2019 Glass: The Award for Change

EQUALICARE

TitleEQUALICARE
BrandVERBRAUCHERZENTRALE HAMBURG
Product/ServiceEQUALICARE
Category A01. Glass
Entrant SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Munich, GERMANY
Idea Creation SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Munich, GERMANY
PR SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Munich, GERMANY
Production TEMPOMEDIA Hamburg, GERMANY
Production 2 SUPREME MUSIC Hamburg, GERMANY
Production 3 NHB Hamburg, GERMANY
Production 4 NEVEREST Hamburg, GERMANY
Additional Company PLAN.NET Munich, GERMANY
Credits
Name Company Position
Alexander Schill SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Global Chief Creative Officer
Thomas Heyen SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Managing Partner
Markus Kremer SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Managing Partner
Florian Klietz SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Managing Partner
Niklas Scholz SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Copywriter
Philipp Trübiger SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Art Director
Mariah Kattmann SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Junior Account Manager
Dennis Fritz SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Head of Editing, Head of Motiondesign
Anton Reim SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Junior Motion Designer
Christoph Koehler NEVEREST Managing Director
Madeliene Pfisterer NEVEREST Junior Producer
Britta Tronke SERVICEPLAN GERMANY General Manager
Isabelle Schneider SERVICEPLAN GERMANY Junior PR-Consultant
Markus Maczey PLAN.NET Managing Director / CEO
Michael Reill PLAN.NET Executive Creative Director
Philipp Elsner PLAN.NET Digital Creative
Peter Haueis Tempomedia Filmproduktion GmbH Director
David Südel Tempomedia Filmproduktion GmbH DoP
Henrik Hühnken Tempomedia Filmproduktion GmbH Editor
Alexander Schildt Tempomedia Filmproduktion GmbH Executive Producer
Jana Schneider Tempomedia Filmproduktion GmbH Producer
Maximilian Olowinsky Supreme Music Composer
Felix Müller Supreme Music Composer
Florian Lackenmacher Supreme Music Composer
Henning Sommer Supreme Music Composer
Chris Buseck Supreme Music Composer
Sebastian Schütze Supreme Music Composer
Bernhard Pausch Supreme Music Composer
Clemens Lockner Supreme Music Junior Producer
Fabian Cordsmeier NHB Next Producer
Julien von Schultzendorff NHB Next Grading
Markus Roseneck NHB Next Sound

Background

Women pay up to twice as much for gender-specific hygiene items as men. Even though some products have identical ingredients. In fact, some of them only differ in their packaging’s color – pink instead of blue. On top of that, women earn 21% less for their work than men. That’s why the brief was to raise awareness for the whole topic of Pink Tax.

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

Gender-inequality truly is an issue in highly-developed Germany. Recent studies show that women earn 21% less for their work than men. And on top of that, the Pink Tax charges them more for nearly identical products.

Describe the creative idea

We invented a new moisturizer which – when being rotated by 180° – turns from a men’s to a women’s product and vice versa. The tube’s pink side addresses women, the blue one men. Although they share the same packaging, the price is different: in line with the average Pink Tax the women’s side is 40% more expensive. We promoted our product in a pop-up store, a web shop, with influencers and on social profiles – letting people experience the Pink Tax firsthand. The pop-up store not only was open to the public but also to journalists and influencers which could get their hands on the new product. So, the Pink Tax topic could be spread to the broad masses – to finally put pressure on the industry to change.

Describe the strategy

To demonstrate the characteristics of the Pink Tax we used a simple but impactful mechanic: the 180° turn of the moisturizer tube. We reached the people – most importantly women – exactly where they were about to buy a product that is charged with the Pink Tax.

Describe the execution

The campaign took place from January to March 2019. It all started in January with a teaser in the own web shop and the social profiles, announcing two new products which will be available soon. A few weeks later the first pop-up store opened in Hamburg, Germany. At the same time the product pretended to become available online. The store was not only open to the public but also to journalists and influencers which could get their hands on the new products. In the following days and weeks, German news companies reported about the Pink Tax like never before. Additionally, our own web film documented the campaign for all those who haven’t joined yet.

Describe the results / impact

The campaign put pressure on the industry to change and was covered in more than 100 major PR channels where it generated over 1 billion media impressions – including national TV, newspapers, print magazines, social media and online news sources. A change towards more equality in Germany.