Sumsub framed 627M rejected users as a nation and sold inclusion as a $1.75T market

Sumsub is an identity-verification platform whose customers reject applicants every day. Its research with Catalyst Group found that 627 million people — more than the populations of the United States and Brazil combined — are unfairly excluded from banking, education, healthcare and jobs because verification systems cannot handle their documents, appearance, digital skills or nationality.

Instead of shaming businesses, Sumsub reframed the problem as an economy. It created Greenflag, a fictional nation of the excluded that ranks third in the world by population, with $1.75 trillion of untapped purchasing power and up to $2.46 trillion of digital transactions forecast by 2028. The campaign launched on World Inclusion Day with a microsite and a call for more inclusive verification.

The move turned a compliance headache into an opportunity: non-document verification checks at Sumsub clients rose 338% year on year, and the story reached 17.35 million people socially. Greenflag won Dubai Lynx 2025 Silver for Data & Analytics and Bronze for Corporate Purpose & Social Responsibility.