United We Dream: The App Youll Be Glad You Dont Need

Credits & Description:

Title: Notifica: The App Youll Be Glad You Dont Need
Agency: Huge
Brand: United We Dream
Country: USA
Entrant Company: Huge, New York
Advertising Agency: Huge, New York
Agency: Huge (Huge Inc.)
Synopsis:
Since the 2016 United States Presidential Election, there has been a dramatic escalation of immigration raids that immediately place millions of hard-working, law-abiding people into a deportation pipeline.When someone faces the potential of an immigration raid, they often feel powerless and alone. If they are caught in an immigration raid, they don’t have time to seek out legal help or even contact loved ones. They’re faced with a choice: Do I call my daughter one last time? Do I reach out to a lawyer? For the first time, Notifica puts power back into the hands of the powerless.
Campaign Description:
Notifica is the product of a partnership with United We Dream, the country’s largest youth-led immigrant network. Notifica re-imagines the preparation process for the eleven million people facing a cruel immigration system.The first step to being prepared is coming up with a plan, but often families are in the dark about how to navigate a complicated legal system and an immigration police force that acts unpredictably. Notifica helps by explaining your legal rights. Notifica’s interface prompts you to add all people you want to message in the event you are detained. These are activated with the simple push of a button. Notifica also connected users directly to the immigrant advocacy group United We Dream helping them to prepare a legal defense, and connecting them with a larger community of support.
Outcome:
Notifica was covered by almost every major news outlet across the world leading to hundreds of millions of PR impressions. United We Dream, the not-for-profit behind the initiative, also saw a 79% increase in engagement with their website and resources to the immigrant community. But the results that matter to us is that immigrants in need finally have access to a tool that puts power back in their hands.
Strategy:
Notifica is the result of findings by United We Dream, the country’s largest youth-led immigrant network, that investing in technology is crucial to connecting a community in crisis to the support they need. In just a few months, it has become clear that using social media like Facebook to share news about raids often leads to more confusion, since there’s no direct list of instructions or contacts and leaves a person’s network unclear on how to help. On the analog side, an emergency call list is already a tool in most family’s preparation strategy, but if a detention happens during a raid at a traffic stop, there’s a broken link and often families find out when they realize there’s someone missing. Created for a limited number of scenarios in mind, Notifica uses technology and a frictionless interface to add certainty to a fragile situation.
Execution:
Upon downloading Notifica, users can access United We Dream’s resource materials outlining what to do in the event of an immigration enforcement raid. Upon creating an account and pin number, the user can load emergency contact information adding custom messages. The guiding principle of Notifica’s design is simplicity and ease of use to help safeguard one’s privacy. It requires very little personal information to be effective. Once a contact is added with a message, the name and messages are saved but not stored locally, protecting the information if the phone ends up in the wrong hands. Once deployed with the Notifica button, the app proactively deletes the data, messages, and contact information from your phone so it can’t be used against you or loved ones. Notifica can also be activated via landline in the absence of a smartphone using the same pin as the user has on the app.