pacific, there’s the added pressure of seeing women in top positions, seeming like everything’s fine. So you assume that you should be fine too.

Describe the creative idea

So 22 women of all ranks from 10 APAC countries were asked to record their work-from-home realities. The submissions were edited into a film that was emailed to all of Dentsu APAC on International Women’s Day – which also happened to be one year since the company started work from home. And the end of the film led to a website where anyone could anonymously contribute solutions for Women From Home.

Describe the strategy

Starting January 2021, the Dentsu Asia Pacific Women Empowerment council held general discussions, breakout group chats, surveys, and brainstorms to ensure that what the company did for women in 2021 would be truly representative and impactful. The council found that women across all markets were struggling with Work From Home. Because in Asia Pacific’s patriarchal culture, even before the pandemic, there were already disproportionate home demands on women. Working women don’t want to seem unprofessional and hurt their careers, so they don’t let the men they work with feel their struggles. The council needed to tell the women of Dentsu that 1) it’s okay not to be okay, and 2) the company is committed to listening to and addressing women’s specific needs. And beyond telling, Dentsu needed to make sure that every woman at the company was heard, and their needs taken into consideration.

Describe the execution

22 women of all ranks from 10 countries recorded a day in their lives, to show everything they have to do during a workday. These submissions were then edited into a film that showed how Women From Home really do need help. The director was a mother of a young baby. Because the team wanted someone who could empathize with working women, and show this film through their lens. It was also important that the women in the film included everyone from junior levels to upper management, so that as many women as possible would feel represented, and men would see that what every woman they work with goes through. The film, sent through email to all employees and posted on the Dentsu Asia Pacific website on March 8, 2021 (International Women’s Day; also one year since the company started work from home), asked for anonymous solutions.

Describe the results / impact

The solutions website that the film drives to was visited more than 1,500 times by people from 53 countries (far beyond Asia Pacific!). Which was a big surprise, as the project was launched to Dentsu Asia Pacific employees through an internal email. A number of specific solution suggestions were implemented in different markets. And these tangible actions even led Muse by Clio to say that “Dentsu’s emotional internal video about women’s WFH struggles accelerates change.” Hopefully the campaign’s impact continues even beyond Asia Pacific. In one of our proudest moments, we received a message from the Global HR Director of Dentsu International, saying “I showed it to my 9 year old, who is heading back to school for the first time in 3 months today. She wants to show it at her class show and tell at the end of this week!”