Scottish Widows interrupts C4 shows to highlight pension gap

Scottish Widows will interrupt Channel 4 programmes today to highlight that women are retiring with half the pension income of men.

To tie in with International Women’s Day, select shows on Channel 4 and All 4, including C4 News, Gogglebox, George Clarke: Amazing Spaces and 24 Hours in A&E, will run a bespoke ident in the half-time break saying the show has concluded for female viewers so they only get to watch half of the show.

After a short pause, the voiceover will add: “Frustrating? What’s more frustrating is that on average women are retiring with only half the pension of men.”

The TV and video-on-demand idents will be complemented by a Mail Metro cover wrap and “high-impact press formats”.

There will also be a Twitter “first view” takeover so the message on the gender pension gap is the first thing social media users see when they open the app.

Scottish Widows will complement these activations with PR activity and paid content across Facebook, Instagram and  YouTube to drive awareness around the gender pension gap and offer women guidance on savings as a pension expert.

The campaign will run until 9 April and the media was planned by Zenith and creative was by Adam&EveDDB.

Richard Kirk, chief strategy officer at Zenith UK said: “The work Scottish Widows has done on the Gender Pension Gap in recent years is one of the best examples of ‘purposeful’ advertising.”

He added: “We believe this campaign will stop women and men in their tracks this week, forcing us all to think about how unfair it is that women have to retire with half the pension of men.”