One Show and Webby’s Shortlist
In the U.S., the demand for gender equality is growing louder. But progress is slow. The World Economic Forum estimated that it will take a devastating 208 years to reach gender equality in the U.S.
Across all aspects of American life, women – and women of color, in particular – are still vastly underrepresented where agendas are set and decisions are made. Women hold only 6% of Fortune 500 CEO roles. Less than 3% of venture capital money goes to women entrepreneurs, and currently women are just 24% of Congress. Pivotal Ventures made it their mission to accelerate progress—during one of the most intense cultural moments for women's issues.
In partnership, we launched “Equality Can’t Wait,” a platform to help dismantle the systemic bias and barriers that hold women back, and to shorten the timeline for equality. For the launch campaign, “208 years, No Joke”, we assembled a diverse coalition of talent to unite people and bring their own passion to the issue. The mission inspired 15 of the most influential comedians in the U.S. to donate their time and partner with us—including Maya Rudolph, Sarah Silverman, John Mulaney, Margaret Cho and Carol Burnett, to name a few. Our message broke through and mobilized people to take personal action through our website.
The launch generated 80M views, 946k engagements and captured the attention of Michelle Obama, Ellen DeGeneres, Hillary Clinton and other top influential women and men who endorsed the effort while also making the message their own. Most importantly, it impacted the greater cultural conversation, with positive conversation overpowering negative 2 to 1.