Background

Paytm is India's leading digital payments app and has always believed in making the world of finance more inclusive by enabling people with simple & accessible technology. Paytm wanted to urge people to separate gender from finance, on the occasion of Women's Day. The objective was to bring alive our message through a simple yet engaging piece of communication that doesn't get lost in the noise of Women's Day advertising, using social media.

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

India has a 66% gender gap, when it comes to economic participation. And out of this only 6% of earning women are confident about handling their own money. Till date, it is primarily believed and followed that men are the ones who should be in control of finances, as they handle these matters better.

Describe the creative idea

The creative idea or call-to-action in our case was simple - separate gender from finance. The way we went about it was to plan a social experiment that made women and men aware of the divide when it came to financial literacy, in a simple, yet effective way. We wanted to demonstrate that while men and women in the country are equal in almost every aspect of life-skills, but there was still a long way to go when it come to true financial independence.

Describe the strategy

Our core target audience was women in the banking or financial ecosystem. The approach was to plan a thought experiment around the occasion of Women's Day that made women introspect about their own ability & confidence regarding financial matters. While there has been tremendous progress in terms of more women becoming part of the Indian work-force, with our experiment, we wanted women to realize that just earning doesn't necessarily mean being truly financially independent.

Describe the execution

We took a popular tool and made it work for our problem. A mixed group of men and women were invited to a warehouse and were asked to stand on a line. They were then asked routine questions about growing up. All they had to do was step forward when their answer was “yes”, and step back when it was “no”. At first, both men and women were moving forward together. But when the same group of people were questioned about their financial literacy; it didn’t take long for the invisible divide in the room to become visible. The group who was standing together, now looked at each other from other ends of the room - the men ahead, and the women behind.

Describe the results / impact

1. 10M views and 80K shares organically. 2. India’s Biggest Celebrities joined the conversation. 3. Over 30K conversations across the internet. 4. 52% Increase in daily brand mentions 5. Covered by India’s top news and media publications. 6. Founders of competing payment apps also promoted it