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Our Challenge
Due to the illegal invasion of Ukraine in 2022, it is estimated that 14 million people have been forced to flee their home - the majority of whom are women and children. And while countries have opened their borders, there is a lack of infrastructure to allow for safe relocation. Human traffickers have seen this an opportunity to exploit vulnerable Ukrainians into slavery, waiting to pounce as soon as they arrive. We partnered with anti-slavery charity, Unseen UK, to understand the real situation. Armed with their valuable inisghts and experience, we quickly realised that getting vital information to Ukrainians the very moment they arrived in the UK is crucial. Our solution would need to reach these vulnerable refugees before the human traffickers did.

Our Solution
We realised there was a very small window to get this vital information to Ukrainians, the moment they arrived in the UK. Waiting weeks or even days to deliver this information would be too late. Fortunately, we knew that we had a weapon in this challenge and it is the very tool that traffickers use, a mobile devices. Virtually every Ukrainian arriving has a phone and a network. So the answer, although simple, could be life changing:

A Welcome Text. One text. Just like the one we all get when we turn our phone on in a foreign country. But this time it would not be a traditional welcome message. This welcome message would contain all the information and advice that would help stop a life of slavery before it could start.

This is a simple idea, but one with a significant technical requirement. We had to get the telecoms providers on board to automatically send out the text the minute a Ukrainian mobile was turned on upon arrival.

We then worked with Unseen to get the message to the telcos. Through an open letter from Unseen and a call to arms on social media where we created a simple tweet mechanic that allowed users to prompt their provider into action. With the help of more than 25 human rights groups and a large public outcry, including MP Sir Iain Duncan Smith, Unseen got the UK telcos onboard. They then worked directly with their Ukrainian partners to put the technical requirements in place and geo-target exactly the right people.

Current Results
At launch, the two largest Ukrainian Telcos, Vodafone and Kyivstar, delivered our text to Ukrainian refugees as soon as they arrived in the UK. In addition to the safety advice contained with this text, each recipient also received a link to a Ukrainian Welcome Hub, containing all the information they would need to safely arrive in their new home. This initial text was delivered in English, Ukrainian and Russian to ensure that no refugee would misunderstand the advice. Incredibly, based on the success achieved in the UK, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) contacted us at the beginning of 2023 and have taken our Ukraine Welcome Text Europe-wide. Now, Ukrainians are receiving our Welcome Text, the minute they enter any of the 59 member-states within the OSCE’s jurisdiction. We have also created a pan-European website for Ukrainians to access support, no matter where they were in Europe.

Our client, Andrew Wallis – UnSeen, CEO, summarised our campaign with this powerful statement: “A text like this one, could be the difference between a safe emigration, and a life of slavery.”