Title	WHISTLES FOR WHISTLEBLOWERS
Brand	REPORTERS WITHOUT BORDERS GERMANY
Product/Service	WHISTLES FOR WHISTLEBLOWERS
Category	A03. PUBLIC AFFAIRS & LOBBYING
Entrant Company	DDB GROUP GERMANY Berlin, GERMANY
Advertising Agency	DDB GROUP GERMANY Berlin, GERMANY
Production Company	STUDIO FUNK Berlin, GERMANY

Name	Company	Position
Eric Schoeffler	DDB Group	Chief Creative Officer
Matthias Schmidt	DDB	Executive Creative Director
Nils Haseborg/Veit Moeller	DDB	Creative Director
Lilli Langenheim	DDB	Art Director
Karin Reineke/Marie Steixner/Isabella Maria Jorgensen	DDB	Graphic Designer
Konradin Resa/Marc Kaufholz/Doga Guerdal/Lukas Doraciotto	DDB	Digital Design
Edward Sedelius	DDB	Copywriter
Paul Dombek/Felix Disson	DDB	Account Manager
Jari Gärtner	DDB	Account Assistant
Stefan Lang	Doyle Dane Bernbach Realisation	Production
Marius Wiechmann	Studiofunk	Sound Design
Nima Gholiagha	Studio Funk	Sound Design Supervisor/Director
Nikita Kiril Kronlund	DDB	Filmproducer
Karin Reineke/Isabella Maria Jorgensen	DDB	Photographer
Sebastian Hudert	DDB	Illustrator
Caroline Heinrich	DDB	Animation
Chromatics/Quot/Tick Of The Clock/Quot	Label: Italians Do It Better	Verlag Kobalt Music Group
	Radical Media	Production Of Interactve Installation
Marco Lipp	Agenturwerft Gmbh	Web Development

The Campaign

Reporters Without Borders is a not-for-profit organization fighting for free press and the freedom of information. The increased persecution of whistleblowers is a threat to this freedom. Reporters Without Borders asked us to raise awareness of this issue, and convince people that supporting them will help the situation for whistleblowers and the freedom of information. How could we give whistleblowers a voice? We wanted to make the user feel that they were giving whistleblowers a voice. We aimed to create a symbolic product idea that was cheap to manufacture, but that also made the user feel that they were doing something good. Whistles for Whistleblowers are only 6€ each, and while buying them you know that you’re actively supporting Reporters Without Borders’ work for the freedom of information. To support the campaign we also created an animated online film depicting the story of Edward Snowden, an interactive „Whistle Monument“ and much more.

The Brief

We wanted to support whistleblowers and give them a voice. Therefore we create a symbolic product that was cheap enough for people to buy, but that also made them feel that they were doing something good. Whistles for Whistleblowers are only 6€ each, and while buying them you know that you’re actively supporting Reporters Without Borders’ work for the freedom of information.

Results

Whistles for Whistleblower quickly started selling in great numbers. Fans spread the message with the Whistles for Whistleblowers’ hashtag: #W4WB. The whistles received recognition across multiple fields, with support from German parliamentarian Hans-Christian Ströbele, Wikileaks editor Sarah Harrison and even Snowden’s attorney Wolfgang Kaleck. The whistles became a symbol at Germany’s biggest demonstration against mass surveillance, gathering more than 6000 people.

Execution

It started with a simple online shop. There, the whistles were sold, with all profits going to Reporters Without Borders’ work for information freedom. Through social media, an online film and posters we aksed people to speak up for democracyy. In real-time we turned tweets into actual whistling, through a public installation in Berlin – „The monument of information freedom“. T-shirts, bandanas, and posters, were distributed at the ‘Freiheit Statt Angst Demonstration’, Germany’s biggest protest against mass surveillance. The whistle became a symbol for more than 6000 demonstrators.

The Situation

Chelsea Manning is serving a 35-year prison sentence for leaking U.S. war logs to WikiLeaks. The NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden is currently exiled in Russia, but would likely face a similar sentence if handed over to American authorities. Overall, we've seen a dramatic increase in the discrimination against whistleblowers around the world. Yet their only crime is telling the truth. If we care of information freedom, the war on whistleblowers needs to end.

The Strategy

By creating a product as the carrier of our message, we were able to catch the attention from designers, politicians, bloggers and, too, journalists. This way we managed to reach a wide audience with our message, with support from celebrities such as German parliamentarian Hans-Christian Ströbele, Wikileaks editor Sarah Harrison and even Snowden’s attorney Wolfgang Kaleck.