Dive Brief:

• Citi is kicking off a campaign Thursday that aims to bring awareness to data predicting the pay gap between men and women will not close until 2227, some 208 years from now. "The Moment" campaign includes video, billboard, print and social media elements, according to a company press release shared with Industry Dive.
• A two-minute hero video captures the reactions of young girls at the moment they learn about the gender pay gap. Citi is also running a billboard in New York's Times Square to feature images from the campaign and urge passers-by to visit a dedicated microsite. Full-page print ads will appear in the Sunday editions of The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Los Angeles Times this weekend.
• "The Moment" is timed to coincide with International Day of the Girl on Friday and will include outreach on Twitter and Instagram through the campaign hashtag #ItsAboutTime.

Dive Insight:

Citi's campaign around International Day of the Girl follows its January move to publish unadjusted global pay gap figures, discovering that its female employees earned 29% less than their male counterparts even when job function, level and geography were factored out. As one of the first financial institutions to disclose this information, the company has set a precedent for being at the forefront of this broader societal discussion and can capitalize on this position by running campaigns that further the conversation among consumers as it works to narrow its internal wage gap.

Although more than half of its employees are women, 37% hold senior positions, Citi found. It pledged this year to focus on promoting women and minorities at a faster clip to remedy this discrepancy. Looking in the mirror demonstrates the company is taking the topic seriously by making tangible change rather than simply trying to ride public opinion as a marketing ploy. Perhaps Citi took note from Nike, who came under attack after it pushed a message of women's empowerment but failed to hire more women in its corporate hierarchy. By making itself accountable and striving to make real change within its own walls, Citi is laying the groundwork for positioning itself as a leader in the conversation around closing the gender wage gap, and could follow up "The Moment" campaign with figures showing internal progress.

Highlighting the wage gap issue in a marketing campaign is nothing new. Visa ran an social and digital series called "Money is Changing" around the Oscars in February, providing specific examples of how women can better speak up to earn and save money.

Planters nut brand ran the "The Pay Gap is Nuts" campaign in collaboration with Equal Rights Advocates, which similarly included hidden camera reactions from women around this issue. In July 2018, Burger King released higher priced "chick fries" as a commentary on the pink tax women pay on consumer goods, and featured customers' frustrated reactions in a video ad.

When the U.S. women's national soccer team won the World Cup in July, Procter & Gamble ran a full-page ad in the Sunday editions of The New York Times calling for women's equal pay. Last year, P&G made an ad for women's deodorant brand Secret called "#IdRatherGetPaid." The music video highlighted that despite women's gains, the gender pay gap persists.