HACKYOURFUTURE - BEHIND THE SOURCE

TitleHACKYOURFUTURE - BEHIND THE SOURCE
BrandHACKYOURFUTURE
Product/ServiceNON-PROFIT CODING SCHOOL FOR REFUGEES
Category B07. Use of Digital Platforms
Entrant 72ANDSUNNY Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Idea Creation 72ANDSUNNY Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Production HECHO STUDIOS AMSTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
Additional Company HACKYOURFUTURE Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Additional Company 2 STAINLESS SOUND Amsterdam, THE NETHERLANDS
Credits
Name Company Position
Wouter Kleijn Hack Your Future Managing Director
Federico Fusco Hack Your Future Partnership Manager
Carlo Cavallone 72andSunny Amsterdam Executive Creative Director
Laura Visco 72andSunny Amsterdam Deputy ECD
Guillaume Roukhomovsky 72andSunny Amsterdam Art Director
Christian Bauer 72andSunny Amsterdam Art Director
KC Hong 72andSunny Amsterdam Writer
Chad Muratev 72andSunny Amsterdam Senior Communications Strategist
Lauren Portelli 72andSunny Amsterdam Managing Director
Tony Hoang 72andSunny Amsterdam Senior Brand Manager
Katie Longson 72andSunny Amsterdam Business Development / Brand Coordinator
Stephanie Oakley 72andSunny Amsterdam Director of Production
Julie Bourges 72andSunny Amsterdam Producer
Julie Katsoula 72andSunny Amsterdam Business Affairs Manager
Leonidas Diamantis 72andSunny Amsterdam Music Creative
Matt Purcell 72andSunny Amsterdam Designer
Felipe Souza 72andSunny Amsterdam Senior Strategist
Nick Smith Stainless Sound Sound Designer/Mixer

Why is this work relevant for Media?

‘Behind the Source’ taps into popular online platforms that people use everyday. The campaign is by definition a multi-corporate, joint initiative where we had to rally an army of media partners — eBay, Accenture, Backbase, Exact, Marktplaats, Zivver — and use their voices to inspire more companies from the tech world to follow their steps. In a disruptive way, our content wasn’t presented in the visible front-end of these websites, but in their very back-end: their source code. By putting the medium at the campaigns' core as the perspective-changing mechanic we're inviting the world to look beyond the obvious.

Background

Between 2014 and 2015, tens of thousands of refugees came to the Netherlands, mainly fleeing war in Syria and Eritrea. Even though many of them were given residency permits, today they are still struggling to find work. HackYourFuture, helps them to become web-developers through a 7-month program — empowering them by unlocking a career within big names of the tech industry. But even with a shortage of developers in the Netherlands, stereotypes and stigmas are still blinding many recruiters, preventing them to look outside of their usual pool of talent. The ambition of ‘Behind the Source’ is to address this very issue and to open recruiters’ eyes, one codeline at a time.

Describe the creative idea / insights (30% of vote)

‘Behind the Source’ is an awareness campaign launched by HackYourFuture (a coding school for refugees) that aims to reframe the conversation around refugees, and tackles the many misconceptions, stigmas and prejudices that shadow their potential when it comes to applying for a job. It consists of seven portraits that have been hidden in the source code of the online homepages of companies, such as eBay and Accenture, where HackYourFuture graduates now work. All people have to do is go on these websites — such as Ebay or Accenture — click ‘View Source’ in your browser to discover the portraits, hidden in the code, and,

Describe the strategy (20% of vote)

Since the peak of the refugee crisis, back in 2014, the word “refugee” has become a label, stigmatized by media, governments and even philanthropy. It has become synonymous with “liability”, with “victim”. So when you’re a refugee trying to rebuild a path and a career, your own status is shadowing your potential and achievement, stopping you from thriving in a new life. Our approach was to flip this perception and turn the invisible into visible: to show talent, where employers see threat, opportunity instead of liability, a high-skilled workforce instead of a victim, an individual potential instead of a label.

Describe the execution (20% of vote)

The aesthetic of the portraits is a tribute to "easter eggs", these artworks are made of ASCII and code characters that developers sometimes hide in their code. This aesthetic also allowed us to ensure the anonymity required by their political refugee status, and the safety of their families left behind. To spread the word, we started the conversation on LinkedIn, with each of our partners proudly sharing their employee’s story and inviting their own network to 'go behind the source'. We also targeted working areas and coworking spaces with wild-posting and DOOH, nudging HR, CTOs and recruiters to discover the campaign and take action.

List the results (30% of vote)

In the end, a potential of +24000 visitors went behind the source, reframing the conversation around refugees in the Netherlands, and beyond — even getting the initiative referenced by the UN Agency as best in class. 13 new companies contacted HackYourFuture to hire graduates and sponsor the program, which eventually raised the number of graduates who successfully found a job to 120: 120 individuals who refused to let a label define their future.