THE BRIEF AND CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVES

Classism isn’t simple to identify, especially in British culture. Outside of stereotypes on TV and in film, we very rarely discuss it, and many people from working class backgrounds often feel like they must code-switch to hide it, especially in industries like Law, Medicine and Advertising.

But so far, what’s the real issue? Well, through their UK research in 2021, The Social Mobility Foundation - and their campaigning arm, The Department for Opportunities - discovered that there was an average salary disparity of up to £6,000 per year between people from a working-class background and their middle-class peers in comparable roles.

A troubling symptom of unspoken classism being rife in the workplace, even when someone’s experience, qualifications and education is on par. To close this ‘Class Pay Gap’, the organisation needed to cut through the traditionally dry category norms to explain the often hidden and complex issue of classism to a mass audience, generate awareness of the Social Mobility Foundation’s work and persuade companies to measure and report the data on employees’ salaries to help bring about systemic change.

A challenging brief. Not only because the issue of classism is extremely complicated, but because we needed to simultaneously highlight the failures of business leaders and employers, largely the elite who perpetuate the Class Pay Gap's existence in the first place, while also getting them engaged enough to report on their company class pay gap, and help make a change.

Not to mention, we had to be nimble and frugal to achieve such big ambitions on a shoestring budget.

THE STRATEGIC AND CREATIVE APPROACH

We knew we had to simplify the complex story to cut through and instigate action.

To do so, our strategy was to engage and enrage. We needed to find the humanity within the statistics and approach the issue in a way nobody would expect or could ignore.

Our research revealed that employers would deem that employees from working-class backgrounds had less so-called “polish” than their middle-class peers. An insidious term referring to how their accent revealed their desirable background, conflating that with ability, and was often used to justify paying employees from working class backgrounds less, or even prevent hiring them in the first place, because they lacked the so-called “polish” of their middle-class peers. Something as old fashioned and ridiculous as that had the power to enrage – and to ensure it had the power to engage, we turned to humour to disrupt the category and deliver it.

“Class Polish” was born. The niftiest way to Polish Yourself Posh and get that salary boosting shine. Created in the style of a bygone era where classism should remain, this ridiculous and old-fashioned product was used to cut through the stats and make an impression on the employers who maybe didn’t realise how outdated this attitude was… while getting a mass audience riled up over the discrimination so many face.

As disruptive as it was, Class Polish was also beautifully crafted – with no detail overlooked in the throwback-style packaging and the art direction which carried through to the integrated campaign in OOH, digital and in press ads in CityAm and the Guardian. All targeted to people on their commute and work breaks to add pressure to employers. We even created a website so visitors could share their own stories of classism, read up on the Class Pay Gap, how it impacts social mobility and what they could do to make a difference.

The spiffy product needed a spiffy spokesperson, so we turned to fiercely proud working-class comedian Fern Brady who swapped her Scottish brogue for 1950s BBC English in a black and white film shown on social media and in Everyman and Odeon cinemas up and down the country to add further pressure on employers.

But we didn’t stop there, we actually manufactured the Class Polish – creating hundreds of bottles and screen-printing polish cloth ‘leaflets’ to boot, which detailed the hard-hitting facts of the campaign. We sent these directly to those with influence – CEOs, journalists, MPs, the Mayor of London and even the Prime Minister. A much more visceral, interactive experience than their regular leaflets and emails on such matters.

IMPACT AND RESULTS

The surprising and provocative use of comedy and pastiche saw unprecedented attention for the charity and resulted in a 70% increase in employers reporting their Class Pay Gap including influential names McDonalds, Deloitte, Santander and Goldman Sachs.

In addition, the charity’s social engagement was up by 874% and the campaign was featured in The Guardian and The Times, as well as on Sky News and the BBC – the latter even featuring Class Polish in an upcoming documentary.

The organisation has also started using the campaign in their educational outreach work, sharing with students up and down the country to help them understand the issues of classism and social mobility.