TRIAL BY TIMELINE

Gold Spike
TitleTRIAL BY TIMELINE
BrandAMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Product / ServiceAMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
CategoryA09. Best use or integration of digital or social media
EntrantCOLENSO BBDO Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Entrant Company COLENSO BBDO Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Contributing Company COLENSO BBDO Auckland, NEW ZEALAND
Production Company ASSEMBLY Auckland, NEW ZEALAND

Credits

Name Company Position
Rebecca Emery Amnesty International Nz Deputy Director ( Campaigns/Research/Advocacy/Communications)
Scott Wilson Assembly Animation - Designer
Matt Von Trott Assembly Animation - Design Lead
Amanda Chambers Assembly Animation - Executive Producer
James Mcmullan Colenso Bbdo Agency Producer
Hayley Pardoe Colenso Bbdo Planner
Eileen Cosgrove-Moloney Colenso Bbdo Account Executive
Helen Fitzsimons Colenso Bbdo Account Director
Ben Polkinghorne Colenso Bbdo Copywriter
Anna Stickley Colenso Bbdo Art Director
Dan Wright Colenso Bbdo Digital Creative Director/Art Director
Levi Slavin Colenso Bbdo Creative Director
Nick Worthington Colenso Bbdo Creative Chairman

The Campaign

In New Zealand branded entertainment is in its infancy. While there are some very good examples, in many cases the brands offer up clumsy associations or content that isn’t relevant or interesting to the target market. Trial by Timeline is a hugely popular social media campaign. It’s incredibly personal branded content. Using your previous social media activity to create a unique film about your life.

Results

Through sheer luck, New Zealanders live in the freest country on Earth. We’re afforded the freedom to say what we’re thinking, wear what we want, choose our own friends – freedoms we take for granted. Yet, in a country as fortunate as ours, Amnesty International is a movement understood and supported by only a small few. So, how do we get as many New Zealanders as possible to understand the work that Amnesty do and feel it relevant enough for them to show their support? Our solution was Trial by Timeline: a Facebook application that scans your Timeline activity and shows you what your behaviour would have cost you around the world, just for being you. It searches for everything you’ve ever liked, posted or written. It studies your profile, your age, nationality, relationship status and political views and sentences you to real punishments. Finally, it asks you to use your freedom to help free others by showing your support for Amnesty International. We turned to Facebook as the place where so many of us freely express ourselves and share our lives. Tapping into users Facebook profiles, we were able to create a personally relevant experience of how human rights are affected in other parts of the world and, therefore, how important the work of Amnesty International is to all humans.

Trial by Timeline is a Facebook application that scans your Timeline activity and shows you what crimes you would be guilty of around the world. It searches for everything you've ever liked, posted or written. It studies your personal profile, your age, nationality, relationship status and political views and sentences you to real punishments. Then asks you to use your freedom to help free others by showing your support to Amnesty International. As the site went live, we launched a PR campaign across major TV and new stations, IT publications and social media sites. We tapped into Amnesty's network of local supporters to spark the social sharing aspect of the campaign.

Our New Zealand project is in its infancy, but has already gathered global traction. We have reached 15 million people with Trial by Timeline. Daily visits have topped 17,000 and over 200 countries have taken part. The average time spent on this site is over 7 minutes and 10% of total users have shared this via Facebook or Twitter. Amnesty sections in Sweden, Turkey, South Korea, Denmark and Norway have requested translations of the software. Closer to home, Trial by Timeline has received coverage across all national media channels, trended on Twitter and was shared and advocated by local celebrities and influential bloggers alike. Most importantly, we’ve increased Amnesty International NZ’s Facebook community by more than 500%.