CONCEPT, CAMPAIGN, VISUAL IDENTITY, WEBSITE, ILLUSTRATION

We developed a certification program that consists of offering free online training courses to employees from the hospitality industry, so that they can learn how to spot the signs of sex trafficking at their workplace. When 60% of the staff at a company has completed the training course, the company will be awarded a certificate: No Room for Sex Trafficking certificate is awarded to hotels and holiday parks, No Table for Sex Trafficking to restaurants and bars, and No Ride for Sex Trafficking to taxi drivers. Once achieved the certificate, companies receive a package of certification materials that can then be communicated in their facilities, websites and social media, spreading awareness around the issue among customers and society at large. 

In order to publicly announce the launch of the certification program, we launched an online and a city campaign in Amsterdam, in September 2020. In the first 3 months since the kick-off of the certificate, over 100 hotels in The Netherlands are participating in the program.

We supported the launch of the project with an outdoor and online campaign. Part of this campaign was a series of three different poster designs printed on fluor colors, which were widely distributed through the city of Amsterdam. The colors identify the three different certification programs available for hospitality companies at www.noplaceforsextrafficking.org.

Each of the three main campaign images challenged viewers with a playful visual test, accompanied by different teasing texts lines: 'so big it's hard to see', 'only clear if you connect the pieces' and 'easier to spot if you look closely'.

Next to the more standard communication materials, we built a pop-up hotel room exhibition, which we placed next to Amsterdam's Dam square, one of the most centric and crowded areas of the city. Apart from becoming a very photogenic object for passers by, people could also enter the room to read and listen to real stories from people involved in sex trafficking: victims, pimps, and sex buyers.

The communication campaign consisted of a wide city distribution of three different poster designs, beer mats for bars and restaurants, taxi-shaped flyers for taxi drivers, 'do not disturb' door hanger-shaped flyers, and social media advertisements targeting professionals from the hospitality industry.

Through the online platform of No Place for Sex Trafficking, anyone can learn about sex trafficking, and professionals from hospitality companies can register to participate in the different certification programs. By doing so, employees from such businesses can follow a short online training where they learn how to spot the signals of sexual exploitation at their workplace, and how to react upon this type of situations. Companies that actively train most of their staff, are awarded with a certification package containing different print and digital communication materials.

No Place for sex Trafficking is a project by What The Studio, made in collaboration with the Dutch Public Prosecution Service (Openbaar Ministerie), and with the support of the Ministry of Justice and Security, What Design Can Do and Defence for Children.

Concept, design, copywriting and creative direction: What The Studio
Campaign photography: Thijs de Lange
Campaign video: Juan Palacios
Web development: Sprigs / Floris Koch
Production of pop-up exhibition: Promodukties / Brouhaha