Cannes Contenders: Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney

How will Australia perform at Cannes this year? Over the next month in the lead up to the Festival, Campaign Brief will be showcasing the work we hope will impress the judges…

Click Farms to the Rescue

Digital Sweatshops (‘Click Farms’) are used by brands, bands and even the US Government to fraudulently increase their social media profile with paid Views, Likes and Followers.  And like traditional sweatshops, employees are forced to work long hours, for very little money, in appalling conditions. To reach out directly to these workers and offer assistance, Saatchi & Saatchi Sydney created a series of Facebook, Instagram and YouTube video messages in targeted local languages. Each message directed viewers to a mobile Labourlink helpline where workers could anonymously report abuse, discrimination and poor conditions to Asia Monitor Resource Centre, an independent NGO that advocates and lobbies businesses and governments to improve worker’s rights and conditions. We then paid digital sweatshops to View, Like and Follow the messages, thereby using their very own service to directly inform workers of their rights and improve their conditions.  Every dollar invested into the campaign reached thousands of click farm workers, with our message reaching over 175 000 click farm workers in the first week alone.