Standard Chartered Bank: The Art Gap, 1

Credits & Description:

Title of Entry: The Art Gap
Brand: Standard Chartered Bank UAE
Product/Service: SCB
Client: Standard Chartered Bank UAE
Entrant Company: TBWA\RAAD
Creative Agency: TBWA\RAAD
Creative Director: Sandeep Fernandes
Art Director: Sumanth Wilkins
Art Director: Balu Puthalath
Art Director: Mahesh Powar
Designer: Rijin Kunnath
Copywriter: Doug Mackay
Chief Creative Officer: Walid Kanaan
Account Executive: Christine Dias
Account Manager: Ashleigh Morgan
Executive Creative Director: Manuel Borde
Executive Creative Director: Bruno Bomediano
Regional Account Director: Monisha Mirchandani
Head of Strategy: Remie Abdo
Motion Designer: Lucas Pimenta
Social Media Executive: Adnan Ahmed
Retoucher: Girish Sapalya
Production: Rouba Asmar, Gloria Abou Diwan
Video Editor: Mohamed Treka - Director: Martin Velkov
Audio Engineer: Bashar Najjar
General Manager: Joe Lahham
Date of Release: 2019-03-24
Notes: Standard Chartered is ‘Here For Good’. A bank’s promise to improve communities. Gender pay
equality is one of their priorities and they walk the talk: In 2017, they instituted the Fair Pay Charter,
pledging to pay men and women equally. In the UAE, the bank has four women in senior
management, including their first female CEO, who is Emirati. With positive momentum within,
they wanted to raise awareness for gender pay equality on International Women’s Day and inspire
other companies to follow suit. One alarming fact surfaced: A global study led by the University of
Oxford - Saïd Business School highlighted that works by women artists sell for 47.6% less than
those by men. The press reported it. Then the world moved on. The bank felt that this was not
good enough. The budget for an activation was USD 50K, including media.
Our target audience was Government leaders, CEOs, women influencers, artists, general public.
People don’t remember statistics. We had to give them a picture. On International Women’s Day,
Standard Chartered announced the Art Gap Exhibition. If women are going to be paid 47.6% less,
they will paint 47.6% less. We brought together a collective of 19 Emirati and expat women artists
from 11 nationalities to add their voices to the global gender parity conversation. 19 incomplete
paintings created a powerful visual statement. Art Gap used a universal language to highlight
gender pay inequality, creatively leveraging scientific research to bring about change. The
exhibition made an impact beyond borders but we needed to ensure our audience got the
message. The Book of Art Gap was a compilation of all 19 statements, sent to 250 Priority Banking
customers: CEOs and C-suites of leading companies and multinationals in the UAE.
This limited-edition coffee table book showed gender pay equality in a new perspective. The design
language used the 47.6% gap throughout the book and was flexible enough to adapt to the
different painting shapes. The cover of the book used a blind foil manifesto to elevate the
embossed 47.6% message. The special cover gave readers a preview of the sensorial experience
inside. Special paper was chosen and the book had an arthouse feel with Japanese binding. The
die-cuts were crafted to reveal the 52.4% complete paintings, which were all done in complex
variation. Each artist was making a statement, personally and through her painting. The book
design captured both these statements, inviting readers to interact with each statement, rather
than passively read them. This action of revealing each painting gave the art more importance. The
book was sent in bubble wrap packaging, the same way paintings are delivered.
+10,000 visitors a ended, including dignitaries like Director-General of the Dubai Department of
Information, Deputy CEO of the Securities & Commodities Authority, senior representatives from
UN Women, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office and UK Trade Commission. +7,500
pledges for equal pay. USD 20,000 for 19 artworks, although sales wasn’t an objective. USD
1.4million in earned media, including BBC Arabic, Thomson Reuters, VICE Arabia, Design TAXI,
Toronto Sun Times, Thrive Global, Branding News, Zee TV, Al Hurra TV, China Arab TV, Gulf News.
+20 million social media impressions. On invitation, the exhibition moved to the prestigious Dubai
International Financial Centre (24 April - 8 May). Art Gap is now a movement, with exhibitions
planned at Oxford University and key markets to bring each country’s pay gap to the heart of the
conversation: South Korea 34.6%; India 29%; Pakistan 48.4%; Kenya 65%, Indonesia 40.6%.