Western Union, a leader in global payment services with over 160 years of history and over two decades in India, goes with the tagline ‘Move Money for Better’. Western Union is a brand that millions rely on to send money to loved ones across borders. The bigger social purpose that Western Union aims to drive is to bring about financial inclusion via getting the unbanked into the formal banking world as well as empower women across India. 

The company was perceived to be only a cash-to-cash player globally and the contribution of a large-scale remittance player like Western Union to bring unbanked citizens of India into the banking realm, was little understood. Our challenge, therefore, was to focus on the impact Western Union has had on the lives of Indians and its role in supporting the government’s agenda of financial inclusion. Edelman helped Western Union collate a report to highlight their position as the key remittance player and showcase their thought leadership in supporting and driving Financial Inclusion in India.   

We adopted a five-pronged approach to showcase findings from the report and the impact of remittances on lives – an exclusive interview with CNBC TV18 to launch of the report, with Mr. Hikmet Ersek, Global CEO, Western Union during his India visit, presented the report to Arun Jaitley - India’s Finance Minister to ensure key stakeholder engagement, scheduled interviews for Hikmet Ersek with leading national dailies (The Economic Times and The Times of India), a global wire (Bloomberg), and an international magazine (Forbes), leveraged the city and sector (Women and SME) specific content and (Women and SME) organized a roundtable with CNBC TV18, where Ms. Sohini Rajola, Managing Director and RVP, India and South Asia, along with Mr. Janmejaya Sinha – Chairman - Asia Pacific at The Boston Consulting Group and Mr. Rajeev Arora, COO, Fino Paytech) discussed the report. The campaign won a Diamond SABRE South Asia award 2017 for Superior Achievement in Research & Planning.